The winners of the $50,000 Kirkus Prizes were announced on Thursday evening. The fiction prize went to Colson Whitehead‘s The Nickel Boys (Doubleday), with judges noting that it “evokes race in America not as a concept but as a condition of being.” Saeed Jones‘ memoir How We Fight for Our Lives (Simon & Schuster) won the nonfiction prize. Judges said, “His tenacious honesty compels us to be honest with ourselves. His experiences—negotiating grief, family dynamics, and a forthright identity—require our reckoning.” New Kid (HarperCollins), written & illustrated by Jerry Craft, was awarded the prize for children’s literature, for being a “laugh-out-loud […]
