2023 Winners

Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction

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)

Book cover: The SwimmersIn 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.

Read the Booklist review.

Twitter share: Facebook share: 2021 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction, The Swimmers

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)

Book cover: An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around UsThe 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.

Read the Booklist review.

Twitter share: 2021 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Nonfiction, A Little Devil in America

SHORTLIST

FICTION FINALISTS

Twitter share: Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction Shortlist Selection (Greenland) Winners announced January 29!

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.

Twitter share: Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction Shortlist Selection (Book cover: Night of the Living Rez) Winners announced January 29!



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.

Twitter share: Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction Shortlist Selection (Book cover: The Swimmers) Winners announced January 29!

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

Twitter share: Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction Shortlist Selection (Book cover: Constructing a Nervous System) Winners announced January 29!

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.

Twitter share: Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction Shortlist Selection (Book cover: An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden World around Us) Winners announced January 29!

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.

Twitter share: Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction Shortlist Selection (Book cover: Vagina Obscura: An Anatomical Voyage) Winners announced January 29!

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

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Social media share: Our Wives Under the Sea, 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence Longlist Selection, Shortlist announced November 15!Armfield, Julia.

Our Wives Under the Sea.


(Flatiron)

Social media share: Seeking Fortune Elsewhere, 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence Longlist selection, Shortlist announced November 15!Bhanoo, Sindya.

Seeking Fortune Elsewhere..


(Catapult)

Social media share: THe School for Good Mothers, 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence Fiction longlist winner, Shortlist announced November 15!Chan, Jessamine.

The School for Good Mothers.


(Simon & Schuster)

Social media share: Trust, 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence Longlist selection; Shortlist announced November 15!Diaz, Hernan.

Trust.


(Riverhead Books)

Social media share: Greenland, 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence Longlist selection; Shortlist announced November 15!Donaldson, David Santos.

Greenland.


(Amistad)

Social media share: The Candyhouse; 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence Longlist selectionEgan, Jennifer.

The Candy House.


(Scribner)

Social media share: If I Survive You, 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence Longlist selection; Shortlist announced November 15!Escoffery, Jonathan.

If I Survive You.

(MCD BOOKS)

Social media share: Calling for a Blanket Dance. 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence Longlist selection; Shortlist announced November 15!Hokeah, Oscar.

Calling for a Blanket Dance.


(Algonquin)

Social media share: The Kingdom of Sand, 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence Longlist selection; Shortlist announced November 15!Holleran, Andrew.

The Kingdom of Sand.


(Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

Social media share: Demon Copperhead; 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence Longlist selection; Shortlist announced November 15!Kingsolver, Barbara.

Demon Copperhead.


(Harper)

Twitter share: What We Fed to the Manticore, 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence longlist selection; Shortlist announced November 15!Kolluri, Talia Lakshmi.

What We Fed to the Manticore.

(Tin House)

Social media share: The Book of Goose, 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence Longlist selection; Shortlist announced November 15!Li, Yiyun.

The Book of Goose.


(Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

Social media share: Sea of Tranquility, 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence Longlist selection; Shortlist announced November 15!Mandel, Emily St. John.

Sea of Tranquility.


(Knopf)

Twitter share: The Passenger, 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence Longlist selection; Shortlist announced November 15!McCarthy, Cormac.

The Passenger.


(Knopf)

Social media share: How High We Go in the Dark, 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence Longlist selection; Shortlist announced November 15!Nagamatsu, Sequoia.

How High We Go in the Dark.

(William Morrow)

Social media Share: The Marriage Portrait, 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence Longlist selection; Shortlist announced November 15!O'Farrell, Maggie.

The Marriage Portrait.


(Knopf)

Social media share: The Swimmer, 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence Longlist selection; Shortlist announced November 15!Otsuka, Julie.

The Swimmers.


(Knopf)

Social media share: Young Mungo, 2032 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence Longlist selection; Shortlist announced November 151Stuart, Douglas.

Young Mungo.

(Grove)

Social media share: Night of the Living Rez, 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence longlist selection; Shortlist announced November 15!Talty, Morgan.

Night of the Living Rez.


(Tin House)

Social media share: Joan is Okay, 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence Longlist selection; Shortlist announced November 15!Wang, Weike.

Joan is Okay.


(Random House)

Social media share: Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rythm, 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence Longlist selection; Shortlist annnounced November 15!Warrell, Laura.

Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm.

(Pantheon)

Social media share: Four Treasures of the Sky, 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence Longlist selection; Shortlist announced November 15!Zhang, Jenny Tinghui.

