The longlist for the Institute for Immigration Research’s New American Voices Award 2023 was made public on Thursday, July 13, 2023. Here are the writers of African descent on the list.
Fall for the Book is an independent non-profit literary arts organization that promotes reading by sponsoring a variety of year-round events and activities based at George Mason University, USA. An important aspect of this program is the Institute for Immigration Research New American Voices Award which has been running since 2018. The award recognizes recently published works that illuminate the complexity of human experience as told by immigrants, whose work is historically underrepresented in writing and publishing. Previous winners have been Hernan Diaz (2018) and Melissa Rivero (2019). Ismael Beah was a finalist in 2020.
The jury for 2023 comprising authors Chinelo Okparanta, Cleyvis Natera, and Sofia Ali-Khan have announced this year’s longlist.
“This year’s submissions accomplish innovative and ambitious projects successfully,” said the judges. “As authors and readers ourselves, we know how longlist recognition can affirm writers’ understanding of their own contributions and make readers aware of the extraordinary works available to them. For the reasons mentioned, we have curated a long list of ten remarkable works submitted to the 2023 New American Voices Award competition. These ten books address both contemporary and historical issues, delving deeply into the complexities of what it means to be a person or a community in transit, possibly displaced, or establishing a new home across this vast land. We’d like to offer our heartfelt congratulations to the authors of each of these ten books for so bravely enriching the field of new American voices.”
The following writers of African descent made the cut;
- Chain-Gang All-Stars, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (Pantheon)
- The Islands, Dionne Irving (Catapult)
- What Napoleon Could Not Do, DK Nnuro (Riverhead)
- The Middle Daughter, Chika Unigwe (Dzanc Books)
- The Covenant of Water, Abraham Verghese (Grove Atlantic)
Reactions
What favor! The Middle Daughter is on the longlist of The New American Voices Award. And in such stunning company too. So, so grateful to the judges, so, so thankful to God for this gift that keeps on giving. Vile Ephraim has no hiding place, Nani is draggging him into the market square!!!
Chika Unigwe
Delighted to be on the longlist for the New American Voices Award! 🙏🏽
Abraham Verghese
Three finalists will be announced later this summer, and they will join the judges for an award ceremony and reading to discuss their work in October.
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