James McBride will receive the 2024 Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction, which honors "an American literary writer whose body of work is distinguished not only for its mastery of the art but also for its originality of thought and imagination.... The award seeks to commend strong, unique, enduring voices that--throughout consistently accomplished careers--have told us something essential about the American experience." McBride will be presented with the award at the National Book Festival on August 24 before a conversation about his body of work.
"I'm honored to bestow the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction on a writer as imaginative and knowing as James McBride," said Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden. "McBride knows the American soul deeply, reflecting our struggles and triumphs in his fiction, which so many readers have intimately connected with. I, also, am one of his enthusiastic readers."
McBride is the author of the The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store; Deacon King Kong; The Good Lord Bird, winner of the 2013 National Book Award for Fiction; The Color of Water; Song Yet Sung; the story collection Five-Carat Soul; and the James Brown biography Kill 'Em and Leave. His debut novel, Miracle at St. Anna, was adapted into a 2008 film. In 2016, McBride was awarded the National Humanities Medal.
"I wish my mom were still alive to know about this," he said. "I'm delighted and honored. Does it mean I can use the Library? If so, I'm double thrilled."