ALA Announces Shortlist for 2018 Carnegie Medals

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The American Library Association (ALA) has announced the six books on the shortlist for the association’s 2018 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction. The medals are awarded for the previous year’s best books written for adults and published in the United States.

Carnegie 2018 shortlist coversThe 2018 shortlisted titles, announced Wednesday, October 25, are:

Fiction

  • Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders (Random House)
  • Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan (Scribner)
  • Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward (Scribner)

Nonfiction

  • The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner by Daniel Ellsberg (Bloomsbury)
  • Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann (Doubleday)
  • You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me: A Memoir by Sherman Alexie (Little, Brown)

The six finalists were chosen from the 46 books (25 fiction, 21 nonfiction) appearing on the 2018 longlist revealed in September. All finalists will be honored during the ALA’s 2018 Annual Conference, which takes place March 6–10 in New Orleans. The two winners will be announced February 11, 2018, at the Reference and User Services Association’s (RUSA) Book and Media Awards during the ALA Midwinter Meeting & Exhibits in Denver. Each winner will receive $5,000.

Established in 2012, the awards are the first single-book awards for adult books given by the ALA and reflect the judgment of library professionals and booksellers who work closely with adult readers. They are made possible, in part, by a grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York and are cosponsored by ALA’s Booklist and RUSA.

More information on the shortlist can be found on the ALA website. A video announcement from Committee Chair Victoria Caplinger is available to view on the ALA Facebook page. Booksellers can contact American Library Association Web/New Media Specialist Jan Carmichael for promotional images to use on social media.