Congratulations to the winners of the 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction. The winners were announced by 2023 selection committee chair Stephen Sposato at the Reference and User Services Association’s Book and Media Awards during ALA LibLearnX on Sunday, January 29. A celebratory event, including presentations by the winners and a featured speaker, will take place at the ALA Annual Conference in June 2023 in Chicago. Carnegie Medal winners each receive $5,000.
Share your favorite Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence honorees on social media using the #ALA_Carnegie hashtag!
FICTION WINNER
Julie Otsuka
The Swimmers
(Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Penguin Random House LLC)
In an underground pool, a collective “we” reports the comings and goings of the titular swimmers, regulars who have established their schedules, lanes, and paces with comforting familiarity, until a crack in the pool floor causes upheaval. The water was an essential haven for Alice, whose story aboveground is a polyphonic reveal through her fading memories. Otsuka’s devastating masterpiece is an extraordinary examination of the fragility of human relationships.
NONFICTION WINNER
Ed Yong
An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us
(Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC)
The animals and their unique perceptual abilities Yong examines here range from the platypus with a bill that detects electric fields, the echolocation prowess of bats and dolphins, the ultrafast vision of killer flies, and the outstanding olfaction of elephants. Yong’s scientific curiosity is contagious, and his writing is empathetic, impeccably researched, imaginative, and entertaining.
SHORTLIST
FICTION FINALISTS
Greenland
David Santos Donaldson
(Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers)
Donaldson delivers a psychologically acute portrayal of a queer Black man crumbling under the weight of personal, historical, and racial trauma. Despite heavy subject material, Kip’s irreverent narration provides moments of memorable levity.
Night of the Living Rez
Morgan Talty
(Tin House)
At the heart of this collection of linked stories is David, a member of the Penobscot Nation in Maine, in whose small world Native traditions mix matter-of-factly with binge-watches of The Sopranos. With a clear-eyed and compassionate gaze, Talty reveals the complexity of his characters and the ways they are shaped by their community and their pasts.
The Swimmers
Julie Otsuka
(Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Penguin Random House LLC)
In an underground pool, a collective “we” reports the comings and goings of the titular swimmers, regulars who have established their schedules, lanes, and paces with comforting familiarity, until a crack in the pool floor causes upheaval. The water was an essential haven for Alice, whose story aboveground is a polyphonic reveal through her fading memories. Otsuka’s devastating masterpiece is an extraordinary examination of the fragility of human relationships..
NONFICTION FINALISTS
Constructing a Nervous System
Margo Jefferson
(Pantheon Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC)
Blending the multicolored threads of Black cultural life with memories of her past in this impressionistic memoir, Jefferson reflects on the Black icons who shaped her worldview, from jazz great Bud Powell to legendary entertainer and Resistance hero Josephine Baker. Jefferson is a critic’s critic, turning her keenly honed analysis on herself, her family, and her class, while relentlessly interrogating the broader underlying context of white racism.
An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us
Ed Yong
(Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC)
The animals and their unique perceptual abilities Yong examines here range from the platypus with a bill that detects electric fields, the echolocation prowess of bats and dolphins, the ultrafast vision of killer flies, and the outstanding olfaction of elephants. Yong’s scientific curiosity is contagious, and his writing is empathetic, impeccably researched, imaginative, and entertaining.
Vagina Obscura: An Anatomical Voyage
Rachel E. Gross
(W.W. Norton & Company)
Realizing that the terminology for what medicine refers to as “the female reproductive system” was insufficient, Gross set out to correct this. The result expertly balances authoritative sources, history, and scientific data with frank discussions by medical professionals, scientists, and people of all genders.
LONGLIST
FICTION
Click images to enlarge
Armfield, Julia.
Our Wives Under the Sea.
(Flatiron)
Bhanoo, Sindya.
Seeking Fortune Elsewhere..
(Catapult)
Chan, Jessamine.
The School for Good Mothers.
(Simon & Schuster)
Diaz, Hernan.
Trust.
(Riverhead Books)
Donaldson, David Santos.
Greenland.
(Amistad)
Egan, Jennifer.
The Candy House.
(Scribner)
Escoffery, Jonathan.
If I Survive You.
(MCD BOOKS)
Hokeah, Oscar.
Calling for a Blanket Dance.
(Algonquin)
Holleran, Andrew.
The Kingdom of Sand.
(Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Kingsolver, Barbara.
Demon Copperhead.
(Harper)
Kolluri, Talia Lakshmi.
What We Fed to the Manticore.
(Tin House)
Li, Yiyun.
The Book of Goose.
(Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Mandel, Emily St. John.
Sea of Tranquility.
(Knopf)
McCarthy, Cormac.
The Passenger.
(Knopf)
Nagamatsu, Sequoia.
How High We Go in the Dark.
(William Morrow)
O'Farrell, Maggie.
The Marriage Portrait.
(Knopf)
Otsuka, Julie.
The Swimmers.
(Knopf)
Stuart, Douglas.
Young Mungo.
(Grove)
Talty, Morgan.
Night of the Living Rez.
(Tin House)
Wang, Weike.
Joan is Okay.
(Random House)
Warrell, Laura.
Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm.
(Pantheon)
Zhang, Jenny Tinghui.
Four Treasures of the Sky.
(Flatiron)
NONFICTION
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Beaton, Kate.
Ducks: Two Years on the Oil Sands.
(Drawn & Quarterly)
Burnham, Margaret A.
By Hands Now Known: Jim Crow's Legal Executioners.
(Norton)
Calhoun, Ada.
Also a Poet: Frank O'Hara, My Father, and Me.
(Grove)
Carney, Scott and Jason Miklian.
Vortex: A True Story of History's Deadliest Storm, an Unspeakable War, and Liberation.
(Ecco)
Cheung, Karen.
The Impossible City: A Hong Kong Memoir.
(Random House)
Denk, Jeremy.
Every Good Boy Does Fine: A Love Story, in Music Lessons.
(Random House)
Gross, Rachel E.
Vagina Obscura: An Anatomical Voyage.
(Norton)
Grove, Emma.
The Third Person.
(Drawn & Quarterly)
Hämäläinen, Pekka.
Indigenous Continent: The Epic Contest for North America.
(Liveright)
Hsu, Hua.
Stay True.
(Doubleday)
Jefferson, Margo.
Constructing a Nervous System.
(Pantheon)
O'Brien, Keith.
Paradise Falls: The True Story of an Environmental Catastrophe.
(Pantheon)
O'Rourke, Meghan.
The Invisible Kingdom: Reimagining Chronic Illness.
(Riverhead Books)
Rawlence, Ben.
The Treeline: The Last Forest and the Future of Life on Earth.
(St. Martin's)
Rogers, Susan and Ogi Ogas.
This Is What It Sounds Like: What the Music You Love Says About You.
(Norton)
Rojas Contreras, Ingrid.
The Man Who Could Move Clouds.
(Doubleday)
Schulz, Kathryn.
Lost & Found.
(Random House)
Thrasher, Steven.
The Viral Underclass: The Human Toll When Inequality and Disease Collide.
(Celadon)
Williamson, Elizabeth.
Sandy Hook: An American Tragedy and the Battle for Truth.
(Dutton)
Yong, Ed.
An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us.
(Random House)
Zamora, Javier.
Solito.
(Hogarth)
