The Hurston/Wright Legacy Awards program in the United States honors published Black writers worldwide for literary achievement. Introduced in 2001, the Legacy Award was the first national award presented to Black writers by a national organization of Black writers.[1][2] It is granted for fiction, nonfiction and poetry, selected in a juried competition.[3]
Each fall, writers and publishers are invited to submit fiction, nonfiction and poetry books published that year. Panels of acclaimed writers serve as judges to select nominees, finalists and winners. A number of merit awards are also presented.[4] Nominees are honored at the Legacy Awards ceremony, held the third Friday in October. The awards ceremony is hosted and organized by the Hurston/Wright Foundation.
In addition to the Legacy Awards, the Hurston/Wright board of directors may present Merit awards during the annual Legacy Award ceremony.
Year | Author | Work |
---|---|---|
2002 | David Anthony Durham | Gabriel’s Story |
2003 | Tayari Jones | Leaving Atlanta |
2004 | Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie | Purple Hibiscus |
2005 | Chris Abani | GraceLand |
2006 | Denise Nicholas | Freshwater Road |
2007 | Aminatta Forna | Ancestor Stones |
2008 | Kwame Dawes | She's Gone |
2016 | Sanderia Faye | Mourner's Bench |
2017 | JJ Amaworo Wilson | Damnificados |
2018 | Ladee Hubbard | The Talented Ribkins |
2020 | Jeffrey Colvin | Africaville |
2021 | Rita Woods | Remembrance |
Year | Author | Work |
---|---|---|
2002 | Percival Everett | Erasure |
2003 | Zakes Mda | The Heart of Redness |
2004 | Mat Johnson | Hunting in Harlem |
2005 | Maryse Condé | Who Slashed Celanire's Throat? |
2006 | Nancy Rawles | My Jim |
2007 | Edward P. Jones | All Aunt Hagar's Children |
2008 | Junot Diaz | The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao |
2009 | Uwem Akpan | Say You're One of Them |
2010 | Percival Everett | I Am Not Sidney Poitier |
2011 | Danielle Evans | Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self |
2012 | Helen Oyeyemi | Mr. Fox |
2013 | Esi Edugyan | Half-Blood Blues |
2014 | NoViolet Bulawayo | We Need New Names |
2015 | Laila Lalami | The Moor's Account |
2016 | James Hannaham | Delicious Foods |
2017 | Colson Whitehead | The Underground Railroad |
2018 | Alain Mabanckou | Black Moses |
2019 | Nafissa Thompson-Spires | Heads of the Colored People |
2020 | Curdella Forbes | A Tall History of Sugar |
2021 | Percival Everett | Telephone |
Year | Author | Work |
---|---|---|
2002 | Ken Wiwa | In the Shadow of a Saint: A Son’s Journey to Understand His Father’s Legacy |
2003 | Elizabeth McHenry | Forgotten Readers: Recovering the Lost History of African American Literary Societies |
2004 | Wil Haygood | In Black and White: The Life of Sammy Davis, Jr. |
2005 | Alexis De Veaux | Warrior Poet: A Biography of Audre Lorde |
2006 | John Hope Franklin | Mirror to America: The Autobiography of John Hope Franklin |
2007 | Wangari Maathai | Unbowed: A Memoir |
2008 | Edwige Danticat | Brother, I'm Dying |
2009 | Frank B. Wilderson | Incognegro: A Memoir of Exile and Apartheid |
2010 | Robin Kelley | Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original |
2011 | Isabel Wilkerson | The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration |
2012 | Tomiko Brown-Nagin | Courage to Dissent: Atlanta and the Long History of the Civil Rights Movement |
2013 | Fredrick Harris | The Price of the Ticket: Barack Obama and Rise and Decline of Black Politics |
2014 | Craig Wilder | Ebony & Ivy |
2015 | Elizabeth Nunez | Not For Everyday Use |
2016 | Pamela Newkirk | Spectacle: The Astonishing Life of Ota Benga |
2017 | Kali Nicole Gross | Hannah Mary Tabbs and the Disembodied Torso: A Tale of Race, Sex, and Violence in America |
2018 | Tiya Miles | The Dawn of Detroit: A Chronicle of Slavery and Freedom in the City of the Straits |
2019 | Imani Perry | May We Forever Stand: A History of the Black National Anthem |
2020 | Albert Woodfox | Solitary: My Story of Transformation and Hope |
2021 | Marcia Chatelain | Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America |
Year | Author | Work |
---|---|---|
2007 | Patricia Smith | Teahouse of the Almighty |
2008 | Kyle G. Dargan | Bouquet of Hungers |
2009 | Myronn Hardy | The Headless Saints |
2010 | Rita Dove | Sonata Mulattica: Poems |
Haki R. Madhubuti | Liberation Narratives: New and Collected Poems | |
2011 | Elizabeth Alexander | Crave Radiance: New and Selected Poems 1990–2010 |
2012 | Evie Shockley | the new black |
2013 | Lucille Clifton | The Collected Poems of Lucille Clifton 1965–2010 |
2014 | Amaud Jamaul Johnson | Darktown Follies |
2015 | Claudia Rankine | Citizen: An American Lyric |
2016 | Vievee Francis | Forest Primeval |
2017 | Donika Kelly | Bestiary |
2018 | Evie Shockley | Semiautomatic |
2019 | Terrance Hayes | American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin |
2020 | Ladan Osman | Exiles of Eden |
2021 | Rachel Eliza Griffiths | Seeing the Body |
Year | Author | Work |
---|---|---|
2005 | Tracy Price-Thompson | A Woman's Worth |
2006 | Clyde W. Ford | The Long Mile: The Shango Mysteries |
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