Meet the 2020 Kirkus Prize finalists

Congratulations to the finalists for the 2020 Kirkus Prize!

One book each from the fiction, nonfiction, and young readers' literature categories will earn its author $50,000 on November 5.

Of note: Four of the six fiction nominees are debut novels, and one nominee (Jason Reynolds) is a past winner.

Last year's winners were The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead, How We Fight for Our Lives: A Memoir by Saeed Jones, and New Kid, written by Jerry Craft and illustrated by Jim Callahan.

Here are the contenders to join them in 2020.

Fiction

• Black Sunday, by Tola Rotimi Abraham. 

• Fiebre Tropical, by Juliana Delgado Lopera.

• The Lying Life of Adults, by Elena Ferrante and translated by Ann Goldstein. 

• Luster, by Raven Leilani.

• Deacon King Kong, by James McBride.

• Shuggie Bain, by Douglas Stuart. 

Nonfiction 

• A Furious Sky: The Five-Hundred-Year History of America’s Hurricanes, by Eric Jay Dolin.

• Fathoms: The World in the Whale, by Rebecca Giggs.

• The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal About Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power, by Deirdre Mask.

• World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments, by Aimee Nezhukumatathil.

• Stakes Is High: Life After the American Dream, by Mychal Denzel Smith.

• Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, by Isabel Wilkerson. 

Young readers’ literature 

Picture books 

• I Am Every Good Thing, written by Derrick Barnes and illustrated by Gordon C. James.

• We Are Water Protectors, written by Carole Lindstrom and illustrated by Michaela Goade.

Middle grade 

• The Girl and the Ghost, by Hanna Alkaf.

• Fighting Words, by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley.

Young adult 

• Clap When You Land, by Elizabeth Acevedo.

• Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You: A Remix of the National Book Award-winning Stamped From the Beginning, by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi.