Explore thoughtful book discussion questions, exclusive author content, and thoughts on the winning books from AWBA program director, jurors and partners each month through our Anisfield-Wolf Book Club!
January’s Selection: 2025 Memoir Winner, Feeding Ghosts, by Tessa Hulls
Tessa Hulls’ graphic memoir, Feeding Ghosts, is a compendious multi-generational epic combining a sweeping history of twentieth century China with an intimate, extraordinary family story. Stories indeed – our most precious inheritance – lie at the heart of this remarkable volume: the gnawing need to tell them and the hunger to hear them.
While you read Tessa Hulls’ award-winning memoir, Feeding Ghosts, take a listen to our curated playlist of songs inspired by cowboys, travel, nomads, and more!
Whether you are hosting your next book club or would simply like some questions to guide your reading, program director of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards, Kortney Morrow, has curated a selection of questions to consider while you read Feeding Ghosts.
Did you enjoy reading Feeding Ghosts? If so, we recommend the following memoirs, graphic novels, and stories to add to your reading list!
Memorial Drive (2021 AWBA Winner), Natasha Trethewey
The Complete Maus, Art Spiegelman
The Best We Could Do, Thi Bui
The Woman Warrior (1978 AWBA Winner), Maxine Hong Kingston
How to Not be Afraid of Everything, Jane Wong
The Fortunes (AWBA Winner 2017), Peter Ho Davies
Some of the world’s most powerful stories honored by the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards have leapt from the page to the screen. With over 262 prizes awarded since 1935, over 15 of these exceptional works have been adapted for the screen!
Set in the 1950s and 1960s, the 2016 movie follows the true story of three African American women (played by Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monáe) who worked for NASA as ‘human computers’ at the Langley Research Centre.
The 2017 documentary considers how children and their families cope with deafness, autism, dwarfism, and several other identities that challenge society’s definition of ‘normal.’
The 2017 movie, The Yellow Birds, starring Alden Ehrenreich, Tye Sheridan, and Jennifer Aniston, pivots on the last weeks of friendship between 18-year-old Private Daniel Murphy and 21-year-old Private John Bartle, who makes a rash promise to Mrs. Murphy to bring her son home safely from Iraq.
“The Reluctant Fundamentalist,” a 2012 movie based on Hamid’s novel, follows a young Pakistani man whose American dream unravels in the wake of 9/11, forcing him to confront questions of identity and belonging. The film stars Riz Ahmed alongside Kate Hudson and Kiefer Sutherland.
The 2013 film centers on the lives of two sisters raised in privilege, Kainene (Anika Noni Rose) and Olanna (Thandie Newton). We meet them on the cusp of the civil war and follow shifts in the complex relationships the sisters share with one another, their lovers, and, ultimately, their sense of nation.
The Emperor of Ocean Park is a 2024 television series based on Stephen L. Carter’s 2003 novel of the same name. Starring Forest Whitaker, Tiffany Mack, Grantham Coleman, and Paulina Bugembe, the show follows Talcott Garland, whose tranquil existence is upended by the death of his father. Mariah Denton, a former journalist and ardent conspiracy theorist, questions the manner of his death and thinks he was the victim of foul play.
2004’s Oscar Award Winning, Million Dollar Baby starring Hilary Swank and Clint Eastwood is based on a short story from Rope Burns: Stories from the Corner. The film follows Margaret “Maggie” Fitzgerald (Swank), an underdog amateur boxer who is helped by an underappreciated boxing trainer (Eastwood) to achieve her dream of becoming a professional.
The 1998 movie of the same name starring Laurence Fishburne, Natalie Cole, Laurie Metcalf, Bill Cobbs, and Cicely Tyson, follows a former prisoner as he tries to save a neighborhood child from following him down the wrong path.
“Beloved,” released in 1998, is the film adaptation of Morrison’s AWBA and Pulitzer Prize winning novel. Starring Oprah Winfrey, Danny Glover and Thandiwe Newton, the story follows a mother who is haunted by her enslaved past.
Simple Justice is the definitive history of the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education and the epic struggle for racial equality in this country. The 1993 movie starring Giancarlo Esposito, James Avery, Andrew Braugher, and Peter Francis James, explores this case in its entirety.
The Autobiography of Malcolm X (1965) sold more than five million copies and changed the nation’s opinion of the black nationalist leader. This Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards Winning biography was the inspiration for the 1992 Spike Lee movie, Malcolm X, starring Denzel Washington.
A Many-Splendored Thing (1952) describes Han Suyin’s tragic love affair with a British newspaper correspondent in the context of military and social conflict and also explores problems of bicultural parentage. This book served as the inspiration for the 1955 film, Love is a Many-Splendored Thing.
Alfred A. Knopf’s, The Wall, is the story of the Warsaw ghetto from November 1939 to May 1943 told by means of a fictional diary kept by Noach Levinson, self-appointed archivist. This book inspired the 1982 film starring Tom Conti.
Alan Paton’s award-winning book follows a Zulu priest who travels to Johannesburg from the countryside in search of his sister and his son. In 1995, a movie adaptation starring James Earl Jones and Richard Harris brought this work to live on the big screen.
Explore thoughtful book discussion questions, exclusive author content, and thoughts on the winning books from AWBA program director, jurors and partners each month through our Anisfield-Wolf Book Club!
December’s Selection: 2025 Nonfiction Winner, The United States Governed by Six Hundred Thousand Despots, A True Story of Slavery, A Rediscovered Narrative, with a Full Biography, John Swanson Jacobs, Edited by Jonathan D. S. Schroeder
A stunning achievement of autobiographical writing, political commentary, historical sleuthing, and critical interpretation. Originally written and published by the abolitionist and sailor John Swanson Jacobs in 1855, the memoir was rediscovered and republished by the literary scholar Jonathan Schroeder in 2024.
Book Discussion QuestionsWhether you are hosting your next book club or would simply like some questions to guide your reading, program director of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards, Kortney Morrow, has curated a selection of questions to consider while you read The United States Governed by Six Hundred Thousand Despots.
Did you enjoy reading The United States Governed by Six Hundred Thousand Despots? If so, we recommend the following books to add to your reading list!
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Harriet Jacobs
David Walker’s Appeal, David Walker
We Refuse, Kellie Carter Jackson
Magnumb, Arthur Jafa
Scenes of Subjection, Saidiya Hartman
Tacky’s Revolt, Vincent Brown
Are you looking for the perfect gift for the readers on your list? Look no further! We have compiled a list of some of our favorite Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards winning titles for every reader, from fiction fans to history lovers, there is something in the AWBA canon for everyone!
The New-to-AWBA Explorer
People who want an approachable starting place—accessible reads that open the door to the canon.
