Nation’s Only Endowed Juried Prize for Books on Race and Diversity Recognizes Groundbreaking Authors
CLEVELAND — Four groundbreaking works have been named winners of the 2025 Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards, the nation’s only endowed juried prize dedicated to literature that deepens our understanding of race and diversity.
The Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards jury, chaired by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Natasha Trethewey, selected this year’s distinguished group of winners:
- Fiction: Colored Television by Danzy Senna
- Nonfiction: The United States Governed By Six Hundred Thousand Despots: A True Story of Slavery; A Rediscovered Narrative, with a Full Biography by John Swanson Jacobs, edited by Jonathan D. S. Schroeder
- Memoir: Feeding Ghosts by Tessa Hulls
- Poetry: Yard Show by Janice N. Harrington
Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Yusef Komunyakaa will also receive the Lifetime Achievement Award, recognizing his profound impact on American literature. Known for his lyrical explorations of war, memory, and race, Komunyakaa has shaped contemporary poetry with a voice that is both unflinching and deeply evocative.
Founded in 1935 by poet and philanthropist Edith Anisfield Wolf, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards remain a critical force in the literary world. Past winners include Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, Isabel Wilkerson, Jesmyn Ward, and Colson Whitehead — writers whose work has shaped discourse on race and identity in America.
Anisfield Wolf, who died in 1963, asked the Cleveland Foundation in a bequest to sustain her passion and vision for the awards for the “purpose of stimulating the writing of more and better books upon the general subject of race relations.” The Cleveland Foundation continues to steward the awards today.
“For 90 years, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards have championed fearless, groundbreaking literature that challenges the status quo, ignites dialogue, and shapes a more just and inclusive world,” said Lillian Kuri, president and CEO of the Cleveland Foundation. “This year’s winners unearth buried histories, redefine cultural narratives, and demand our attention — at a moment when these voices are more vital than ever.”
A Landmark Win for the Graphic Memoir Genre
For the first time in its 90-year history, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards have honored a graphic memoir: Feeding Ghosts by Tessa Hulls.
Through stunning visuals and powerful storytelling, Hulls unearths her family’s multigenerational journey from China to America, confronting trauma, migration, and resilience in a format that redefines the boundaries of memoir.
A Prize with National and Global Impact
Now in its 90th year, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards continue to elevate authors whose work ignites national and global conversations on identity, history, and justice.
“This year’s winners add new dimensions to the Anisfield-Wolf legacy,” said jury chair Trethewey. “From a rediscovered first-person slave narrative to a searing portrait of modern racial identity, these books demand to be read and discussed.”
Trethewey is joined on the jury by esteemed AWBA-winning novelist Peter Ho Davies; bestselling AWBA-winning writer and scholar Charles King; AWBA-winning writer and American historian Tiya Miles; and critically acclaimed author and National Book Awards finalist Deesha Philyaw.
The 2025 Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards ceremony will take place September 19 in Cleveland — honoring the winners in a celebration of literature’s power to confront the past and shape the future. This event will be part of a multi-week celebration of books, literature and writing in Cleveland with other local literary partners. Additional details will be announced soon.