37th Annual American Book Awards

The Before Columbus Foundation announces the
Thirty-Seventh Annual
AMERICAN BOOK AWARDS
Ceremonies, October 30, 2016, 2:00–5:00 p.m.

The 2016 American Book Award winners will be formally recognized on Sunday, October 30th from 2:00-5:00 p.m. at the SF Jazz Center, Joe Henderson Lab, 201 Franklin Street (at Fell), San Francisco, CA. This event is open to the public.

The American Book Awards were created to provide recognition for outstanding literary achievement from the entire spectrum of America’s diverse literary community. The purpose of the awards is to recognize literary excellence without limitations or restrictions. There are no categories, no nominees, and therefore no losers. The award winners range from well-known and established writers to under-recognized authors and first works. There are no quotas for diversity, the winners list simply reflects it as a natural process. The Before Columbus Foundation views American culture as inclusive and has always considered the term “multicultural” to be not a description of various categories, groups, or “special interests,” but rather as the definition of all of American literature. The Awards are not bestowed by an industry organization, but rather are a writers’ award given by other writers.

The 2016 American Book Award Winners are:

Laura Da’
Tributaries (University of Arizona)

Susan Muaddi Darraj
Curious Land: Stories from Home (University of Massachusetts)

Deepa Iyer
We Too Sing America:
South Asian, Arab, Muslim, and Sikh Immigrants Shape Our Multiracial Future (The New Press)

Mat Johnson
Loving Day (Spiegel & Grau)

John Keene
Counternarratives (New Directions)

William J. Maxwell
F.B. Eyes: How J. Edgar Hoover’s Ghostreaders Framed African American Literature
(Princeton University)

Lauret Savoy
Trace: Memory, History, Race, and the American Landscape (Counterpoint)

Ned Sublette and Constance Sublette
The American Slave Coast: A History of the Slave-Breeding Industry (Lawrence Hill Books)

Jesús Salvador Treviño
Return to Arroyo Grande (Arte Público)

Nick Turse
Tomorrow’s Battlefield: U.S. Proxy Wars and Secret Ops in Africa (Haymarket Books)

Ray Young Bear
Manifestation Wolverine: The Collected Poetry of Ray Young Bear (Open Road Integrated Media)

Lifetime Achievement:
Louise Meriwether

Walter & Lillian Lowenfels Criticism Award:
Lyra Monteiro and Nancy Isenberg

Andrew Hope Award:
Chiitaanibah Johnson