Meet the 2021 Kirkus Prize finalists

Congratulations to the finalists for the 2021 Kirkus Prize!

One book each from the fiction, nonfiction, and young readers' literature categories will earn its author $50,000 on October 28.

Last year, Raven Leilani (Luster) became the youngest author ever to win a Kirkus, while author Derrick Barnes and illustrator Gordon C. James (I Am Every Good Thing) became the first repeat winners of the award.

This year, Kirkus evaluated over 10,000 books to generate the following list of award finalists: 

Fiction 

• The Dangers of Smoking in Bed, by Mariana Enríquez and translated by Megan McDowell 

• The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois, by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers. 

• My Monticello, by Jocelyn Nicole Johnson 

• Bolla, by Pajtim Statovci and translated by David Hackston 

• Harlem Shuffle, by Colson Whitehead 

• Harrow, by Joy Williams 

Nonfiction 

• Punch Me Up to the Gods: A Memoir, by Brian Broome 

• People Love Dead Jews: Reports From a Haunted Present, by Dara Horn

• All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family Keepsake, by Tiya Miles

• Seek You: A Journey Through American Loneliness, by Kristen Radtke 

• Lightning Flowers: My Journey To Uncover the Cost of Saving a Life, by Katherine E. Standefer

• Horizontal Vertigo: A City Called Mexico, by Juan Villoro and translated by Alfred MacAdam

Young readers' literature 

Picture books

• Your Mama, by NoNieqa Ramos and illustrated by Jacqueline Alcántara 

• Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre, by Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrated by Floyd Cooper

Middle grade

• Legacy: Women Poets of the Harlem Renaissance, by Nikki Grimes and 19 illustrators

• All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys’ Soccer Team, by Christina Soontornvat

Young adult

• The Surprising Power of a Good Dumpling, by Wai Chim

• The Life I’m In, by Sharon G. Flake