| 2024 | Soil | PEN America Literary Awards source ↗ (opens in a new tab) | Finalist · PEN/Jean Stein Book Award | |
| 2023 | Soil: The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden | Booklist Editors' Choice source ↗ (opens in a new tab) | Selection · Adult Books: Literature | |
| 2023 | Soil: The Story of a Black Mother's Garden | NPR Books We Love source ↗ (opens in a new tab) | Selection · Books We Love | |
| 2023 | Soil: The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden | Library Journal Best Books source ↗ (opens in a new tab) | Selection · Science & Technology | |
| 2018 | Guidebook to Relative Strangers: Journeys into Race, Motherhood, and History | Hurston/Wright Legacy Award source ↗ (opens in a new tab) | Finalist · Nonfiction | |
| 2018 | Trophic Cascade | Hurston/Wright Legacy Award source ↗ (opens in a new tab) | Finalist · Poetry | |
| 2017 | Guidebook to Relative Strangers: Journeys into Race, Motherhood and History | National Book Critics Circle Awards source ↗ (opens in a new tab) | Finalist · Criticism | |
| 2011 | Suck on the Marrow | American Book Awards source ↗ (opens in a new tab) | Winner · Book | |