The Hurston/Wright Legacy Awards annually honor published works of fiction, nonfiction and poetry by Black writers published in the previous year. Recognized as a singular award from the Black writing community to its peers, the Legacy Awards each year recognizes members of the national and international Black writing community.

The 2015 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award Nominees
FICTION:

The Secret History of Las Vegas Chris Abani (Penguin Books)
Radiance of Tomorrow Ishmael Beah (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
An Untamed State Roxane Gay (Grove Atlantic)
The Moor’s Account Laila Lalami (Pantheon)
The Orchard of Lost Souls Nadifa Mohamed (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Land of Love and Drowning Tiphanie Yanique (Riverhead Books)

NONFICTION:

Our Declaration Danielle Allen (Liveright)
This Nonviolent Stuff’ll Get You Killed Charles E. Cobb (Basic Books)
Fire Shut Up In My Bones Charles Blow (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
Malcolm X at Oxford Union Saladin Ambar (Oxford University Press)
Losing Our Way Bob Herbert (Doubleday)
Not for Everyday Use Elizabeth Nunez (Akashic Books)

POETRY:

Revising the Storm Geffrey Davis (BOA Editions)
We Didn’t Know Any Gangsters Brian Gilmore (Cherry Castle Publishing)
Digest Gregory Pardlo ( Four Way Books)
The Essential Hits of Shorty Bon Bon Willie Perdomo (Penguin Books)
Citizen: An American Lyric Claudia Rankine (Graywolf Press)
King Me Roger Reeves (Copper Canyon Press)

The Hurston/Wright Legacy Awards Ceremony will take place Friday, October 23rd in Washington, D.C. at the Washington Plaza Hotel.

The judges for the 2015 Legacy Awards were

Fiction: David Haynes, Martha Southgate, and Beverly East
Nonfiction: Ashraf Rushdy, Sheri Booker, and Keith S. Clark
Poetry: Chris Abani, Monica Hand, and Allison Joseph