COVERAGE OF THE 2021 KIRKUS PRIZE CEREMONY

the 2021 kirkus prizes

By Michael Schaub

Joy Williams, Brian Broome, and Christina Soontornvat are the winners of this year’s Kirkus Prizes, given annually to authors of fiction, nonfiction, and young readers’ literature.

The winners of the awards were announced at an online ceremony livestreamed on YouTube from the Austin Central Library in Texas and hosted by Kirkus Media CEO Meg LaBorde Kuehn on Oct. 28.

Williams won the fiction prize for Harrow, her first novel in more than 20 years, about a teenage girl living with a group of people after a mysterious ecological disaster. The judges praised “Williams’ unapologetic rebuke to the aspirations of the boomer generation, all the more lacerating for its mordant wit and avoidance of dewy-eyed uplift.”

The judges for this year’s fiction award were bestselling author Rumaan Alam; critic Elsbeth Lindner; bookseller Ikwo Ntekim; and Laurie Muchnick, fiction editor at Kirkus

Meg LaBorde Kuehn

Reviews.

Deborah Garrison, Williams’ editor at Knopf, accepted the award on Williams’ behalf and read a statement from the author: “The readers and judges of Kirkus, by commending and honoring its heart and howl, have given Harrow further presence.” Williams has previously been a finalist for the National Book Award, the Pulitzer Prize, and the National Book Critics Circle Award.

Broome was named the winner in the non-

Joy Williams

Jonno Rattman

fiction category for Punch Me Up to the Gods, his memoir about growing up Black and gay in Ohio. The judges called Broome’s book a “powerfully vulnerable and bleakly funny memoir” and said they were “dazzled by the book’s unique structure, framed by Gwendolyn Brooks’ poem ‘We Real Cool’ and by its selflacerating but ultimately hopeful insights.”

“Ohhhh crap! Are you kidding me? Wow!” exclaimed Broome, visibly stunned by the news. “It is so gratifying for somebody like me

Brian Broome

to be in this position. It’s amazing. I think I probably need to make a few phone calls now.”

Judging this year’s nonfiction prize were National Book Award–winning author Masha Gessen; critic Margaret Quamme; bookseller Karen Maeda Allman; and Eric Liebetrau, nonfiction and managing editor at Kirkus Reviews.

Soontornvat took home the young readers’ literature award for All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys’ Soccer Team, about the cave rescue operation that gripped the world in 2018. The judges wrote that they “were impressed by the author’s meticulous research, supported by informative sidebars and eye-catching color photos.” All Thirteen is the first nonfiction title to win a Kirkus Prize for young readers’ literature. In January, All Thirteen was named a Newbery Honor book by the American Library Association.

“Writing this book was the biggest honor of my life,” Soontornvat said. “I learned that human beings are capable of doing things that seem impossible.”

This year’s young readers’ literature judges were Young People’s Poet Laureate Naomi Shihab Nye; critic Amy Robinson; youth services librarian Chrystal Carr Jeter; and Laura Simeon, young readers’ editor at Kirkus Reviews.

Nearly all the finalists attended the event via Zoom from around the United States and the world, with authors joining from Argentina, Finland, and Australia.

The ceremony also featured a series of prerecorded “cocktail” conversations with the authors, illustrators, and translators of this year’s nominated books, led by Megan Labrise, host of Kirkus’ weekly podcast, Fully Booked. The conversations were a nod to the cocktailparty atmosphere of the ceremony when it is held in person at the Austin Central Library.

The Kirkus Prize, established in 2014, comes with a cash prize of $50,000, making it one of the most lucrative literary awards in the world. This year’s winners were chosen from more than 1,500 titles that received starred reviews from Kirkus during the yearlong eligibility period.

Christina Soontornvat