Celebrate Cleveland Book Week this year with free online streaming events highlighting nationally recognized literary talent.
Upcoming Cleveland Book Week Events
View all upcoming events-
CIFF STREAMS + AWBA Film Selections
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Case Western Reserve University: 2012 Anisfield-Wolf Winner David Livingstone Smith
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In Conversation: Charles King + Steven Pinker
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Sudanese-American Poet Safia Elhillo and Twelve Literary Arts on “The Weight and Opportunity of Living in the Hyphen”
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Global Cleveland Sister Cities Conference: Namwali Serpell
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The 2020 Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards Ceremony Televised Special
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Global Cleveland Sister Cities Conference: Ilya Kaminsky
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The City Club of Cleveland Forum: Eric Foner
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Great Lakes African American Writers Conference: Pearl Cleage Keynote
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
Discover their stories.
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1992 Landmark Achievement
Ralph Ellison
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2019 Poetry
Wade in the Water
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1999 Fiction
Cloudsplitter
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1968 Nonfiction
The Jews Among the Nations
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2010 Fiction
Burnt Shadows
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1960 Nonfiction
The Lost Cities of Africa
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2001 Nonfiction
Rope Burns: Stories from the Corner
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2013 Fiction
Kind One
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1994 Nonfiction
W.E.B. Du Bois
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1970 Nonfiction
The Negro in Brazilian Society
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1995 Nonfiction
Parallel Time: Growing Up in Black and White
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2012 Fiction
Half-Blood Blues
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2012 Nonfiction
Less Than Human
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1966 Nonfiction
Your Heredity and Environment
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2020 Lifetime Achievement
Eric Foner
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2004 Fiction
The Known World
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1976 Nonfiction
The Arabs
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2006 Fiction
On Beauty
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1988 Fiction
A Sport of Nature
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2019 Nonfiction
The War Before the War
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2015 Nonfiction
A Tale of Two Plantations
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1967 Nonfiction
The Problem of Slavery in Western Culture
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2004 Nonfiction
Generations of Captivity
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2007 Nonfiction
Steel Drivin’ Man
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2020 Fiction
The Old Drift
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1983 Nonfiction
Hunger of Memory
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1939 Nonfiction
Non-European Peoples of South Africa
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1997 Lifetime Achievement
Albert L. Murray
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2015 Poetry
Hard Love Province
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1997 Fiction
The Autobiography of My Mother
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2017 Fiction
The Association of Small Bombs
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1994 Fiction
The Latin Deli
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2005 Nonfiction
Unforgivable Blackness
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2017 Lifetime Achievement
Isabel Allende
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2014 Lifetime Achievement
Wilson Harris
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2000 Lifetime Achievement
Ernest J. Gaines
Recent News
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Virtual Cleveland Book Week Kicks Off September 29
August 26, 2020
The fifth annual literary celebration returns this year from Sept. 29-Oct. 4, and will celebrate our 2020 Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards…
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John Lewis Hopes To Encourage “Good Trouble” In New Documentary
July 16, 2020
One of the most surprising things about “Good Trouble,” a new documentary on Georgia Congressman John Lewis’ six decades in…
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New Televised Special Will Celebrate Our 2020 Award Recipients Oct 1
June 26, 2020
Join us October 1 to toast the 2020 Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards authors and their brilliant books. WVIZ/PBS ideastream will produce,…
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Anisfield-Wolf Winning Authors Nab Los Angeles Times Book Prizes
April 30, 2020
Four Anisfield-Wolf Book Award-winning authors — including two from our 2020 class — took home hardware from this year’s Los Angeles…
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“We Are Radical Monarchs” Documentary Shows Young Girls Taking Flight In The Social Justice Realm
April 24, 2020
“I was meant to be here,” 11-year-old Amia said as she twirled around the state capitol building in Sacramento, California….
Educational Resources
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Discovering “Reading-in-Place” — the Act of Joining Stories and Geography
Level: Young Adult
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Exploring Magical Thinking Within “Olio” and “The Second Founding”
Book: Olio
Level: Young Adult -
Taking A Deep Dive Into “Sing Unburied Sing”
Book: Sing, Unburied, Sing
Level: Young Adult -
Discussing The Complexities Of Citizenship Within “Half Of A Yellow Sun”
Book: Half of a Yellow Sun
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
@AnisfieldWolfSo excited for this. @ZamericanSLP is one of my favourite people in the whole wide world and @namwalien book touched my soul in ways I still am processing. Sign up to listen to what is sure to be an amazing conversation #Zambia https://t.co/4387ltygqo
Thank you @ilya_poet for conducting this tiny interview for @mcsweeneys and thank you everybody at McSweeney’s for running it! https://t.co/BUiHZFvVjZ
TOMORROW — “Dope Is Death” starts streaming for 24 hours as part of our FREE #ClevelandBookWeek film series w/ @CIFF. Following the film will be an in-depth interview w/ director @MiaDonovan. Grab your streaming code here: https://t.co/4ooxQOeVGg https://t.co/ukuZe910JA
OCT 3: The third annual Great Lakes African American Writers Conference boasts acclaimed playwright Pearl Cleage as its keynote, with publishing vets @kima_jones and @brandilarsen also on the agenda. Register for this FREE conference here: https://t.co/uTx7hsvuwO #CBW2020 https://t.co/UiOWN0k8t0
At @TheCityClub Oct 2 at noon, Eric Foner will discuss his most recent book, “The Second Founding,” the Reconstruction Era, and the contemporary struggle for freedom and equality. Get an email reminder here: https://t.co/o76TOExXqM #CBW2020