Memorial Drive by Natasha Trethewey (AWBA Nonfiction 2021):
In this sublime memoir, our Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards jury chair reckons with the murder of her mother at the hands of her stepfather. The poetic prose will grip you as Trethewey masterfully revisits the deeply segregated South, miscegenation laws, and the life she built in the wake of trauma.
As the first graphic novel to win an Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, this text is perfect for the reader who values a visual story.Former AWBA winner and current AWBA juror Peter Ho Davies writes, “Tessa Hulls’ graphic memoir, Feeding Ghosts, is a compendious multi-generational epic combining a sweeping history of twentieth century China with an intimate, extraordinary family story. Feeding Ghosts crosses oceans, continents and decades to make whole a family, restore a home and as readers we are privileged to join a journey told in such richly expressive images and vivid prose.”
The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson (AWBA Nonfiction 2011):
Through narrative storytelling, Wilkerson writes a definitive account of the Great Migration—a period in history when six million Black citizens migrated from the South to the North and the West in search of greater opportunity. Wilkerson’s masterwork sheds light on a six-decade period of “unrecognized immigration” within the United States, documenting a legacy of citizens who left home to follow their dreams.
The one who says, “just one more chapter,” stays up way too late, and always needs another great read queued up.
Colored Television by Danzy Senna (AWBA Fiction 2025):
This satirical novel follows Jane Gibson, a middle-aged writer whose latest book project “her mulatto War and Peace” never makes it to market and puts her tenure-track into question. Desperately seeking economic stability for her family, she descends into the underbelly of Hollywood. This page-turning text is full of Jane’s questionable decisions, unexpected plot twists, and Senna’s brilliant commentary on race and class in a post-post-racial America.
Deacon King Kong by James McBride (AWBA Fiction 2021):
If an elderly deacon marching out of a housing project in South Brooklyn and shooting the most ruthless drug dealer in the first paragraph doesn’t get you to binge read this novel, I’m not sure what will. McBride weaves humor and gripping prose to create a portrait of a working-class neighborhood grappling with poverty, compassion, and faith.
The Association of Small Bombs by Karan Mahajan (AWBA Fiction 2017):
Mahajan’s second novel starts with Chapter 0—the detonation of a bomb in the Lajpat Nagar market in New Delhi. This explosive beginning is followed by a riveting account of the aftershocks of a terrorist attack. Written in third person, Mahajan writes with psychological empathy for both the victims and the perpetrators, complicating our understanding of violence and sympathy. Read this before his third novel comes out in March 2026.
Looks for literature that illuminates injustice, elevates marginalized voices, and inspires action.
“A Problem From Hell”: America and the Age of Genocide by Samantha Power (AWBA Nonfiction 2003):
In this groundbreaking text now over 20 years old, Power analyzed U.S. foreign policy in the 20th century to explain the repeated failure to act in the face of genocide. Documenting the U.S.’ position in Cambodia, Iraq, Bosnia, Rwanda, Kosovo and beyond, Power’s text questions pragmatism in the face of atrocity. The perfect choice for a social justice seeker grappling with contemporary questions around genocide, U.S involvement, foreign policy, and morality.
Bunk: The Rise of Hoaxes, Humbug, Plagiarists, Phonies, Post-Facts, and Fake News by Kevin Young (AWBA Nonfiction 2018):
“Bunk is an essential book. It unpacks myriad hoaxes embedded in American history, from Spiritualism to the fake news espoused by Donald Trump. As Kevin Young explores these hoaxes, he finds that there is darkness at the heart of our country, a malignant seed, that finds expression in fakery. Young writes with humor and wit, and during this moment when alternative facts are sanctioned and willful ignorance is celebrated, this is a necessary read.” – Jesmyn Ward on Bunk
Deaf Republic by Ilya Kaminsky (AWBA Poetry 2020):
Kaminsky’s second poetry collection is set in an occupied territory during a time of political unrest. In the first poem of Act One, a solider shoots and kills a young deaf boy and it renders the entire town deaf. This 76-page urgent elegy lifts a mirror up to our collective silences in the face of atrocity and forces us to face what it means to live in a peaceful country.
The Gay Revolution: The Story of the Struggle by Lillian Faderman (AWBA Nonfiction 2016):
Faderman’s archival research and 150+ first-person interviews resulted in her 2016 landmark text—The Gay Revolution. Starting from the 1950s when the law classified gays, lesbians, and trans people as criminals and working her way up to the fight for marriage equality under Obama’s presidency, Faderman documents the gay-rights movement. As the ACLU tracks 616 anti-LGBTQ bills in the United States as of September 2025, revisiting this text and filling in the ten-year gap between the time of its publication might be critical to understanding where we came from and where we’re heading in the fight for gay rights.
For readers who love literature that transports them across cultures, borders, and identities.
Aké: The Years of Childhood by Wole Soyinka (AWBA Nonfiction 1983):
In 1986, Wole Soyinka was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature making him the first African laureate. Three years prior, the first installment of his memoir, Aké, won the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for nonfiction. Here, Soyinka documents his childhood living in a Yoruba village in western Nigeria from ages 4-11. Pick up this text for a chance to experience pre-World Word II Nigeria from a curious and always-questioning child-eye’s view.
The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell (AWBA Fiction 2020):
Serpell’s debut novel, which took nearly two decades to craft, centers on a fateful 1904 incident near the Old Drift, a colonial settlement on the Zambezi River just a few miles from Victoria Falls. In the aftermath of this tragic incident, Serpell follows three generations as they collide over the course of a century. Former Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards juror Rita Dove writes, “The Old Drift” is “a phenomenal accomplishment, nothing less than a retelling/reimagining of the creation and ‘history’ of Zambia. The writing is exquisite; her descriptions of water – Victoria Falls, Lake Malawi, even rain – are awesome.”
If you’re looking for a single book to take you around the world, look no further than The Boat by Nam Le. Le’s debut is a collection of seven different short stories set in Colombia, Japan, Iran, Australia and the United States. Spanning different points of view and different time periods, think of each short story as a trip to a new place. On each stop you’ll meet new characters, each faced with an urgent threshold they must cross over.
Drawn to narratives—fiction or nonfiction—that uncover untold truths, cultural histories, or lived experience.
The US Governed by Six Hundred Thousand Despots: A True Story of Slavery by Jonathan D. S. Schroeder (AWBA Nonfiction 2025):
In this groundbreaking text,Schroeder uncovered the 1855 first-person slave narrative written by John Swanson Jacobs—brother of Harriet Jacobs—in an Australian newspaper. Reproduced in full, this narrative, written by an ex-slave and ex-American, inserts a new 19th century global slave narrative. In the second half of the book, Schroeder writes a full biography on Jacobs’ life, adding context by an esteemed literary historian.
Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly (AWBA Nonfiction 2017):
Shetterly’s debut novel tells the story of four black women mathematicians working at NASA beginning in 1948. Their calculations during the Space Race era allowed the country to successfully send astronauts into orbit, to the moon and back. “The title of the book is something of a misnomer,” Shetterly writes in her acknowledgements. “The history that has come together in these pages wasn’t so much hidden as unseen—fragments patiently biding their time in footnotes and family anecdotes and musty folders.”
Horse is for the historical fiction fans. When Brooks’ learned that the Smithsonian had recently received a donation of the skeleton remains of the 19th century thoroughbred horse Lexington, she was intrigued. She would go on to uncover the critical role Black horseman played in building the thoroughbred industry. This novel is the story of that legendary Pre-Civil War racehorse, Lexington, and his Black groomer, Jarret. Not only does Brooks paint a picture of race relations at the cusp of national division, she brings the legacy of enslavement into the modern day with a contemporary storyline that makes you question just how far we’ve come.
Explore thoughtful book discussion questions, exclusive author content, and thoughts on the winning books from AWBA program director, jurors and partners each month through our Anisfield-Wolf Book Club!
Whether you are hosting your next book club or would simply like some questions to guide your reading, program director of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards, Kortney Morrow, has curated a selection of questions to consider while you read Colored Television.
Did you like Colored Television? If so, we recommend the following books to add to your reading list!
Caucasia, Danzy Senna
Come and Get It, Kiley Reid
Audition, Katie Kitamura
Swing Time, Zadie Smith
The Black Notebooks, Toi Derricotte
Quicksand, Nella Larsen
The Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards (AWBA), the only national juried prize for literature that addresses racism and diversity, proudly marks its 90th anniversary with a citywide celebration September 19–20, 2025. The anniversary weekend will bring award-winning authors to Cleveland for a series of thought-provoking conversations and readings that honor nine decades of Anisfield-Wolf awardees—writers who shaped our understanding of race, culture, and identity.
“As we mark the 90th anniversary of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards, we celebrate not only this year’s remarkable winners but also the enduring vision of Edith Anisfield Wolf,” said Kortney Morrow, Program Director, Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards. “This milestone year brings together past and present voices in a dynamic new setting—designed to spark urgent conversations and honor a legacy that continues to expand how we see, understand, and shape the world around us.”
Founded in 1935 by poet and philanthropist Edith Anisfield Wolf, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards remain a critical force in the literary world. For nine decades, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards have set the intellectual table for conversations on race and cultural differences. Past winners include Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, Martin Luther King Jr., Nadine Gordimer, Wole Soyinka, Toni Morrison, Isabel Wilkerson, and Colson Whitehead— writers whose work has shaped discourse on race and identity.
Anisfield Wolf, who died in 1963, asked the Cleveland Foundation in a bequest to sustain her passion and vision for the awards for the “purpose of stimulating the writing of more and better books upon the general subject of race relations.” The Cleveland Foundation continues to steward the awards today.
“For nine decades, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards have championed literature that confronts injustice and sparks critical, consequential conversations about our world and humanity,” said AWBA jury chair Natasha Trethewey, poet, memoirist, and Board of Trustees Professor of English at Northwestern University. “It is a profound honor to celebrate this year’s winners and the extraordinary legacy of the awards during its 90th anniversary weekend – at a time when these voices are more important than ever.”
The Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards are part of Cleveland Book Fest, a month-long showcase of literary excellence in Northeast Ohio.
Friday, September 19: City Club of Cleveland Forum and the 90th Anniversary Awards Ceremony
The weekend begins with a special City Club of Cleveland Friday Forum at 11:30 a.m. featuring literary scholars Jonathan D. S. Schroeder(AWBA 2025) and Vincent Brown (AWBA 2021) in conversation on Rediscovering Resistance: John Swanson Jacobs and 600,000 Despots. The forum will be held at the City Club of Cleveland (1317 Euclid Ave.) and is open to the public ($30 members / $45 nonmembers).
That evening, the 90th Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards Ceremony will take place at the Maltz Performing Arts Center (1855 Ansel Rd.) beginning at 6:30 p.m. A public reception with book signings, food, and drinks will follow at the Ballroom at Park Lane.
Saturday, September 20: The 90th Anniversary Celebration – Events Free and Open to the Public
Morning: Author Panels and Community Conversations
The celebration continues Saturday morning at the Cleveland Public Library’s MLK Jr. Branch with two dynamic panels. Doors open at 9 a.m.
Humanity on the Line: Resisting Dehumanization, Erasure, and Atrocity Amidst Divides (9:45 a.m.): A fireside chat with George Makari(AWBA 2022) and David Livingstone Smith (AWBA 2012)
Light in the Ruins: A Poetry Reading Featuring Past Anisfield-Wolf Book Award Winners (10:30 a.m.): A poetry reading featuring Adrian Matejka (AWBA 2014), Ilya Kaminsky (AWBA 2020), Victoria Chang (AWBA 2021), Monica Youn (AWBA 2024), and Marilyn Chin (AWBA 2015)
Book sales and signings will follow, hosted by Mac’s Backs. Featured canon members as well as AWBA jurors – Natasha Trethewey (AWBA 2021), Peter Ho Davies (AWBA 2017), Charles King (AWBA 2020), Tiya Miles (AWBA 2022), Deesha Philyaw, and Luis Alberto Urrea – will be available.
Afternoon: Author In-Community Events
Spend the afternoon in Ohio City with a series of intimate, author-led conversations and performances that bring literature into the heart of the community. Each event is hosted in a unique neighborhood venue, offering attendees the chance to engage with award-winning writers in relaxed, creative settings. Events are all within walking distance.
Central Hub: Bookhouse Brewing
Enjoy discounted food and drinks, browse signed books, and connect with fellow attendees between sessions.
Beyond Representation: Fiction that Moves, Challenges and Illuminates the Complexity of Identity. Guests will enjoy a lively conversation about how narrative driven fiction infused with humor can challenge the way we see ourselves and the world around us.
2:00–2:45 PM | Transformer Station | Tessa Hulls (AWBA 2025) x Maxine Hong Kingston (AWBA Lifetime Achievement 2024)
Drawn from Memory: The Role of Art in Shaping Identity Moderated by author Peter Ho Davies (AWBA 2017). Tessa Hulls’ visual panels will be projected on the gallery walls, enriching the experience.
3:00–3:45 PM | St. John’s Episcopal Church | Jonathan D. S. Schroeder (AWBA 2025) x Karamu House Revival: A Slave Narrative Reawakened In partnership with Karamu House, actors will perform dramatic readings from the 1855 slave narrative of John Swanson Jacobs, reinterpreted through a modern lens.
4:00–4:45 PM | Ohio City Farm | Janice N. Harrington (AWBA 2025)
Yard Show: Poetry of Belonging, Nature, and Black Creative Placemaking Guests will enjoy a live poetry reading, reflections on the cultural and ecological significance of Black creative placemaking, and guided tours of the grounds.
