Today, the Cleveland Foundation announced the winners of its annual Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards, the country’s “only endowed juried prize dedicated to literature that contributes to our understanding of race and our appreciation of the rich diversity of human cultures.”
“It is never easy to choose a single work in each genre from so many excellent books published each year,” said jury chair Natasha Trethewey in a statement. “That each of this year’s winners is a debut makes the honor all the more profound—new voices, already essential. These books matter because they deepen our understanding, enlarge our empathy, and remind us of literature’s power to illuminate who we are.”
The 2026 recipients are:
Fiction:
Carrie R. Moore, Make Your Way Home
Nonfiction:
Bench Ansfield, Born in Flames: The Business of Arson and the Remaking of an American City
Memoir:
Sarah Aziza, The Hollow Half: A Memoir of Bodies and Borders
Poetry:
Gbenga Adesina, Death Does Not End at the Sea
Lifetime Achievement Award:
Nell Irvin Painter