The winners of the 2024 Kirkus Prize in the categories of Fiction, Nonfiction and Young Readers’ Literature were announced on October 16th in an in-person ceremony at the Tribeca Rooftop in New York that also was livestreamed on Kirkus's YouTube channel.

Kirkus editor-in-chief Tom Beer said, “This year’s prize-winning books --- each written with elegance and lucidity --- illuminate tragedies both personal and historical, helping us to better understand our world and the spirit of human resilience.”

The Kirkus Prize was created in 2014 to celebrate the discerning, thoughtful criticism that Kirkus Reviews has contributed to both the publishing industry and readers at large since it was founded in 1933. For more information about Kirkus Reviews and the Kirkus Prize, please click here.
 

2024 Winners

FICTION

• JAMES by Percival Everett (Doubleday)

 
NONFICTION

• CHALLENGER: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space, by Adam Higginbotham (Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster)

 
YOUNG READERS’ LITERATURE

• GATHER by Kenneth M. Cadow (Candlewick)
   

2024 Finalists

FICTION

• SAY HELLO TO MY LITTLE FRIEND by Jennine Capó Crucet (Simon & Schuster)
• THE MIGHTY RED by Louise Erdrich (Harper)
• JAMES by Percival Everett (Doubleday)
• PLAYGROUND by Richard Powers (W. W. Norton and Company)
• MARGOT'S GOT MONEY TROUBLES by Rufi Thorpe (William Morrow)
• PROPHET SONG by Paul Lynch (Grove Press)

 
NONFICTION

• THE ACHILLES TRAP: Saddam Hussein, the CIA, and the Origins of America’s Invasion of Iraq, by Steve Coll (The Penguin Press)
• CHALLENGER: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space, by Adam Higginbotham (Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster)
• FEEDING GHOSTS: A Graphic Memoir, by Tessa Hulls (MCD)
• THE GARDEN AGAINST TIME: In Search of a Common Paradise, by Olivia Laing (W. W. Norton and Company)
• UNDUE BURDEN: Life and Death Decisions in Post-Roe America, by Shefali Luthra (Doubleday)
• ANOTHER WORD FOR LOVE: A Memoir, by Carvell Wallace (MCD)

 
YOUNG READERS’ LITERATURE
 
Picture Books

• WE WHO PRODUCE PEARLS: An Anthem for Asian America, by Joanna Ho, illustrated by Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya (Orchard Books)
• THERE WAS A PARTY FOR LANGSTON by Jason Reynolds, illustrated by Jerome Pumphrey and Jarrett Pumphrey (Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books)

Middle Grade

• SAFIYYAH'S WAR by Hiba Noor Khan (Allida)
• SHARK TEETH   by Sherri Winston (Bloomsbury Children's Books)

Young Adult

• GATHER by Kenneth M. Cadow (Candlewick)
• BRIGHT RED FRUIT by Safia Elhillo (Make Me a World)