The Kirkus Prize, one of the most prestigious and lucrative literary awards in the world, has announced its finalists for 2024. lithub.comThis annual award recognizes three outstanding titles that received an outstanding review from Kirkus upon release. The winners in the fiction, nonfiction, and children’s literature categories each receive a substantial cash prize of $50,000.
Finalists in the Fiction category
The fiction category features a wide variety of voices and narratives. The finalists are:
– Jennine Capó Crucet for Say hello to my little friend (Simon & Schuster)
– Louise Erdrich for The mighty red (Harper/HarperCollins)
– Percival Everett for James (Double day)
– Richard Powers for playground (W.W. Norton)
– Rufi Thorpe for Margot has money problems (William Morrow/HarperCollins)
– Paul Lynch for Song of the Prophet (Grove)
The fiction judges include Christine Bollow, co-owner and program director of Loyalty Bookstores, Jeffrey Burke, a former editor at Harper’s, and Laurie Muchnick, fiction editor at Kirkus.
Finalists in the Non-Fiction category
The non-fiction category presents captivating and thought-provoking works:
– Steve Coll for The Achilles Trap: Saddam Hussein, the CIA and the Origins of the American Invasion of Iraq (Penguin Publishing)
– Adam Higginbotham for Challenger: A true story of heroism and disaster on the edge of space (Avid Reader Press)
– Tessa Hulls for Feeding Ghosts: A Graphic Biography (MCD/FSG)
– Olivia Laing for The Garden Against Time: In Search of a Common Paradise (W.W. Norton)
– Shefali Luthra for Undue Burden: Life and Death Decisions in Post-Roe America (Double day)
– Carvell Wallace for Another word for love: A memory (MCD/FSG)
The nonfiction jury includes journalist and author/illustrator Hannah Bae, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Mary Ann Gwinn, and Kirkus Editor-in-Chief Tom Beer.
Finalists of the “Young Readers” competition
The young readers category is divided into picture books, middle grade and young adult:
-Picture books: Joanna Ho and Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya for We who produce pearls (Scholastic/Orchard), Jason Reynolds and the Pumphrey brothers for There was a party for Langston (Caitlyn Dlouhy/Atheneum)
– Middle class: Hiba Noor Khan for Safiyyah’s War (Allida/HarperCollins), Sherri Winston for Shark teeth (Bloomsbury)
– Young adults: Kenneth M. Cadow for Gather (Candlewick), Safia Elhillo for Bright red fruits (Random House/Make Me a World)
The young readers jury includes Christopher A. Biss-Brown, Michelle H. Martin and Kirkus Young Readers editors Mahnaz Dar and Laura Simeon.
Kirkus Editor-in-Chief Tom Beer praised this year’s finalists, saying, “These are all books that speak to our times, and we know they will be read for years to come.”
The winners will be announced at an in-person ceremony in New York on Wednesday, October 16.
