“Manhattan Beach,” receives 2018 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction

UPDATE: No medal for nonfiction was awarded in 2018.

_______________________________________

The American Library Association (ALA) announced “Manhattan Beach,” by Jennifer Egan, published by Scribner, as the winner of the 2018 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction. The selection was announced RUSA’s Book and Media Awards Ceremony sponsored by NoveList, during the ALA Midwinter Meeting & Exhibits in Denver.

The awards, established in 2012, serve as a guide to help adults select quality reading material. They are the first single-book awards for adult books given by the American Library Association and reflect the expert judgment and insight of library professionals and booksellers who work closely with adult readers.

“My sincere congratulations to this year’s winners of the Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction and to the award committee for selecting such noteworthy titles,” said ALA President Jim Neal. “Today’s selections illustrate how the expertise of librarians and library staff can help lead efforts to support adult literacy by identifying titles that resonate with adult readers. Today’s medal selections will serve as a guide for those who are looking for the best of the best in fiction and nonfiction for adult readers, thus transforming lives through education and lifelong learning.”

From New York mobsters to the first woman diver at the Brooklyn Naval Station during WWII to the archetypally motley crew of a merchant-marine ship in U-boat-infested waters, Egan’s

“Manhattan Beach,” is an insightful and propulsive saga that portrays complex and intriguing individuals navigating the rising tides of war.

“It has been an honor to be part of the dedicated committee selecting the 2018 Andrew Carnegie Medal winners,” said Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction Selection Committee Chair Victoria Caplinger. “We are very excited to finally get to share this news – it has been hard keeping it to ourselves! We hope many readers enjoy these books – both the winners and the finalists – as much as we have.”

2018 nonfiction finalists include “The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner,” by Daniel Ellsberg, published by Bloomsbury; and “Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI,” by David Grann, published by Doubleday.

The 2018 fiction finalists include “Lincoln in the Bardo,” by George Saunders, published by Random House; and “Sing, Unburied, Sing,” by Jesmyn Ward, published by Scribner.

Carnegie Medal winners will each receive $5,000. All the finalists will be honored during a celebratory event at ALA’s 2018 Annual Conference in New Orleans.

The Medals are made possible, in part, by a grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York in recognition of Andrew Carnegie’s deep belief in the power of books and learning to change the world and are co-sponsored by ALA’s Booklist and the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA).

Annotations and more information on the awards can be found at http://www.ala.org/carnegieadult. Also, book cover artwork is available for download at http://tinyurl.com/CarnegieMedalsArtwork.