NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� Jesmyn Ward's slave narrative 鈥淟et Us Descend鈥� and Jake Bittle's exploration of climate change's impact 鈥淭he Great Displacement鈥� are among the finalists for the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence.
The medals are presented by the American Library Association and given for fiction and nonfiction, with winners in each category receiving $5,000.
On Tuesday, the library association announced that Ward's novel was a fiction nominee, along with Amanda Peters' 鈥淭he Berry Pickers鈥� and the mixed media 鈥淒enison Avenue,鈥� by author Christina Wong and illustrator Daniel Innes.
In nonfiction, the finalists are Bittle's 鈥淭he Great Displacement,鈥� Darrin Bell's memoir 鈥淭he Talk鈥� and Roxana Robinson's investigation into the foster system, 鈥淲e Were Once a Family: A Story of Love, Death, and Child Removal in America.鈥�
Finalists will be announced Jan. 20. The awards, made possible by a grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York, were established in 2012. Previous winners include James McBride, Jennifer Egan and Matthew Desmond.
The Associated Press