All events are free unless otherwise noted. For more information and to receive event updates, visit Anisfield-Wolf.org.
The Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards recognize books that have made important contributions to our understanding of racism and human diversity. Established in 1935 by poet and philanthropist Edith Anisfield Wolf, the awards are the only national juried prize for literature that confronts racism and celebrates diversity. The Anisfield-Wolf Book awards are administered by the Cleveland Foundation. For more information, visit Anisfield-Wolf.org, and follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram.
Cleveland Book Week has been transformed into Cleveland Book Fest, a month-long showcase of literary excellence in Northeast Ohio. This year’s festival is slated to draw in thousands of book lovers, writers, and residents through author talks, poetic-inspired exhibits, dynamic readings, writing workshops, and publishing panels.
Cleveland Book Fest Schedule
Rock & Read: Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo
Tuesday, Sept. 3 | 6 p.m.
Cleveland Public Library Martin Luther King Jr. Branch
Join us for a rockin’ family event celebrating My Grandma and Grandpa Rock! by legendary duo Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo. Enjoy a lively discussion moderated by the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s own Dr. Jason Hanley. Presented in partnership with the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Sourcebooks Publishing and Loganberry Books.
Free copies of the book to the first 300 attendees.
Cleveland Public Library Martin Luther King Jr. Branch
Hosted by Lake Erie Ink, Writers in Residence, CHARP EDucation and Sparrows Fortune
This FREE event is open to all teens, in grades 7th-12th in the Greater Cleveland community, and will include local guest poets, pizza, giveaways of books and other cool stuff. Teens will write in response to prompts and share work in an open mic. If you’re a teen, stop in and do some writing, sharing and listening. If you’re an adult, stop in and listen to what Cleveland teens have to say.
Literary Cleveland’s Inkubator Writing Conference is the largest free writing conference in the country. Three days of virtual events Sept. 8-10 with nationally renowned authors lead to a two-day in-person conference Sept. 12-13 featuring 40 events and 80 authors at the Cleveland Public Library. The in-person conference includes writing workshops, craft talks, panel discussions, an open mic, a book fair with regional literary presses and organizations, plus a keynote by bestselling author and Cleveland native Celeste Ng. All free!
Drawn Together: Jewish Women and Graphic Novels A Conversation with Terri Libeson, Sara Phoebe Miller, and Samantha Baskind
Wednesday, Sept. 17 | 7 p.m.
Mishkan Or 26000 Shaker Blvd, Beachwood, OH 44122
Step into the world of graphic novels with creators Terri Libenson and Sara Phoebe Miller and art history professor Samantha Baskind. In this lively conversation, they’ll discuss the power of combining images and words, the influence of Jewishness, and connecting with readers through storytelling.
Terri Libenson is the creator of The Pajama Diaries and the best-selling middle-grade graphic novel series Emmie & Friends (book 9, Entirely Emmie, appeared earlier this year).
Sara Phoebe Miller is the author of the young adult graphic novel You Belong Here. After working at DC Comics for more than a decade, she recently became the Editorial Director at BOOM! Studios.
Samantha Baskind is Distinguished Professor of Art History at Cleveland State University. She co-edited the landmark book The Jewish Graphic Novel: Critical Approaches and is the author of six books on Jewish art and artists, including the forthcoming Moses Jacob Ezekiel: Jewish, Confederate, Expatriate Sculptor. She also serves on the board of the Siegel and Shuster Society.
Join The City Club in learning from two Anisfield-Wolf Book Award winners, Jonathan D. S. Schroeder and Vincent Brown, as they discuss the importance of amplifying hidden narratives and what uncovering stories of resistance can teach us about today.
The Nature of Our Times – Exhibit Opening and Poetry Reading
Friday, Sept. 19 | 3:00-5:00 p.m.
Cleveland Public Library (Main)
Join us for a special opening event and poetry reading for the exhibit, The Nature of Our Times at Cleveland Public Library, featuring Ohio poets and coeditors Luisa A. Igloria, Aileen Cassinetto, and David Hassler and Phillip Levin, director of United By Nature.
Published by Paloma Press in collaboration with the Wick Poetry Center and Poets for Science, The Nature of Our Times: Poems on America’s Lands, Waters, Wildlife, and Other Natural Wonders is a companion to the United By Nature Initiative, a first-of-its-kind, national assessment of U.S. lands, waters, and wildlife.
The annual Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards ceremony returns to the Maltz Performing Arts Center for a fourth consecutive year to honor the 2025 winners as they join the esteemed canon of America’s only juried book prize focusing on works that address racism and diversity. A reception, book sale and author signing will follow the ceremony. Tickets are free but registration is required. A livestream option will be available for those who cannot attend in person.
Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards 90th Anniversary Celebration
Saturday, Sept. 20 | 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
AWBA author panels, book signings and in-community events at the Cleveland Public Library – Martin Luther King Jr. Branch in the morning and various venues across Ohio City in the afternoon.
Samin is a cook, teacher, and author of the James Beard award-winning cookbook, Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking. She was named one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People in the World and Chef of the Year by Eater. She is the co-host of the Home Cooking podcast and host of the Netflix original documentary series based on her book Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat.
Author Jill Lepore will discuss her latest book, We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution.
Each ticket ($35 +fees) includes a seat at the author’s talk, a copy of We the People, and a donation to the Cuyahoga County Public Library Foundation.
Jill Lepore is the David Woods Kemper ’41 Professor of American History at Harvard University and Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. She is also a staff writer at The New Yorker. Her many books include the international bestseller, These Truths: A History of the United States.
Cuyahoga County Public Library South Euclid-Lyndhurst Branch
Join us for the book launch event for Dan Chaon’s One of Us.
Dan Chaon is the author of several books, including Ill Will, a national bestseller that was named one of the 10 best books of the year by Publishers Weekly. Other works include the short story collection Stay Awake, a finalist for the Story Prize; the national bestseller Await Your Reply; and Among the Missing, a finalist for the National Book Award. Chaon’s fiction has appeared in the Best American Short Stories, the Pushcart Prize Anthologies, and the O. Henry Collection. He has been a finalist for the National Magazine Award in Fiction and the Shirley Jackson Award, and he was the recipient of an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature. Chaon lives in Cleveland.
John Scalzi is one of the most popular science fiction authors of his generation. His debut, Old Man’s War, won him the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. His New York Times bestsellers include The Last Colony, Fuzzy Nation, Redshirts (which won the Hugo Award for Best Novel), The Last Emperox, The Kaiju Preservation Society, and Starter Villain. Material from his blog, Whatever, has earned him two other Hugo Awards. He lives in Ohio with his wife and daughter.
Marie Vibbert at the Cuyahoga County Public Library
Thursday, Sept. 25 | 7-8 p.m.
Cuyahoga County Public Library South Euclid-Lyndhurst Branch
Local author Marie Vibbert visits to discuss her latest novel, Andrei and the Hellcats.
