The Anisfield-Wolf Book Award is an American literary award dedicated to honoring written works that make important contributions to the understanding of racism and the appreciation of the rich diversity of human culture. Established in 1935 by Cleveland poet and

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

Edith Anisfield Wolf Edith Karolyn Anisfield Wolf (August 2, 1889 – January 23, 1963) was an American poet and philanthropist from Cleveland. She founded and endowed created an award in 1935 for non-fiction books that advance racial understanding, and in 1941 expa ...

and originally administered by the '' Saturday Review'', the awards have been administered by the

Cleveland Foundation The Cleveland Foundation, based in Cleveland, Ohio, is the world's first community foundation and one of the largest today, with assets of $2.5 billion and annual grants of more than $100 million. Established in 1914 by banker Frederick Harris Gof ...

since 1963. Several awards in the categories of fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and lifetime achievement are given out each September in a ceremony free and open to the public and attended by the honorees. Winners include

Zora Neale Hurston Zora Neale Hurston (January 7, 1891 – January 28, 1960) was an American author, anthropologist, and filmmaker. She portrayed racial struggles in the early-1900s American South and published research on Hoodoo (spirituality), hoodoo. The most ...

(1943),

Langston Hughes James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1901 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. One of the earliest innovators of the literary art form called jazz poetry, Hug ...

(1954), Martin Luther King Jr. (1959),

Maxine Hong Kingston Maxine Hong Kingston (; born Maxine Ting Ting Hong;Huntley, E. D. (2001). ''Maxine Hong Kingston: A Critical Companion'', p. 1. October 27, 1940) is an American novelist. She is a Professor Emerita at the University of California, Berkeley, wher ...

(1978), Wole Soyinka (1983),

Nadine Gordimer Nadine Gordimer (20 November 192313 July 2014) was a South African writer and political activist. She received the 1991 Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Prize in Literature in 1991, recognized as a writer "who through her magnificent epic writin ...

(1988), Toni Morrison (1988), Ralph Ellison (1992), Edward Said (2000), and

Derek Walcott Sir Derek Alton Walcott (23 January 1930 – 17 March 2017) was a Saint Lucian poet and playwright. He received the 1992 Nobel Prize in Literature. His works include the Homeric epic poem ''Omeros'' (1990), which many critics view "as Walcot ...

(2004). The jury has been composed of prominent American writers and scholars at least since 1991, when long-time jury chairman Ashley Montagu, a renowned anthropologist, asked poet Rita Dove and scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. to help him judge the large number of books submitted annually by publishers across the disciplines. When Montagu retired in 1996, Gates assumed the chair position. Like Gates, Rita Dove has remained a juror to this day; in 1996 she was joined by evolutionary biologist

Stephen Jay Gould Stephen Jay Gould (; September 10, 1941 – May 20, 2002) was an American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and historian of science. He was one of the most influential and widely read authors of popular science of his generation. Gould sp ...

, writer

Joyce Carol Oates Joyce Carol Oates (born June 16, 1938) is an American writer. Oates published her first book in 1963, and has since published 58 novels, a number of plays and novellas, and many volumes of short stories, poetry, and non-fiction. Her novels '' Bla ...

and historian Simon Schama. After Gould's death in 2002, psychologist Steven Pinker replaced him on the jury.

Winners

Fiction

Poetry

Nonfiction

Lifetime achievement

Special Achievement Award

*1992 – Ralph Ellison for '' Invisible Man''

Notes

References

{{Reflist

External links

Anisfield-Wolf.org
– official website
Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards
at lovethebook.com Awards established in 1935 American fiction awards American non-fiction literary awards Literary awards honoring lifetime achievement Culture of Cleveland 1935 establishments in the United States Anti-racism