US National Book Awards 2024 finalists announced

The US National Book Awards 2024 finalists were announced on Tuesday, October 1, 2024. Here are the writers of African descent on the list.

The US National Book Awards are literary awards from the Northern American nation’s National Book Foundation established in 1936. They are conferred on fiction, nonfiction, poetry, translated literature, and young people’s literature. In 2020, Les Payne, Tamara Payne, and Kacen Callender won in their categories while Walter Mosley was given a Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. Tiya Miles and Jason Mott won in 2021.

The longlists for 2024 were revealed from September 10 – 13 before the finalists were made public on October 1. Here are the writers of African descent who made it;

Fiction

Jury: Lauren Groff (chair), Jamie Ford, Zeyn Joukhadar, Chawa Magaña, and Reginald McKnight.

• Ghostroots, ‘Pemi Aguda (Norton) – Set in Lagos, Nigeria, the cast of characters in ’Pemi Aguda’s debut short story collection, Ghostroots, are haunted by regrets while searching for freedom from the ghosts of their ancestors.
• James, Percival Everett (Doubleday) – In James, Percival Everett considers authorial intent and the possibilities of agency through a reimagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn that centers Jim, an enslaved runaway who was relegated to the role of a mild-mannered companion in Mark Twain’s original telling.
• My Friends, Hisham Matar (Random House) – My Friends by Hisham Matar follows Khaled Abd al Hady and two friends living in exile in Britain as they come together and apart over decades, wrestling with revolution, war, and their loyalties to themselves and to their homeland.

Translated Literature

Jury: Jhumpa Lahiri (Chair), Aron Aji, Jennifer Croft, Gary Lovely, and Julia Sanches.

• The Villain’s Dance, Fiston Mwanza Mujila, translated from the French by Roland Glasser (Deep Vellum) – In Fiston Mwanza Mujila’s The Villain’s Dance, translated from the French by Roland Glasser, readers traverse timelines, perspectives, and borders, following a cast of characters whose quests for survival amidst political, environmental, and financial uncertainty somehow, ultimately, converge.

Young People’s Literature

Jury: Brein Lopez (chair), Rose Brock, Huda Fahmy, Leah Johnson, and Mike Jung.

• The Unboxing of a Black Girl, Angela Shanté (Page Street) – Angela Shanté reflects on the personal and the political in her ode to Black girlhood—told in vignettes and poems influenced by the author’s upbringing in New York City, The Unboxing of a Black Girl serves as a reminder to be gentle with your heart and your mind in defiance of a society that insists on boxing you in.

The winners will be announced during an awards ceremony in New York City on November 20.

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