Hugo- and Nebula-nominated author Marie Vibbert’s short fiction has appeared over 90 times in top magazines like Nature, Analog, and Clarkesworld, and been translated into Czech, Chinese and Vietnamese. Her debut novel, Galactic Hellcats, was long listed by the British Science Fiction Award and her work has been called “everything science fiction should be” by the Oxford Culture Review. She also writes poetry, comics, and computer games. By day she is a computer programmer in Cleveland.
Ian McEwan’s literary works have earned him worldwide critical acclaim. His first collection of short stories, First Love, Last Rites, won the Somerset Maugham Award in 1976. McEwan was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize for Fiction numerous times before winning the award for Amsterdam in 1998. His novel, Atonement, received the WH Smith Literary Award in 2002 and was made into an Oscar-winning film featuring Keira Knightley and James McAvoy. His new book, What We Can Know, will be published on September 18, 2025. Single tickets go on sale Wednesday, September 3rd.
Cleveland Public Library Martin Luther King Jr. Branch
The Eighth Annual Great Lakes African American Writers Conference (GLAAWC, pronounced “glossy”) features a nationally renowned author, Diane McKinney-Whetstone (the Langston Hughes Literary Keynote), and Kim Martin-Sadler (the Alice Dunbar Nelson Professional Keynote), a publishing industry expert, to share insights with authors and aspiring writers throughout the region. Accompanied by in-depth panel discussions, opportunities to network with esteemed literary minds, and be equipped with trending literary tactics, this event is a must-attend for all literary creatives and lovers of African American literature.
Join us for our annual day-long conference where Black literary creatives are celebrated and highlighted for their work in Cleveland and beyond. Learn from influential publishing industry professionals to obtain and enhance your writing objectives.
Save the date for Saturday, Sept. 27 from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. at the Cleveland Public Library-MLK Branch! While this event is free and open to the public, Ms. McKinney-Whetsone’s latest novel, Family Spirit, will be available for purchase as a bundled ticket. Do take advantage of the bundled ticket and secure Ms. McKinney-Whetsone’s autograph during her book signing.
Also, on Friday, Sept. 26., GLAAWC, in partnership with the Case Western Reserve University English Department and the Baker-Nord Center, will host the Alice Dunbar-Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award honoring Cleveland’s own beloved and distinguished poet, Julie Patton. Additional details forthcoming.
Mark your calendars for a distinguished weekend of literature and camaraderie in celebration of the 90th Anniversary of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards. This two-day festival-style celebration will feature intimate conversations between past AWBA winners, jury and author book signings, and in-community author events showcasing the AWBA Class of 2025.
2025 Awards Ceremony
Sept. 19, 6:30 p.m.
Maltz Performing Arts Center
Tickets will be available to reserve later this summer.
90th Anniversary Celebration
Sept. 20, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
AWBA author panels, book signings and in-community events at the Cleveland Public Library – Martin Luther King Jr. Branch and various venues across Ohio City
Full schedule forthcoming – watch our social channels and website for updates.
CLEVELAND — Four groundbreaking works have been named winners of the 2025 Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards, the nation’s only endowed juried prize dedicated to literature that deepens our understanding of race and diversity.
The Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards jury, chaired by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Natasha Trethewey, selected this year’s distinguished group of winners:
Fiction:Colored Television by Danzy Senna
Nonfiction:The United States Governed By Six Hundred Thousand Despots: A True Story of Slavery; A Rediscovered Narrative, with a Full Biography by John Swanson Jacobs, edited by Jonathan D. S. Schroeder
Memoir:Feeding Ghosts by Tessa Hulls
Poetry:Yard Show by Janice N. Harrington
Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Yusef Komunyakaa will also receive the Lifetime Achievement Award, recognizing his profound impact on American literature. Known for his lyrical explorations of war, memory, and race, Komunyakaa has shaped contemporary poetry with a voice that is both unflinching and deeply evocative.
Founded in 1935 by poet and philanthropist Edith Anisfield Wolf, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards remain a critical force in the literary world. Past winners include Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, Isabel Wilkerson, Jesmyn Ward, and Colson Whitehead — writers whose work has shaped discourse on race and identity in America.
Anisfield Wolf, who died in 1963, asked the Cleveland Foundation in a bequest to sustain her passion and vision for the awards for the “purpose of stimulating the writing of more and better books upon the general subject of race relations.” The Cleveland Foundation continues to steward the awards today.
“For 90 years, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards have championed fearless, groundbreaking literature that challenges the status quo, ignites dialogue, and shapes a more just and inclusive world,” said Lillian Kuri, president and CEO of the Cleveland Foundation. “This year’s winners unearth buried histories, redefine cultural narratives, and demand our attention — at a moment when these voices are more vital than ever.”
A Landmark Win for the Graphic Memoir Genre
For the first time in its 90-year history, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards have honored a graphic memoir: Feeding Ghosts by Tessa Hulls.
Through stunning visuals and powerful storytelling, Hulls unearths her family’s multigenerational journey from China to America, confronting trauma, migration, and resilience in a format that redefines the boundaries of memoir.
A Prize with National and Global Impact
Now in its 90th year, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards continue to elevate authors whose work ignites national and global conversations on identity, history, and justice.
“This year’s winners add new dimensions to the Anisfield-Wolf legacy,” said jury chair Trethewey. “From a rediscovered first-person slave narrative to a searing portrait of modern racial identity, these books demand to be read and discussed.”
Trethewey is joined on the jury by esteemed AWBA-winning novelist Peter Ho Davies; bestselling AWBA-winning writer and scholar Charles King; AWBA-winning writer and American historian Tiya Miles; and critically acclaimed author and National Book Awards finalist Deesha Philyaw.
The 2025 Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards ceremony will take place September 19 in Cleveland — honoring the winners in a celebration of literature’s power to confront the past and shape the future. This event will be part of multi-week celebration of books, literature and writing in Cleveland with other local literary partners. Additional details will be announced soon.
CLEVELAND – The Cleveland Foundation announced 10 finalists for the 2025 Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards (AWBA), marking 90 years of honoring literature that confronts racism and explores diversity.
The announcement of finalists marks an expansion from past practice. In previous years, only the winning books have been revealed for categories that include fiction, nonfiction, poetry and lifetime achievement.
“Every year, the hardest part of our job as judges is choosing the winners from a finalist pool of incredible and compelling books,” says Natasha Trethewey, Pulitzer-Prize winning author and chair of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards jury, which considered more than 300 submissions this year. “The decision to share the finalists allows us to lift up the important works of more of these talented authors to a broader audience.”
Founded in 1935 by poet and philanthropist Edith Anisfield Wolf, AWBA remains the only national endowed juried prize recognizing books that contribute to our understanding of racism and foster an appreciation of cultural diversity.
