Credit: American Library Association

Colorlines: The American Library Association honored “Heavy: An American Memoir”—Kiese Laymon’s account of growing up Black in Mississippi—with its Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction January 27. The author and professor announced on Twitter that he will donate the $5,000 prize money to youth in his home state.

Read the Colorlines article and see Kiese Laymon’s Tweet here.

In its news release, the ALA says the awards (Rebecca Makka was the announced winner of the fiction award) serve as a guide to help adults select quality reading.

“It was an incredible year of reading and discussing the best books of 2018 alongside the dedicated and insightful readers on the committee. Everything came into focus when we selected these two very powerful Andrew Carnegie Medal winners,” said selection committee chair Annie Bostrom in the news release.


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