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American Book Awards 2008

The 2008 American Book Awards went to Al' America: Travels Through America's Arab and Islamic Roots by Jonathan Curiel, All That Lies Between Us by Maria Mazziotti Gillan, Anooshi Lingit Aani Ka / Russians in Tlingit America: The Battles of Sitka, 1802 and 1804 by Nora Marks Dauenhauer, Richard Dauenhauer and Lydia T. Black, Doing Nothing: A History of Loafers, Loungers, Slackers, and Bums in America by Tom Lutz, Don't Deny My Name: Words and Music and the Black Intellectual Tradition by Lorenzo Thomas, Each Month I Sing by L. Luis Lopez, How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? Being Young and Arab in America by Moustafa Bayoumi, Incognegro: A Memoir of Exile and Apartheid by Frank B. Wilderson III, Prairie Style by C.S. Giscombe, Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II by Douglas A. Blackmon, Steer Toward Rock by Fae Myenne Ng, The Collected Poetry of Nikki Giovanni: 1968-1998 by Nikki Giovanni, The Ocean in the Closet by Yuko Taniguchi and Where I Must Go: A Novel by Angela Jackson.

Winners

  1. Al' America: Travels Through America's Arab and Islamic Roots by Jonathan Curielsource (opens in a new tab)
  2. All That Lies Between Us by Maria Mazziotti Gillansource (opens in a new tab)
  3. Anooshi Lingit Aani Ka / Russians in Tlingit America: The Battles of Sitka, 1802 and 1804 by Nora Marks Dauenhauer, Richard Dauenhauer and Lydia T. Blacksource (opens in a new tab)
  4. Doing Nothing: A History of Loafers, Loungers, Slackers, and Bums in America by Tom Lutzsource (opens in a new tab)
  5. Don't Deny My Name: Words and Music and the Black Intellectual Tradition by Lorenzo Thomassource (opens in a new tab)
  6. Each Month I Sing by L. Luis Lopezsource (opens in a new tab)
  7. How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? Being Young and Arab in America by Moustafa Bayoumisource (opens in a new tab)
  8. Incognegro: A Memoir of Exile and Apartheid by Frank B. Wilderson IIIsource (opens in a new tab)
  9. Prairie Style by C.S. Giscombesource (opens in a new tab)
  10. Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II by Douglas A. Blackmonsource (opens in a new tab)
  11. Steer Toward Rock by Fae Myenne Ngsource (opens in a new tab)
  12. The Collected Poetry of Nikki Giovanni: 1968-1998 by Nikki Giovannisource (opens in a new tab)
  13. The Ocean in the Closet by Yuko Taniguchisource (opens in a new tab)
  14. Where I Must Go: A Novel by Angela Jacksonsource (opens in a new tab)

About the American Book Awards

Every book the Before Columbus Foundation honored, 2006-2025. The award has no categories, nominees or shortlist, so every row is category Book, level Winner. Year is the announcement year. Sources are the Foundation's own press releases and programs (PDFs and images on beforecolumbusfoundation.com) for 2006, 2008-2014, 2016-2021 and 2024-2025. Fallback to Wikipedia's American Book Awards list for 2007 (the Foundation's poster names only the winners, matching Wikipedia's list), 2015, 2022 and 2023 (no Foundation release online; web.archive.org was unreachable). Lifetime achievement, editor/publisher, oral literature and anti-censorship honors for people, journals or presses are skipped. Walter & Lillian Lowenfels Criticism Awards and the 2021 Anti-Censorship Award are included when the release names a book (2018, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2024, 2025). Edited works list the work's author where the release names one (Jack Spicer, Bob Kaufman, Jean Racine, Lorenzo Thomas, Jose Antonio Burciaga); otherwise the editors. The 2019 Vollmann honor covers both volumes of Carbon Ideologies and is one row. Titles lightly normalized from the releases (typos such as Each Moth I Sing, Victor Lavalle and The Big Machine fixed).

Organization: Before Columbus Foundation. Years are award years, which can differ from publication years. Official site (opens in a new tab)

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