Anisfield Wolf, who died in 1963, asked the Cleveland Foundation in a bequest to sustain her passion and vision for the awards for the “purpose of stimulating the writing of more and better books upon the general subject of race relations.” The Cleveland Foundation continues to steward the awards today.
This year’s extraordinary finalists span fiction, nonfiction, poetry and memoir/autobiography, reflecting the richness and complexity of the global conversation on identity, history and justice:
Janice Harrington, Yard Show
Tessa Hulls, Feeding Ghosts
John Swanson Jacobs/edited by Jonathan D. S. Schroeder, The United States Governed by Six Hundred Thousand Despots: A True Story of Slavery; A Rediscovered Narrative, with a Full Biography
Sarah Lewis, The Unseen Truth: When Race Changed Sight in America
Susan Muaddi Darraj, Behind You Is the Sea
Emily Raboteau, Lessons for Survival: Mothering Against “the Apocalypse”
Kiley Reid, Come and Get It
Danzy Senna, Colored Television
Adam Shatz, The Rebel’s Clinic: The Revolutionary Lives of Frantz Fanon
Danez Smith, Bluff
“Art is such a powerful tool—it inspires us, challenges us and leads us to ask the critical questions that drive society in the direction of its best self,” says Lillian Kuri, president and CEO of the Cleveland Foundation. “For 90 years, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards have amplified voices in pursuit of a more just and inclusive world, not only in literature but in life.”
The finalist list of 10 titles was chosen by the 2025 AWBA jury. Trethewey is joined by esteemed AWBA-winning novelist Peter Ho Davies; bestselling AWBA-winning writer and scholar Charles King; AWBA-winning writer and American historian Tiya Miles; and National Book Award finalist Deesha Philyaw. The selection process reflects the award’s deep commitment to literary excellence and social relevance.
“This year’s finalists embody the Anisfield-Wolf legacy of fearless writing that compels us to reckon with history and reimagine the future,” says Trethewey. “These books are urgent, profound and necessary.”
The winners will be announced on April 10 at the William N. Skirball Writers Center Stage Series presented by the Cuyahoga County Public Library Foundation and its academic partner Case Western Reserve University in the Maltz Performing Arts Center in Cleveland, Ohio. Tommy Orange, former AWBA winner for his 2018 debut novel, There There, will announce the winners following a conversation with fellow writer Kaveh Akbar. Live stream (and limited in-person) tickets are available at writerscenterstage.org.
The winners will also be honored at the upcoming annual Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards ceremony this fall in Cleveland.
About the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards The Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards recognize books that have made important contributions to our understanding of racism and human diversity. Established in 1935 by poet and philanthropist Edith Anisfield Wolf, the awards are the only national endowed juried prize for literature that confronts racism and celebrates diversity. The Anisfield-Wolf Book awards are administered by the Cleveland Foundation.
About the Cleveland Foundation Established in 1914, the Cleveland Foundation is the world’s first community foundation – and one of the largest today. Through the generosity of donors, the foundation improves the lives of residents of Cuyahoga, Lake and Geauga counties by building community endowment, addressing needs through grantmaking and providing leadership on vital issues. Our vision is a vibrant Northeast Ohio where no Clevelander is left behind. For more information, visit ClevelandFoundation.org and follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram.
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.
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)
The fifth annual literary celebration returns this year from Sept. 29-Oct. 4, and will celebrate our 2020 Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards winners, while broadening our reach into film and podcasts. The week will be anchored by a one-hour documentary featuring a visit to the hometowns of historian Eric Foner, poet Ilya Kaminsky, scholar Charles King and novelist Namwali Serpell, replacing our annual awards ceremony.
Mark your calendar now for these engaging events and more as the calendar evolves with further details.
Tuesday, September 29-October 4 AW + CIFF Streams
Viewers will have the opportunity to stream free Cleveland International Film Festival documentaries, all with an Anisfield-Wolfian flavor. Coupled with each film will be an in-depth interview with the director, hosted by Cleveland State University professor Eric Siler.
Our 2020 winner for poetry Ilya Kaminsky and Cuyahoga Community College Professor Alexandria Romanovich will bring “Deaf Republic” to this international gathering, discussing Kaminsky’s political poetry.
Thursday, October 1 Global Cleveland Sister Cities Conference Our 2020 winner for fiction Namwali Serpell and Baldwin-Wallace Professor Chisomo Selemani will discuss “The Old Drift” and Zambia at this international gathering.
Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards 2020 Enjoy this reimagined ceremony turned documentary, at 8 p.m. on WVIZ/ideastream. Featuring Anisfield-Wolf jury chair Henry Louis Gates Jr. and each of our 2020 winners in their hometowns.
Our 2020 lifetime achievement award winner Eric Foner will speak in a virtual City Club of Cleveland Friday Forum. He will discuss his most recent book, “The Second Founding,” the Reconstruction Era, and the contemporary struggle for freedom and equality.
In this multi-day writers’ conference, now in its third year, literary creatives from Cleveland, Northeast Ohio, and throughout the Great Lakes will gather to learn from and network with influential publishing industry professionals from hubs including New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles.
Paul Beatty’s “The Sellout” took home the Man Booker Prize for 2016, making him the first U.S. author to win the British award. The satirical novel, whose plot kicks off from an absurd trial that puts resegregation and slavery before the Supreme Court, was a unanimous choice for the judges. Historian Amanda Foreman, jury chair of the prize, called Beatty’s work “a novel for our times.”
“The Sellout is one of those very rare books: which is able to take satire, which is a very difficult subject and not always done well, and plunges it into the heart of contemporary American society with a savage wit of the kind I haven’t seen since Swift or Twain,” Foreman said. “It manages to eviscerate every social taboo and politically correct nuance, every sacred cow. While making us laugh, it also makes us wince. It is both funny and painful at the same time.”
This marks the second major award for “The Sellout,” as it collected the National Book Critics Circle prize in March. Below, the review from our own Karen R. Long, a member of the NBCC jury:
Try reading the first paragraph of The Sellout aloud. Better still, in public. It begins “This may be hard to believe, coming from a black man, but I’ve never stolen anything” and it ends describing our narrator handcuffed and sitting on “a thickly padded chair that, much like this country, isn’t quite as comfortable as it looks.”
As the poet Kevin Young points out in The New York Times, this bit “takes the beginning of Ellison’s Invisible Man’(‘I am an invisible man. No, not some spook . . .’) and spoofs it beyond belief.” Indeed, the satire of Paul Beatty corkscrews its reader into one stunning contortion after another, until it feels as if every social construct is splayed and strangled, caught like a codfish in the reader’s own horrified throat.
“Horrifying” is one of my margin notes. So is “outrageous,” “incendiary” and “tour de force.” The vehicle delivering this is the dazzling voice of the narrator, raised in a neglected “agrarian ghetto” on the outskirts of Los Angeles where he grows prize watermelon and omnipotent marijuana. (After he passes a blunt to a group of surfers, “shaggy, aboriginal, blond-haired white boys, damn near as dark as you,” one says: “Incredible bud, dude. Where’d you get this shit?” Answer: “I know some Dutch coffee shop owners.”)
In this way Beatty serves cake and eats it: confirming and blowing up an expectation in the same sentence, pretty much sentence by sentence. The protagonist’s father treats his son as a life-long demented experiment; he is known as “The Sellout!” during roll call of the Dum Dum Donut Intellectuals, where our narrator scarfs down a “batch of Oreo cookies.”
California plays the bass line in this painful music; here is one passage I marked tour de force: “If places like Sedona, Arizona, have energy vortexes, mystical holy lands were visitors experience rejuvenation and spiritual awakenings, Los Angeles must have racism vortexes. Spots where visitors experience deep feelings of melancholy and ethnic worthlessness. Places like the breakdown lane on the Foothill Freeway, where Rodney King’s life, and in a sense America and its haughty notions of fair play, began their downward spirals. Racial vortices like the intersection of Florence and Normandie, where misbegotten trucker Reginald Denny caught a cinder block, a forty-ounce, and fucking centuries of frustration in the face. Chavez Ravine, where a generations-old Mexican American neighborhood was torn down, its residents forcibly removed, beaten, and left uncompensated to make room for a baseball stadium with ample parking and the Dodger Dog. Seventh Street, between Mesa and Centre, is the vortex where in 1942 a long line of buses idled as Japanese-Americans began the first step toward mass incarceration.”
Taking a page from Dave Chappelle, our narrator decides the solution lies in racially segregating the local middle school and reinstituting slavery on his own spread. The weird and terrible thing: it goes well. The novelist Mat Johnson praised The Sellout, telling the New York Times: “Hordes on Twitter spend all day arguing and denouncing each other over perceived identity slights, racial or otherwise. Beatty’s work is a beautiful reminder that sometimes you can say more by laughing at yourself than by screaming at everyone else.”
Maybe so. But if a joke is “the truth that’s gone out and got drunk,” this brilliant novel makes a case for Carrie Nation, looking for an ax to sober the place up.
Journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates, national correspondent for The Atlantic magazine, walked to the lectern at the City Club of Cleveland and managed to distill two years of work on “The Case for Reparations” into an eight-word thesis: “What you have taken should be given back.” It’s time, he argues, for America’s moral reckoning with the legacy of slavery.
For Coates, 38, the spotlight has never been brighter. His 15,000-word article in The Atlantic, buttressed by original research, an extensive bibliography and film clips, broke the record for single-day traffic on the magazine’s website when it was published May 21.
Coates took comic Stephen Colbert’s jabs on “The Colbert Report.” At MSNBC, Melissa Harris-Perry invited Coates onto her eponymous show, while Bill Moyers provided an argument-expounding forum on PBS. But Coates, who brought to the City Club both father, William Paul Coates, and an iPad full of notes, was humble. He defined patriotism as “love of country” and pointed out that—just as his father loves him and his wife loves him—love rarely involves telling him what he wants to hear. Mature love, mature patriotism, means facing the things that do not credit the beloved.
Asked by an audience member what reparations would look like, Coates suggested that they could resemble the reparations the U.S. government provided the Japanese-Americans wrongly interned during World War II and the financial compensation made to Jews by the German nation after the same war. He stressed that housing and educational policies of discrimination and racism harm African-Americans to this day and that the same policies undergird white supremacy.
The Baltimore native arrived at the Atlantic in 2008 after stints at Time magazine and the Village Voice. Coates’ regular column at The Atlantic has become a hub of intellectual discourse on the web, where he has held court on everything from the NFL banning the N-word to President Obama’s reproach of young black men in a commencement speech at Morehouse College. Asked about the state of investigative journalism, Coates stressed that his magazine editors put substantial resources into richly documenting “The Case for Reparations” and creating a full multimedia narrative as well.
Coates insists on history. “You have to imagine a society where owning people is not just legal but our greatest intellectuals are arguing that it’s morally correct,” Coates told a silent crowd. “We have to learn to consider enslavement, in that time, as legit an institution as home-ownership is, in this time.” He called out Natchez, Miss., not New York City, as home to the largest concentration of multimillionaires in 1860’s America. This is because it was the major hub for slave trading.
One of Coates’ admirable traits is his quick acknowledgment of his limitations. He told the audience that he had dropped out of college; he demurred from answering a question that he didn’t feel well-read enough to take on. He said that in June he started a seven-week French immersion class at Vermont’s Middleburg College. “I just wanted to go someplace where I was the dumbest person there. I was just bumbling around; I was making mistakes. Because it’s good to be reminded that it’s not about you.”
The best thing to come out of writing the reparations article was that “now I know,” Coates said. “And I can’t be lied to.”
Briefly, he mentioned protests in Ferguson, Missouri, aching to use historical context to uncover an accurate picture. He asked what police—who have used toxic language and intimidating displays of force on protesters and journalists—might have done before the eyes of the nation were upon them. He suggested that those in the audience with white bodies need not worry about a day when they would be shot dead in the afternoon and left in the street for four hours, as happened August 9 when Ferguson Policeman Darren Wilson shot and killed Michael Brown, an unarmed teenager. “All I want to see is some history of the housing there. We can begin with Mike Brown laying on the ground and folks rioting. But there’s just a whole host of questions behind that. How did his family get to live there? What are the conditions like? What’s going on there?”
Twice during his talk, Coates spoke of the mental and spiritual strain that accompanies being black in America, and his wonder at the continuing optimism of African Americans. He prescribed international travel. “Because this thing will consume you,” he said. “It will eat you. It will eat your soul. It will make you forget you’re a human being with particular likes and dislikes and things that make you different…You are more than a problem that needs to be fixed. It’s important, for our own mental health, to get out every once in a while.”
Anthony Marra startled the literary world in 2013 with his stunner of a debut, A Constellation of Vital Phenomena. His fresh, Chechnya-inspired book won this year’s Anisfield-Wolf Book Award and will bring its author to Cleveland for the first time. He follows in the footsteps of Iraq War veteran Kevin Powers, who spoke last year about his own war novel, “The Yellow Birds” on the campus of Case Western Reserve University.
Marra, 30, will speak and read at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, September 10, in the intimate setting of the Baker-Nord Center for the Humanities at Case. “Wars shatter families, relationships, even stories,” Marra has said. “But Constellation is less a story about war than a story about ordinary people rebuilding their lives during and in the aftermath of war. It’s a story not about rebels and soldiers, but about surgeons, nurses, and teachers, each of whom tries to salvage and recreate what has been lost.”
