Fiction Winner:
Fortune Smiles by Adam Johnson – six new stories by the author of The Orphan Master’s Son
Fiction Finalists:
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara – novel about four men, later in life, who had been college roommates
Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff – the story of a marriage told from the wife’s point of view, and from the husband’s point of view
Refund: Stories by Karen E. Bender – a collection of fourteen stories exploring the impact that money has on people’s lives
The Turner House by Angela Flournoy – novel depicting a half-century of family life on Detroit’s East Side
Nonfiction Winner:
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates – the author shares personal experiences and history of racial discrimination in the United States
Nonfiction Finalists:
Hold Still: A Memoir with Photographs by Sally Mann – memoir of family life by a renowned photographer
If the Oceans Were Ink: An Unlikely Friendship and a Journey to the Heart of the Quran by Carla Power – an award-winning foreign correspondent and a madrasa-trained sheikh embark on a yearlong journey through the text of The Quran
Ordinary Light by Tracy K. Smith - Pulitzer Prize-winning poet explores coming of age and the meaning of home against a backdrop of race, faith, and a bond between a mother and a daughter
The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery – a naturalist examines the surprising intelligence, emotions, and various personalities of octopuses
Poetry Winner:
Voyage of the Sable Venus: And Other Poems by Robin Coste Lewis – a poetic meditation on the black female figure through time
Poetry Finalists:
Bright Dead Things by Ada Limón – poems examining the chaos that is life and the dangerous thrill of living in the world
Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude by Ross Gay – fast-paced poems of gratitude for all that makes life worth living
Elegy for a Broken Machine by Patrick Phillips – sad and powerful poems that bear witness to the beauty and inevitable losses of life
How to Be Drawn by Terrance Hayes – stunning poems of home, history, race, music, drawing, family and love