Four Treasures of the Sky.


(Flatiron)

NONFICTION

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Social media share: Ducks: Two Years on the Oil Sands, 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence Longlist selection; Shortlist announced November 15!Beaton, Kate.

Ducks: Two Years on the Oil Sands.

(Drawn & Quarterly)

Social media share: By Hands Now Known: Jim Crow's Legal Executioners., 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence Longlist selection; Shortlist announced November 15!Burnham, Margaret A.

By Hands Now Known: Jim Crow's Legal Executioners.


(Norton)

Social media share: Also a Poet: Frank O'Hara, My Father, and Me; 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence Longlist selection; Shortlist announed November 15!Calhoun, Ada.

Also a Poet: Frank O'Hara, My Father, and Me.


(Grove)

Social media share: Vortex: A True Story of History's Deadliest Storm, an Unspeakable War, and Liberation, 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence Longlist selection; Shortlist announced November 15!Carney, Scott and Jason Miklian.

Vortex: A True Story of History's Deadliest Storm, an Unspeakable War, and Liberation.


(Ecco)

Social media share: The Impossible City: A Hong Kong Memoir, 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence Longlist selection; Shortlist announced November 15!Cheung, Karen.

The Impossible City: A Hong Kong Memoir.


(Random House)

Social media share: Every Good Boy Does Fine: A Love Story, in Music, 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence Longlist selection; Shortlist announced November 15! Denk, Jeremy.

Every Good Boy Does Fine: A Love Story, in Music Lessons.


(Random House)

Social media share; Vagina Obscura: An Anatomical Journey, 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence Longlist Selection ; Shortlist announced November 15!Gross, Rachel E.

Vagina Obscura: An Anatomical Voyage.


(Norton)

Social media share: The Third Person., 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence Longlist selection; Shortlist announced November 15!Grove, Emma.

The Third Person.


(Drawn & Quarterly)

Social media share: Indigenous Continent: The Epic Contest for North America., 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellencselection. Shortlist announced November 15!Hämäläinen, Pekka.

Indigenous Continent: The Epic Contest for North America.

(Liveright)

Social media share: Stay True, 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence Longlist selection; Shortlist announced November 15!Hsu, Hua.

Stay True.

(Doubleday)

Social media share: Constructing a Nervous System., 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence Longlist selection; Shortlist announced November 15!Jefferson, Margo.

Constructing a Nervous System.


(Pantheon)

Social media share: Paradise Falls: The True Story of an Environmental Catastrophe., 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence Longlist selection; Shortlist announced November 15!O'Brien, Keith.

Paradise Falls: The True Story of an Environmental Catastrophe.


(Pantheon)

Social media share: The Invisible Kingdom: Reimagining Chronic Illness., 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence Longlist selection; Shortlist announced November 15!O'Rourke, Meghan.

The Invisible Kingdom: Reimagining Chronic Illness.


(Riverhead Books)

Social media share: The Treeline: The Last Forest and the Future of Life on Earth. , 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence Longlist selection; Shortlist announced November 15!Rawlence, Ben.

The Treeline: The Last Forest and the Future of Life on Earth.


(St. Martin's)

Social media share: This Is What It Sounds Like: What the Music You Love Says About You, 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence Longlist selection; Shortlist announced November 15!Rogers, Susan and Ogi Ogas.

This Is What It Sounds Like: What the Music You Love Says About You.


(Norton)

Social media share: The Man Who Could Move Clouds, 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence Longlist selectionRojas Contreras, Ingrid.

The Man Who Could Move Clouds.


(Doubleday)

Social media share: Lost & Found., 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence Longlist selection; Shortlist announced November 15!Schulz, Kathryn.

Lost & Found.


(Random House)

Social media share: The Viral Underclass: The Human Toll When Inequality and Disease Collide., 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence Longlist selection; Shortlist announced November 15!Thrasher, Steven.

The Viral Underclass: The Human Toll When Inequality and Disease Collide.


(Celadon)

Social media share: Sandy Hook: An American Tragedy and the Battle for Truth.. 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence Longlist selection; Shortlist announced November 15!Williamson, Elizabeth.

Sandy Hook: An American Tragedy and the Battle for Truth.


(Dutton)

Social media share: An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us.. 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence Longlist selection; Shortlist announced November 15!Yong, Ed.

An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us.

(Random House)

Social media share: Solito. 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence Longlist selection; Shortlist announced November 15!Zamora, Javier.

Solito.

(Hogarth)