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The writer first found his way to the Caucuses as an undergraduate abroad. He grew up in Washington, D.C., and now lives in Oakland, Calif., and teaches at Stanford University. His novel, set over five days between the two modern Chechnya wars, has many sources in nonfiction and fiction. One is to the work of assassinated Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya; another is the Anisfield-Wolf winner Edward P. Jones.
In crackling scenes flecked with notes of mordant humor, A Constellation of Vital Phenomena contains six central characters, and begins with an 8-year-old girl hiding in the forest as the Russian federals burn her home and “disappear” her father. A neighbor determines to hide the child in a mostly-destroyed hospital where one doctor and one nurse remains. “When I traveled to Chechnya,” Marra remarked, “I was repeatedly surprised by the jokes I heard people cracking. It was a brand of dark, fatalistic humor imprinted with the absurdity that has become normalized there over the past two decades.”
The novel won the National Book Critics Circle’s John Leonard Prize, and was long-listed for the National Book Award. Marra earned his MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and studied with novelist Adam Johnson at Stanford. His work has appeared in The Atlantic, The New Republic, Narrative magazine, the 2011 Pushcart Prize anthology, and the Best American Nonrequired Reading 2012.
The Baker-Nord event is free and open to the public, but registration is required. Get more information and RSVP for the event HERE.
The melodic beckoning of Caribbean steel-pan drum greeted guests at the Midwestern premier of Dutch filmmaker Ida Does’ Derek Walcott documentary, “Poetry Is An Island.” The title, and inspiration for the film, came from Walcott’s acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1992. A dozen years later, Walcott won an Anisfield-Wolf Lifetime Achievement award.
Jointly hosted by the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards and Karamu House, the afternoon began with Karamu actors staging a powerful 15-minute excerpt from Walcott’s 1970 play, “Dream on Monkey Mountain.” Karamu last produced the drama in 2006, when it was named Best Stage Production by Cleveland Scene.
The documentary begins with a handful of Walcott’s confidantes: his childhood friends, Arthur Jacobs and Sir Dunstan St. Omer; his domestic partner of 26 years, Sigrid Nama; his former personal assistant, Michelle Serieux among others. Despite their various roles in Walcott’s life, they all make similar observations: Walcott is a serious man, with a serious work ethic, who sees the world as few people do.
Born 84 years ago on the island of St. Lucia, Walcott came to see his early efforts to paint and write as an homage to his father, Warwick Walcott, a painter and a poet, who died at age 31 of an infection when his son was a toddler. By the time Walcott was 14, he had published his first poem in the local newspaper; at 18 he had written enough to compile his first book. “I asked my mother for $200, which was, I don’t even know how much that would be today, and she gave it to me. I sold my books for $1 a copy and I made the money back.” Walcott’s eyes twinkled. “But I don’t think I paid her back,” he added with a laugh.
Does’ film-making style is that of inconspicuous observer, but occasionally viewers get to sit across from Walcott and take in his words, one on one. In a moving scene, Walcott reads a poem about his parents and tears begin to pool in the corners of his eyes. “Oh, this is wicked,” he said as he paused to compose himself. His love is palpable.
Most of Walcott’s work centers on St. Lucia, and it is revelatory to see him in his element. Yet the artist expressed considerable frustration over a dream that has stalled: the creation of an artist’s colony on Rat Island, a small, unoccupied bit of land off the St. Lucian coast. After Walcott won the Nobel Prize, he built a home, and donated some prize money toward an international arts center. But there has been no discernible progress; nor are there any museums or theater for live productions on the island. In the documentary, Walcott criticizes the government and wonders aloud if he would see St. Lucia embrace and encourage a thriving arts culture in his lifetime. “Poetry gives us…consolation,” Walcott says in the final scenes. “It provides spiritual strength. It is…the language of love.”
After the premier, filmmaker Ida Does took questions from the audience via Skype from her home in the Netherlands. Does said she first approached Walcott about making a documentary in 2008 and characterized the five-year journey to complete the film as a labor of love. “I was fascinated by him,” Does remarked. “It is amazing to see what a great thinker he is.”
On the cusp of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards ceremony, join awards manager Karen R. Long for a personal introduction to the titles being honored this year. Long will offer a speed date with each book, and an introduction to the Lifetime Achievement winners on Wednesday, September 3 at noon. Her presentation will kick off this fall’s Brown Bag Book Club at the Cleveland Public Library downtown.
In subsequent weeks, the series will then break out to examine each of the 2014 award-winning books in turn. Beginning Wednesday, September 10, readers will gather at noon with expert librarians to consider the poetry, novel and nonfiction works in the spotlight this year:
Tickets to the September 11 awards ceremony at the Ohio Theatre are available here. (Stand-by tickets are guaranteed due to no-shows.)
Karen R. Long served as book editor of The Plain Dealer for eight years before becoming the manager of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards. Long is a vice president for the National Book Critics Circle, where she is a judge for its six annual prizes, awarded each March in New York City.
Karen will give her talk on the 2nd Floor of the Main Library Building, in the Literature Department. Interested guests will be able to check out the featured books after the talk. Questions? Call the library at 216-623- 2881.
Poet Adrian Matejka mixed his love of boxing with his love of literature to produce “The Big Smoke,” 52 poems that center on Jack Johnson, the first African-American heavyweight champion. The collection won this year’s Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, and was a finalist for the Pulitzer and the National Book Award.
On September 10, Matejka will bring his words to the Cleveland canvas of the Old Angle Boxing Gym while boxer Roberto Cruz, 11, and Corey Gregory, 42, will each demonstrate the sweet science in separate demonstration bouts. We are proud to collaborate with Old Angle owner Gary Horvath and Dave Lucas of Brews + Prose to welcome the Clark Avenue neighborhood, the boxing community and local literati for a memorable night of sport and poetry.
The evening begins at 7 p.m. and is free. The public is welcome, with registration details available at the event’s Facebook page. Matejka, a professor at Indiana University, will also take audience questions and sign books. He spent eight years researching the storied and much-mythologized life of Johnson before creating the poems—told in the voices of the boxer and the people around him.
“There is a wonderful recording of Johnson narrating part of his 1910 fight with Jim Jeffries,” Matejka told Shara Lessley of the National Book Awards. “As Johnson describes the action, his cadences emulate the fight action in a way that makes him sound like a ring announcer. I used the recording as one of the primary sources for Johnson’s ‘voice’ in the book.”
Matejka, 42, said some of his work, particularly the sonnets, reflect the physicality and cadences of the sport. “The Big Smoke” ends in 1912, a full 34 years before Johnson died. Matejka plans a second volume of poems on the man who, he says, “managed to win the most coveted title in sports, but through the combination of his own hubris and the institutionalized racism of the time, he lost everything. That rise and fall naturally lends itself to the oral tradition of poetry.”
Open and challenge your mind with the latest news from Anisfield-Wolf
