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These are the 2025 Andrew Carnegie Medal Winners

Here are winners of the 2025 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction, awarded by the American Library Association.

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Established in 2012, the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction are awarded by the American Library Association to one adult novel and one adult nonfiction book every year. They are chosen by a panel of seven library experts who work with adult readers, and each winner receives $5,000. Here are this year’s winners.

Continuing its sweep of most of the major awards, the 2025 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction goes to James by Percival Everett. Allison Escoto, chair of this year’s selection committee, said, “Percival Everett has written a modern masterpiece, a beautiful and important work that offers a fresh perspective from the eyes of a classic character.”

A Walk in the Park cover

The 2025 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction goes to A Walk in the Park: The True Story of a Spectacular Misadventure in the Grand Canyon by Kevin Fedarko. Escoto calls this book an “unforgettable journey through the otherworldly depths of the Grand Canyon shows us the triumphs and pitfalls of exploration and illuminates the many vital lessons we can all learn from our precious natural world.”

The other shortlisted titles for the 2025 the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction were Cinema Love by Jiaming Tang and Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar, and for Nonfiction, Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space by Adam Higginbotham and Cue the Sun! The Invention of Reality TV by Emily Nussbaum.

Read more about this year’s winners at the American Library Association website.

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