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Hurston/Wright Foundation · award year

Hurston/Wright Legacy Award 2024

The 2024 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award went to Sing a Black Girl’s Song: The Unpublished Work of Ntozake Shange by Ntozake Shange (Creative Anthology), The Human Origins of Beatrice Porter and Other Essential Ghosts by Soraya Palmer (Debut Fiction) and The History of a Difficult Child by Mihret Sibhat (Fiction), with winners in 4 more categories. 24 books were finalists across 7 categories.

Winners

Creative Anthology

  1. Sing a Black Girl’s Song: The Unpublished Work of Ntozake Shange by Ntozake Shangesource (opens in a new tab)

Debut Fiction

  1. The Human Origins of Beatrice Porter and Other Essential Ghosts by Soraya Palmersource (opens in a new tab)

Fiction

  1. The History of a Difficult Child by Mihret Sibhatsource (opens in a new tab)

Historical Nonfiction

  1. Built From the Fire: The Epic Story of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, America’s Black Wall Street by Victor Luckersonsource (opens in a new tab)

Memoir Nonfiction

  1. The Wreck: A Daughter’s Memoir of Becoming a Mother by Cassandra Jacksonsource (opens in a new tab)

Poetry

  1. When I Waked, I Cried To Dream Again by A. Van Jordansource (opens in a new tab)

Speculative Fiction

  1. Lies of Ajungo by Moses Ose Utomisource (opens in a new tab)

Finalists

Debut Fiction

  1. Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedosource (opens in a new tab)
  2. In the Upper Country by Kai Thomassource (opens in a new tab)

Fiction

  1. Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyahsource (opens in a new tab)
  2. The Unsettled by Ayana Mathissource (opens in a new tab)
  3. Time’s Undoing by Cheryl A. Headsource (opens in a new tab)

Historical Nonfiction

  1. Anansi’s Gold: The Man Who Looted the West, Outfoxed Washington, and Swindled the World by Yepoka Yeebosource (opens in a new tab)
  2. When Crack Was King by Donovan X. Ramseysource (opens in a new tab)

Memoir Nonfiction

  1. Go Back and Get It: A Memoir of Race, Inheritance, and Intergenerational Healing by Dionne Fordsource (opens in a new tab)
  2. I Am Still With You: A Reckoning with Silence, Inheritance, and History by Emmanuel Idumasource (opens in a new tab)
  3. Life on Other Planets by Aomawa Shieldssource (opens in a new tab)
  4. The Kneeling Man: My Father’s Life as a Black Spy Who Witnessed the Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. by Leta McCollough Seletzkysource (opens in a new tab)

Poetry

  1. Bread & Circus by Airea Dee Matthewssource (opens in a new tab)
  2. The Beloved Community by Patricia Spears Jonessource (opens in a new tab)
  3. Things I Didn’t Do With This Body by Amanda Gunnsource (opens in a new tab)
  4. Trace Evidence by Charif Shanahansource (opens in a new tab)

Speculative Fiction

  1. Mulberry Street Stories by Mary McLaughlin Slechtasource (opens in a new tab)
  2. Spite House by Johnny Comptonsource (opens in a new tab)

About the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award

Winners and finalists from the Foundation's Legacy Awards page (finalist lists by year plus the winners tables), read from the 13 Feb 2026 web.archive.org snapshot because the live site blocks automated requests. Year is the award year (books published the year before). Finalist lists for older years omit the winner, so winners come from the winners tables; 2025 winners come from the page's 2025 winner list, which names authors only, matched to their finalist titles. Categories follow the page: Fiction (General Fiction), Debut Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, plus Contemporary Fiction (2006), split Nonfiction categories (2022-2024), Speculative Fiction (2023-2024) and Creative Anthology (2024). Debut Fiction was not awarded 2009-2015 or 2019; Poetry was first awarded in 2007. The 2024 Creative Anthology winner, Sing a Black Girl's Song, is Ntozake Shange's work edited by Imani Perry, whom the page credits. Typos fixed: The Guyanese Wander(er), Victor La(V)alle.

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

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