The Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction were established in 2012 to recognize the best fiction and nonfiction books for adult readers published in the U.S. the previous year. The shortlisted authors and eventual winners reflect the expert judgment and insight of the seven-member selection committee of library professionals who work closely with adult readers. These are the ALA’s first single-book awards for adult trade fiction and nonfiction.
For information about the Medals, please visit the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction website. All honored titles are nominated by the members of the selection committee. The awards do not accept submissions.
Fiction:
"The Berry Pickers " by Amanda Peters, published by Catapult
Non-fiction:
"We Were Once a Family: A Story of Love, Death, and Child Removal in America” by Roxanna Asgarian, published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Fiction:
"The Swimmers " by Julie Otsuka, published by Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Penguin Randome House LLC
Non-fiction:
"An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms " by Ed Yong, published by Random House, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC
Fiction:
"The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu" by Tom Lin, published by Little, Brown and Company, a division of Hachette Book Group
Non-fiction:
"A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance" by Hanif Abdurraqib, published by Random House, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC
Fiction:
"Deacon King Kong" by James McBride, published by Riverhead Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC
Non-fiction:
"Fathoms: The World in the Whale" by Rebecca Giggs, published by Simon & Schuster
Fiction:
"Lost Children Archive" by Valeria Luiselli, published by Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Penguin Random House LLC
Non-fiction:
"Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster" by Adam Higginbotham, published by Simon & Schuster
Fiction:
"The Great Believers" by Rebecca Makkai, published by Penguin Random House LLC
Non-fiction:
"Heavy: An American Memoir" by Kiese Laymon, published by Scribner
Fiction:
“Manhattan Beach,” by Jennifer Egan, published by Scribner
Non-fiction:
No medal awarded in 2018.
Fiction:
“The Underground Railroad,” by Colson Whitehead, published by Doubleday, Penguin Random House LLC
Non-fiction:
“Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City,” by Matthew Desmond, published by Crown, Penguin Random House LLC
Fiction:
The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen (Grove Press, an imprint of Grove Atlantic)
Nonfiction:
Hold Still: A Memoir with Photographs by Sally Mann (Little, Brown, and Company, Hachette Book Group)
Fiction:
"All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
Non-fiction:
"Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption" by Bryan Stevenson
Fiction:
"The Goldfinch" by Donna Tartt
Nonfiction:
"The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism" by Doris Kearns Goodwin
Fiction:
"Canada" by Richard Ford
Non-fiction:
"Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher" by Timothy Egan
Fiction: "The Forgotten Waltz" by Anne Enright
Non-fiction:
"Catherine the Great" by Robert Massie