Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction Longlist

Last year was the inaugural year of the Carnegie Medal.  Here are the details:

The Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction and the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction were established in 2012 to recognize the best fiction and nonfiction books for adult readers published in the U.S. the previous year. A shortlist of finalists is announced each May from 50 titles drawn from the previous year’s Booklist Editors’ Choice and RUSA Notable Books lists.

The awards are made possible by a grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York on the occasion of the foundation’s centennial and in recognition of Andrew Carnegie, one of the greatest benefactors of libraries both in the United States and around the globe, who recognized libraries as indispensable to the progress of society.

Cosponsors of the award are American Library Association’s Booklist and the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA).

This year's long lists for fiction and nonfiction (with 50 titles in all) came out yesterday.  The short list will be announced this spring.  The Carnegie Medal is trying to become the Newbery for adult books; a librarians' best book pick to hold the same weight as the Newbery or Caldecott do for childrens' books.

When I looked at the fiction list, I was happy to see that I had read (and enjoyed) 6 of the long list books.  Click here for the full long list, but below I have pulled out the titles that I read with links to my reviews.

• Díaz, Junot. This Is How You Lose Her. (Riverhead)
• Ford, Richard. Canada. (Harper/Ecco)
• Groff, Lauren. Arcadia. (Hyperion/Voice)
• Heller, Peter. The Dog Stars. (Knopf)
• Johnson, Adam. The Orphan Master’s Son. (Random House)
• Walter, Jess. Beautiful Ruins. (Harper)

The Carnegie Medal will be handed out at a dinner on June 30, 2013 at ALA Annual in Chicago. The two winning authors will also be speaking at the banquet. I will be there. Will You?