2025 Winners
Congratulations to the 2025 winners of the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction. The two winners were announced by selection committee chair Allison Escoto at the Reference and User Services Association’s Book and Media Awards livestreaming event, held during ALA LibLearnX on Sunday, January 26.
A celebratory event, including presentations by the winners and a featured speaker, will take place in June 2025 at the American Library Association's Annual Conference in Philadelphia.
Share your favorite Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence titles on social media using our downloadable graphics, and be sure to use the #ALA_Carnegie hashtag!
Fiction Winner
Percival Everett
James
(Doubleday, a division of Penguin Random House LLC)
In an astounding riposte, Everett rewrites Huckleberry Finn as the liberation narrative of the enslaved man Huck befriends. Determined to rescue his wife and daughter, James takes the story in a completely different direction than the original, exemplifying the relentless courage and moral clarity of an honorable man with nothing to lose.
Nonfiction Winner
Kevin Fedarko
A Walk in the Park: The True Story of a Spectacular Misadventure in the Grand Canyon
(Scribner)
Centering his own lifelong relationship with the Grand Canyon, from reading about it as a child through his time as a clumsy canoe guide, Fedarko shares his canyon-spanning hike, replete with steps, missteps, and arguments along the way. He particularly inspires in detailing the ancestral history of the land and some of the Indigenous individuals who continue to fight against overdevelopment and ever-booming tourism.
Fiction Finalists
Cinema Love
Jiaming Tang
(Dutton, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC)
The growing complexity of Tang’s fully realized characters is as fascinating as the interrelationships among them, a group of friends, lovers, and immigrants to America connected by the Worker’s Cinema in the Chinese town of Mawei. Rich in simile and metaphor, Tang’s first novel is beautifully written and a captivating reading experience.
James
Percival Everett
(Doubleday, a division of Penguin Random House LLC)
In an astounding riposte, Everett rewrites Huckleberry Finn as the liberation narrative of the enslaved man Huck befriends. Determined to rescue his wife and daughter, James takes the story in a completely different direction than the original, exemplifying the relentless courage and moral clarity of an honorable man with nothing to lose.
Martyr!
Kaveh Akbar
(Knopf)
The bedazzling and profound story of anxious, outspoken Iranian American poet Cyrus Shams, obsessed with the idea of “meaningful” death, unfolds from different points of view and darts back and forth in time. First-time novelist Akbar creates scenes of psychedelic opulence and mystery, emotional precision, edgy hilarity, and heart-ringing poignancy as his characters endure war, grief, addiction, and sacrifice, and find refuge in art and love.
Nonfiction Finalists
Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space
Adam Higginbotham
(Avid Reader Press)
In this precise account of the 1986 Challenger space shuttle disaster, in which all seven crew members perished, Higginbotham (winner of the 2020 Carnegie Medal for Midnight in Chernobyl) delves into the definition of acceptable risk and assesses accountability. Human error combined with technical failure caused the explosion--but hubris also contributed. Higginbotham’s comprehensive and affecting recounting illuminates a tragedy that was entirely preventable.
Cue the Sun! The Invention of Reality TV
Emily Nussbaum
(Random House)
Reality television may be ubiquitous, but it’s not new, as Nussbaum illustrates in this fine book. She traces its roots to radio, then to TV shows that capitalized on people’s willingness to look silly in front of a camera, through the creation of juggernauts like Survivor and Big Brother. An enjoyable deep dive into a format that, for better or worse, is here to stay.
A Walk in the Park: The True Story of a Spectacular Misadventure in the Grand Canyon
Kevin Fedarko
(Scribner)
Centering his own lifelong relationship with the Grand Canyon, from reading about it as a child through his time as a clumsy canoe guide, Fedarko shares his canyon-spanning hike, replete with steps, missteps, and arguments along the way. He particularly inspires in detailing the ancestral history of the land and some of the Indigenous individuals who continue to fight against overdevelopment and ever-booming tourism.
Fiction Longlist
Enriquez, Mariana. Translated by Megan McDowell.
Published by Hogarth
Nonfiction Longlist
Blitzer, Jonathan.
Published by Penguin
Cech, Thomas R.
Published by Norton
Debreczeni, József. Translated by Paul Olchváry.
Published by St. Martin’s
Fedarko, Kevin.
Published by Scribner
Higginbotham, Adam.
Published by Simon & Schuster/Avid Reader
Johnson, Steven.
Published by Crown
Miles, Tiya.
Published by Penguin
Nagle, Rebecca.
Published by Harper
Perlin, Ross.
Published by Atlantic Monthly
Satow, Julie.
Published by Doubleday
Social Media Graphics for Longlist Fiction Titles
A Sunny Place for Shady People, Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction 2025 Longlist Selection.
Craft: Stories I Wrote for the Devil, Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction 2025 Longlist Selection.
Neighbors and Other Stories, Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction 2025 Longlist Selection.
There Is a Rio Grande in Heaven, Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction 2025 Longlist Selection.
There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension. Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction 2025 Longlist Selection.
Out of the Sierra: A Story of Rarámuri Resistance, Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction 2025 Longlist Selection.
Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here: The United States, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis, Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction 2025 Longlist Selection.
The Catalyst: RNA and the Quest to Unlock Life’s Deepest Secrets, Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction 2025 Longlist Selection.
Cold Crematorium: Reporting from the Land of Auschwitz, Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction 2025 Longlist Selection.
A Walk in the Park: The True Story of a Spectacular Misadventure in the Grand Canyon, Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction 2025 Longlist Selection.
Survival Is a Promise: The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde, Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction 2025 Longlist Selection.
Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space, Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction 2025 Longlist Selection.
Feeding Ghosts: A Graphic Memoir, Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction 2025 Longlist Selection.
The Infernal Machine: A True Story of Dynamite, Terror, and the Rise of the Modern Detective, Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction 2025 Longlist Selection.
This Part Is Silent: A Life between Cultures, Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction 2025 Longlist Selection.
Sing Like Fish: How Sound Rules Life Under Water, Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction 2025 Longlist Selection.
Night Flyer: Harrier Tubman and the Faith Dreams of a Free People, Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction 2025 Longlist Selection.
By the Fire We Carry: The Generations-Long Fight for Justice on Native Land, Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction 2025 Longlist Selection.
Cue the Sun! The Invention of Reality TV, Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction 2025 Longlist Selection.
Language City: The Fight to Preserve Endangered Mother Tongues in New York, Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction 2025 Longlist Selection.
When Women Ran Fifth Avenue: Glamour and Power at the Dawn of American Fashion, Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction 2025 Longlist Selection.
Ingrained: The Making of a Craftsman, Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction 2025 Longlist Selection.
Personal Score: Sport, Culture, Identity, Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction 2025 Longlist Selection.
