August 28, 2024, 9:50 a.m.
The Kirkus Prize, one of the world’s most valuable annual literary awards, has announced its list of finalists for 2024. The prize will be awarded to three titles that received an outstanding review from Kirkus upon publication. A panel of wise book people and Kirkus editors will select the finalists and then the winners in three categories.—Fiction, non-fiction and children’s literature—Each will receive a handsome prize of $50,000.
Here are this year’s finalists.
fiction
Jennine Capó Crucet, Say hello to my little friend (Simon & Schuster)
Louise Erdrich, The mighty red (Harper/HarperCollins)
Percival Everett, James (Double day)
Richard Powers, playground (Double day)
Rufi Thorpe, Margot has money problems (William Morrow/HarperCollins)
Paul Lynch, Song of the Prophet (Grove)
The judges for this year’s fiction award are Christine Bollow, co-owner and program director of Loyalty Bookstores in the DMV, Jeffrey Burke, former editor at Harper’s, aD Laurie Muchnick, Kirkus novel editor.
Non-fiction
Steve Coll, The Achilles trap: Saddam Hussein, the CIA and the origins of the American invasion of Iraq (Penguin Publishing)
Adam Higginbotham, Challenger: A true story of heroism and disaster on the edge of space (Avid Reader Press)
Tessa Hulls, Feeding ghosts: A graphic reminder (MCD/FSG)
Olivia Laing, The garden against time: In search of a shared paradise (W.W. Norton)
Shefali Luthra, Unreasonable burden: Decisions about life and death in America after Roe (Double day)
Carvel Wallace, Another word for love: A reminder (MCD/FSG)
The judges for the nonfiction award are journalist and author/illustrator Hannah Bae, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Mary Ann Gwinn, and Kirkus editor-in-chief Tom Beer.
Young readers
Picture books
Joanna Ho, illustrated by Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya, We who produce pearls (Scholastic/Orchard)
Jason Reynolds, illustrated by Jerome Pumphrey and Jarrett Pumphrey, There was a party for Langston (Caitlyn Dlouhy/Atheneum)
Intermediate
Hiba Noor Khan, Safiyyah’s War (Allida/HarperCollins)
Sherri Winston, Shark teeth (Bloomsbury)
Young adults
Kenneth M. Cadow, Gather (candle wick)
Safia Elhillo, Bright red fruits (Random House/Make Me a World)
The jurors for the Young Adult Literature Award are Christopher A. Biss-Brown, curator of the Children’s Literature Research Collection at the Free Library of Philadelphia, Michelle H. Martin, Beverly Cleary Endowed Professor of Children’s and Youth Studies at the Information School of the University of Washington, and Kirkus Young Adult Book Editors Mahnaz Dar and Laura Simeon.
Kirkus editor-in-chief Tom Beer says of this year’s titles: “They are all books that speak to our times, and we know they will be read for years to come.”
The three winners of the 2024 Kirkus Prize will be announced at an in-person ceremony in New York on Wednesday, October 16.
Congratulations to all the finalists!
