Discover their stories.
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2019 Nonfiction
The War Before the War
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2011 Fiction
The Cailiffs of Baghdad, Georgia
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2007 Fiction
Half of a Yellow Sun
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2018 Fiction
Sing, Unburied, Sing
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2016 Lifetime Achievement
Orlando Patterson
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1981 Nonfiction
Maasai
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2014 Nonfiction
My Promised Land
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1940 Nonfiction
The Negro Family in the United States
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1958 Nonfiction
White Mother
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1965 Nonfiction
Assimilation in American Life
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1953 Nonfiction
People of the Deer
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2003 Nonfiction
A Problem From Hell
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1972 Nonfiction
Outcasts from Evolution
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1997 Nonfiction
The Color of Water
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1945 Fiction
Earth and High Heaven
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2006 Lifetime Achievement
William Demby
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2010 Lifetime Achievement
Elizabeth Alexander
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2009 Fiction
The Boat
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1992 Nonfiction
Praying for Sheetrock
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2011 Fiction
The Cailiffs of Baghdad, Georgia
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1959 Nonfiction
Racial and Cultural Minorities
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1954 Fiction
Simple Takes a Wife
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1997 Nonfiction
The Color of Water
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1965 Nonfiction
Assimilation in American Life
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1981 Nonfiction
Song From the Earth
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2010 Fiction
Burnt Shadows
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1972 Nonfiction
The Black Image in the White Mind
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2019 Nonfiction
The War Before the War
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2013 Fiction
The Yellow Birds
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1973 Nonfiction
Behind Ghetto Walls
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2007 Lifetime Achievement
Taylor Branch
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1949 Nonfiction
Anatomy of Paradise
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1944 Nonfiction
New World A-Coming
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2019 Lifetime Achievement
Sonia Sanchez
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2020 Poetry
Deaf Republic
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1993 Nonfiction
In My Father’s House
Our Mission
The only juried American book prize focusing on works that address racism and diversity.
The Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards recognize books that have made important contributions to our understanding of racism and human diversity. For 85 years, the distinguished books earning Anisfield-Wolf prizes have opened and challenged our minds. Cleveland poet and philanthropist Edith Anisfield Wolf established the book awards in 1935, in honor of her father, John Anisfield, and husband, Eugene Wolf, to reflect her family’s passion for social justice.
Proudly presented by the Cleveland Foundation
Recent News
View all news-
Add Our New Podcast, The Asterisk*, to Your Playlist
February 12, 2021
The Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards is proud to present The Asterisk*, a new podcast hosted by Karen R. Long, manager of…
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Bill To Create “Toni Morrison Day” Headed To Vote In Ohio State Senate
November 25, 2020
“Quiet as it is kept, there were no marigolds in the fall of 1941 . . . Not even the…
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Rita Dove Featured On New Podcast By Akron Symphony Orchestra
November 19, 2020
Fans of Rita Dove’s 2009 poetry collection “Sonata Mulattica” can dive into the story behind the poems in a new podcast produced…
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Watch The 2020 Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards
November 2, 2020
Enjoy this reimagined ceremony turned documentary, streaming now. It is hosted by Jury Chair Henry Louis Gates Jr. and features…
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Our 2020 Cleveland Book Week In Review
October 12, 2020
Our slate of virtual programming during this year’s Cleveland Book Week means you have continued access, including our collaborations with…
Educational Resources
View all resources-
Teaching Kevin Young’s Bunk: The Rise of Hoaxes, Humbug, Plagiarists, Phonies, Post-Facts, and Fake News
Book: Bunk
Level: Young Adult -
Teaching Diversity in the Eras of Plague and Pandemic
Book: Far From the Tree
Level: Young Adult -
Reading Anisfield-Wolf Winners’ Picture Books
Level: Child
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“Why Black, Not Blue?”: Redefining the Color Black in Children’s Picture Books
Level: Young Adult
Support the Cleveland community by purchasing your Anisfield-Wolf books at these local sellers
Appletree Books, an independent bookstore established in Cleveland Heights, offers an eclectic, well-curated selection of new book titles in multiple genres for both children and adults.
Loganberry Books is an independently owned and operated bookstore in the historic Larchmere neighborhood, featuring a carefully curated collection of new, used and rare books.
Mac’s Backs is an independent bookstore located in the Coventry neighborhood, and home to three floors of new and used classics, mysteries, science fiction, contemporary fiction and non-fiction books and magazines.
Visible Voice is a bookstore with that lost independent feel in the Tremont neighborhood—a relaxed, inviting environment conducive to discovery, where the books marginalized by commercial concerns have a home.
Join the conversation on Twitter
@AnisfieldWolfFor those who attended the #AWP21 panel on teaching #AnisfieldWolf in the classroom, bookmark our education page, which features essays + lesson plans for several of our award-winning books: https://t.co/DuAvD6bUAO
@annmariek_h @NaomiWilliams @peg_a_pursell @jiminhanwriter @ValBrelinski @Kothari_Geeta Please let us know if you decide to teach some AW books in future classes! We share educational resources on our site as well: https://t.co/DuAvD6bUAO
Episode 2 of The Asterisk w/ #SoniaSanchez:
“Teaching made me much more human….Teaching made my writing better.”
Listen to the full episode wherever you get your podcasts: https://t.co/hz1UVa1XAA https://t.co/MF1yFpBuiv
To get to know the man behind the movement, read his memoir, “Vernon Can Read!” (a 2002 Anisfield-Wolf winner) as recommended by @NewsHour special correspondent @CharlayneHG:
https://t.co/3Fr5g7mLm1
Vernon Jordan’s passing marks the end of a glorious era in our people’s history, an era that his courage and wisdom and vision did so much to shape…
Sad to read of the passing of #VernonJordan, the civil rights icon who also won an Anisfield-Wolf book award in 2002 for his memoir, “Vernon Can Read”: https://t.co/2Pp6WbijtG
