CLEVELAND – Cleveland Book Week is underway, with a full schedule of far-ranging programs that are nearly all free to the community.
Cleveland Book Week is a series of literary events presented by the Cleveland Foundation and community partners, including Literary Cleveland, Cleveland Public Library, and the Great Lakes African American Writers Conference.
The year’s events are anchored by the 89th annual Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards – the only national juried prize for literature that confronts racism and celebrates human diversity – featuring 2024 Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards (AWBA) winners and renowned authors Ned Blackhawk, Teju Cole, Monica Youn and Maxine Hong Kingston.
NEW this year, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards will host a community symposium bringing together AWBA winning authors and jurors at 11 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 28 at The City Club of Cleveland. When Artists Go to Work: The 2024 Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards Author Symposium will spotlight these powerful literary voices ` and offer unique insights and perspectives into their work and the legacy of the awards.
Book prize welcomes new jurors and new category; sets October 16 deadline for submissions
Cleveland, OH – The Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards – the only juried American book awards focused on works that address racism and diversity – have announced several updates for the 2025 award year, including the introduction of three new jurors and a new memoir and autobiography category.
The book awards, administered by the Cleveland Foundation, were established in 1935 by poet and philanthropist Edith Anisfield Wolf to reflect her family’s passion for issues of social justice. The recipients of the 2024 awards were announced in March.
Welcoming new jurors:
The Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards have announced the addition of three distinguished authors to its jury: Charles King, Deesha Philyaw, and Luis Alberto Urrea. These esteemed writers bring a wealth of experience and accolades to the panel.
Charles Kingis the author of the New York Times-bestselling Gods of the Upper Air, which received the Francis Parkman Prize and the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award. His work has also been shortlisted for the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Los Angeles Times History Prize and the British Academy’s Al-Rodhan Prize for Global Cultural Understanding.
Deesha Philyaw, celebrated for her debut short story collection The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, was a finalist for the 2020 National Book Award for Fiction. Her collection also won the 2021 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, the 2020/2021 Story Prize, and the 2020 LA Times Book Prize: The Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction23.
Luis Alberto Urreais a prolific author and a 2005 Pulitzer Prize finalist for nonfiction. His numerous accolades include the American Book Award, the Lannan Literary Award, and the Edgar Award. Urrea’s works, such as The Devil’s Highway and The Hummingbird’s Daughter, have garnered critical acclaim and widespread recognition.
King, Philyaw, and Urrea join returning jurors Natasha Tretheway (chair), Peter Ho Davies, and Tiya Miles.
New memoir/autobiography category:
“Memoir and autobiography” has been added as a fourth category for submissions, beginning with this year’s awards. The full list of categories includes fiction, poetry, memoir/autobiography and general nonfiction. To be eligible for the awards, books must contribute to our understanding of racism and foster an appreciation of cultural diversity. Books must be written in English and published and copyrighted in 2024 to be eligible for the 2025 prize.
Digital submission process and deadline:
This year, all submissions will be accepted digitally, streamlining the process for authors and publishers. For books published and copyrighted in 2024, the submission period will end on October 16, 2024.
The Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards, presented by the Cleveland Foundation, today announced the winners of the 89th annual awards. The 2024 recipients of the only national juried prize for literature that confronts racism and explores diversity are:
“It is a great pleasure to recognize this year’s winners, who have used their unique voices and experiences to spark critical conversations,” said jury chair Natasha Trethewey, poet, memoirist and Board of Trustees Professor of English at Northwestern University. “This class joins past recipients, who include literary luminaries and contemporary thought leaders, in leveraging the power of words to explore and confront some of the most challenging topics facing us today.”
Trethewey, a 2021 Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards winner for non-fiction, received a Pulitzer Prize in poetry in 2007 and served as the nation’s 19th poet laureate from 2012-2014.
Members of the Anisfield-Wolf jury — Trethewey, Rita Dove, Peter Ho Davies, Tiya Miles and Steven Pinker — salute the new class. Watch the video below as they welcome the newest additions to the Anisfield-Wolf canon.
“This year’s winners join an Anisfield-Wolf canon of literature that has challenged the way that we think and inspired action in individuals around the world,” said Nicholas Roman Lewis, director of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards.
This year’s award winners are among more than 260 recipients of the prize. Past winners include seven writers who won Nobel prizes – Ralph J. Bunche, Nadine Gordimer, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Toni Morrison, Gunnar Myrdal, Wole Soyinka and Derek Walcott.
Nicholas Roman Lewis has joined the Cleveland Foundation as the Director of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards. Lewis, who has served as a literary agent and entertainment attorney, as well as an alumni relations leader at Yale University, will focus on increasing the visibility and impact of the Awards locally, nationally, and internationally.
The 2024 winners will be announced at a March 26 event with author and 2022 AWBA fiction winner Percival Everett, in partnership with the Cuyahoga County Public Library. The event is free and open to the public.
Lewis joins the Cleveland Foundation from Yale University, where he served as senior director for shared interest and identity groups for the Yale Alumni Association. He has also served as a literary agent for authors of several books, including “Ghetto Nation,” “A Love Noire,” “Darker Still,” Leanna Renee Hieber’s “The Eterna Files,” as well as award-winning author Cora Daniels and John Jackson’s “Impolite Conversations.” In addition, Lewis has worked as an attorney in the fields of theater, television, music, and film.
“Nicholas comes to the Foundation with unique and robust experience in publishing, entertainment and community engagement, as well as a successful history in building strong relationships across a diverse range of stakeholder groups,” said Lillian Kuri, president and CEO of the Cleveland Foundation. “We are fortunate to welcome such a talented leader as we look to further elevate the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards while preserving its long-standing heritage.”
An Ohio native, Lewis received his Juris Doctorate from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Yale University.
“I am thrilled for the opportunity to build on the important work started by Edith Anisfield Wolf nearly 90 years ago,” said Lewis. “I believe in the power of literature to drive the conversation on social justice and look forward to expanding the reach of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards nationally and beyond.”
As previously announced, Karen R. Long will retire after an impactful 11 years leading the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards. Prior to her role with AWBA, Long spent an impressive 34-year career at the Cleveland Plain Dealer, including as book editor. She will remain with the Cleveland Foundation as a consultant through July 2024.
Updates to Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards Jury
The Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards welcomed several new jurors for 2024, as three jurors retired after years of dedication to AWBA, including long-time jury chair Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Retiring jurors:
Henry Louis Gates, Jr., literary critic and professor, Harvard University
Joyce Carol Oates, novelist, Princeton University
Simon Schama, historian and professor, Columbia University
The Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards jury for 2024 is comprised of five award-winning authors and leaders in the literary and academic fields.
Natasha Trethewey, poet and memoirist, Northwestern University (jury chair)
Peter Ho Davies, novelist, University of Michigan
Tiya Miles, historian, Harvard University
Rita Dove, poet, University of Virginia (returning juror)
Steven Pinker, psychologist Harvard University (returning juror)