The winners of the 2019 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction are:
Fiction: The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai (Viking). The judges commented: "Makkai's ambitious novel explores the complexities of friendship, family, art, fear, and love in meticulously realized settings--World War I-era and present-day Paris, and 1980s Chicago--while insightfully and empathically illuminating the early days of the AIDS epidemic."
Nonfiction: Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon (Scribner). "In his artfully crafted and boldly revealing memoir, writing professor Laymon recalls the traumas of his Mississippi youth; the depthless hunger that elevated his weight; his obsessive, corrective regime of diet and exercise; his gambling, teaching, activism, and trust in the power of writing."
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No Presents Please, originally written in Kannada by Jayant Kaikini and translated into English by Tejaswini Niranjana, won the $25,000 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature, which recognizes the "best work in South Asian fiction writing each year." Organizers said the prize "has always encouraged writing in regional languages and translations, and this is the first time that a translated work has won the prize." The money is shared equally between author and translator.
Jury chair Rudrangshu Mukherjee said the jury was "deeply impressed by the quiet voice of the author through which he presented vignettes of life in Mumbai and made the city the protagonist of a coherent narrative. The Mumbai that came across through the pen of Kaikini was the city of ordinary people who inhabit the bustling metropolis. It is a view from the margins and all the more poignant because of it. This is the first time that this award is being given to a translated work and the jury would like to recognize the outstanding contribution of Tejaswini Niranjana, the translator."
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My Brother's Husband: Vol. 1 & 2, by Gengoroh Tagame, translated from the Japanese by Anne Ishii (Pantheon Books) has won the inaugural GLLI Translated YA Book Prize. Administered by the Global Literatures in Libraries Initiative, the prize recognizes publishers, translators, and authors of books in English translation for young adult readers.
The Initiative called My Brother's Husband "manga that gently but effectively guts homophobia in Japanese society. When Mike, the Canadian husband of Yaichi's late brother shows up on his doorstep, Yaichi is courteous but standoffish, while his young daughter Kana is thrilled to meet her gay uncle." Committee member Annette Y. Goldsmith added: "The committee loved this sweet, nuanced story of coming to terms with one's own prejudices and embracing a truly modern family."
Three honor books were also selected:
- La Bastarda by Trifonia Melibea Obono, translated from the Spanish by Lawrence Schimel (Feminist Press). The author is from Equatorial Guinea.
- Piglettes by Clémentine Beauvais, translated from the French by the author (Pushkin Children's Books). France.
- Wonderful Feels Like This by Sara Lövestam, translated from the Swedish by Laura A. Wideburg (Flatiron Books). Sweden.