An American Marriage is longlisted for the 2020 International DUBLIN Literary Award. Books are nominated for the Award by invited public libraries in cities throughout the world – making the Award unique in its coverage of international fiction. Titles are nominated on the basis of ‘high literary merit’ as determined by the nominating library.
See the 2020 longlist here.
Bill Gates has selected An American Marriage for his favorite books of 2019. “An American Marriage is a deeply moving read about how one incident of injustice reshapes the lives of a black couple in the South,” Gates writes. Though he wouldn’t characterize the novel as a light read, Gates calls it “so well-written that you’ll find yourself sucked into it despite the heavy subject matter.”
The Charles Howard Candler Professorships are awarded to senior scholars who have shown outstanding teaching ability and productive scholarship in one or more fields of learning, and additionally who have distinguished themselves in long and substantial service to the University and in furthering the causes of higher education. Dear Michael Elliot announced Professor Jones’s appointment this afternoon on the campus of Emory University.
Alfred A. Knopf has acquired world rights to a new novel by Tayari Jones, the bestselling author of An American Marriage, her critically acclaimed fourth book. The new novel, OLD FOURTH WARD, will be published simultaneously in hardcover and ebook by Alfred A. Knopf, and in audio by Penguin Random House. Jordan Pavlin, Vice President and Executive Editor at Knopf, acquired the book from Jane Dystel at Dystel, Goderich & Bourret.
“Tayari Jones is a master chronicler of the times we live in,” said Jordan Pavlin, “a sharp, sophisticated and prodigiously gifted novelist whose works overflow with wisdom, compassion, and love. Few writers write more compellingly about family and identity, or with more empathy for her characters. We are thrilled to publish her on the Knopf list.”
Tayari Jones has been selected as a Andrew D. White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University. She will serve from 2019-2025.
In 1965, the Cornell faculty unanimously recommended, and the Board of Trustees approved, a plan “to revive the office of nonresident professor by appointing as Andrew D. White Professors-at-Large a group of individuals, from both America and abroad, who have achieved high international distinction in the various areas of science and scholarship as well as in the learned professions, public affairs, literature, and the creative arts.” In its interdisciplinary scope, encompassing both knowledge and action, this broadened conception embodies Cornell’s unique qualities as a great university.
At any one time, up to twenty outstanding intellectuals from across the globe hold the title of Andrew Dickson White Professor-at-Large and are considered full members of the Cornell faculty. During the six-year term of appointment, each Professor-at-Large visits campus for about a week in each three-year period while Cornell classes are in session during the academic year. Currently, the Program sponsors up to six visits by different Professors-at-Large per year.
http://adwhiteprofessors.cornell.edu/announcements/
The winner of the 2019 Clara Johnson Award for Women’s Literature is Tayari Jones for her bestselling tour de force An American Marriage. The award was established in 2018 to honor women-authored literature that captures the essence of Johnson in being “groundbreaking, purposeful, bold, excellent, and challenging to social constructs.”
Johnson Award judges were impressed by the literary mastery of Jones’s novel and its rich character development, particularly the fullness of its female characters. Judges also noted the social significance of the work as it examines the impacts of unjust incarceration not only on the incarcerated but also on family and friends.
An American Marriage has been awarded the 2019 Women’s Prize for Fiction. Formerly known as The Orange Prize and the Baileys Women’s Prize, the Women’s Prize for Fiction “celebrates excellence, originality and accessibility in women’s writing from throughout the world.”
An American Marriage is published by Oneworld Publications in the United Kingdom.
Longlists for four 2019 Orwell Prizes were announced today, including the inaugural Orwell Prize for Political Fiction sponsored by Richard Blair and A. M. Heath, and Orwell Prize for Political Writing lists, marking the 70th anniversary of George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.
Chair of judges for the Political Fiction Prize, Tom Sutcliffe said:
“I’m delighted with our long-list for the first Orwell Prize for Political Fiction. It’s a list which acknowledges that the politics in a book can often be found between the lines, rather than on them, and that making your voice heard can sometimes be the most political act of all.“
To see the longlist in its entirety, click here.
An American Marriage is the winner of the 2019 Aspen Words Literary Prize. The Aspen Words Literary Prize celebrates “an influential work of fiction that illuminates a vital contemporary issue and demonstrates the transformative power of literature on thought and culture.”
NPR: Tayari Jones Takes Home Aspen Words Literary Prize For ‘An American Marriage’
The American Booksellers Association has respectively nominated both An American Marriage and Tayari Jones for the 2019 Indies Choice Book of the Year Award (Fiction), and the Indies Champion Award. ABA booksellers will have the chance to vote in online balloting between April 3 and April 24, and the winners will be announced in Bookselling This Week on Wednesday, May 1. The Indie Champion Award “is presented to the author, illustrator, or group that, in the opinion of booksellers, has the best sense of the importance of independent bookstores to their communities at large and the strongest personal commitment to foster and support the mission and passion of independent booksellers.”
For more information about this year’s nominees, click here.
An American Marriage takes home the 2019 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work in Fiction. The NAACP Image Awards celebrate outstanding contributions by people of color in film, literature, music, and television. The 50th NAACP Image Awards aired live from the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles on TV One on March 30, 2019.
For a complete list of nominees, click here.
Tayari Jones has been named the official Author Ambassador for 2019’s Independent Bookstore Day. Now in its fifth year, Independent Bookstore Day celebrates the outstanding contributions independent bookstores and their staff make to communities around the country. On being chosen as the official Author Ambassador, Jones said, “Independent bookstores combine two of my favorite things–independence and (of course) books. Every indie store is as carefully curated as a museum because the owners care about getting the right stories into the hands of the people who live in that community. Indie stores are hyper-local, yet they share thoughts from all over the world.”
2019’s Independent Bookstore Day will be celebrated on April 27th, 2019. To read more about Independent Bookstore Day, click here.
An American Marriage has been selected as a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Alongside The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize is presented “as part of [The LA Times’] many community programs promoting literacy and education to benefit people across Southern California.” The winner will be announced on April 12th, 2019.
For the complete list of finalists, click here.
Tayari Jones has been selected for the 2019 Simpson Family Literary Prize Longlist. Longlist candidates are selected from official submissions by agents, authors, publishers, and author representatives, honoring writers who have “earned a distinguished reputation and the approbation and gratitude of readers.” The official 2019 Simpson Family Literary Prize Shortlist will be announced in March of 2019, with the official winner being announced in early April of 2019.
For the complete longlist, click here.
An American Marriage has been selected as the winner of the 2019 Black Caucus American Library Association Literary Award for Fiction. The Black Caucus American Library Association recognizes excellence in fiction and nonfiction by African American authors, and the fiction prize “recognizes depictions of sensitive and authentic personal experience either within the framework of contemporary literary standards and themes or which explore innovative literary formats.”
To see a complete list of winners in all categories, click here.
