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Andrew Carnegie Medal-winning books

Adult fiction and nonfiction selected by librarians.

Included: Winners, 2016–2026. No nonfiction medal was awarded in 2018.

Independent guide by DIBuyIt. Not affiliated with or endorsed by The American Library Association.

21 books

View the original list ↗︎

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More literary awards

Lists and sources

Browse the included records below. Award years refer to the award, not the publication date.

Andrew Carnegie Medals

Original list ↗︎

  • The Great Believers — Rebecca Makkai (2019) · Fiction · winner · Source
  • Heavy An American Memoir — Kiese Laymon (2019) · Nonfiction · winner · Source
  • The Sympathizer — Viet Thanh Nguyen (2016) · Fiction · winner · Source
  • Hold Still: A Memoir with Photographs — Sally Mann (2016) · Nonfiction · winner · Source
  • The Swimmers — Julie Otsuka (2023) · Fiction · winner · Source
  • An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us — Ed Yong (2023) · Nonfiction · winner · Source
  • The Underground Railroad — Colson Whitehead (2017) · Fiction · winner · Source
  • Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City — Matthew Desmond (2017) · Nonfiction · winner · Source
  • Lost Children Archive — Valeria Luiselli (2020) · Fiction · winner · Source
  • Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster — Adam Higginbotham (2020) · Nonfiction · winner · Source
  • James — Percival Everett (2025) · Fiction · winner · Source
  • A Walk in the Park: The True Story of a Spectacular Misadventure in the Grand Canyon — Kevin Fedarko (2025) · Nonfiction · winner · Source
  • The Berry Pickers — Amanda Peters (2024) · Fiction · winner · Source
  • We Were Once a Family: A Story of Love, Death, and Child Removal in America — Roxanna Asgarian (2024) · Nonfiction · winner · Source
  • Deacon King Kong — James McBride (2021) · Fiction · winner · Source
  • Fathoms: The World in the Whale — Rebecca Giggs (2021) · Nonfiction · winner · Source
  • A Guardian and a Thief — Megha Majumdar (2026) · Fiction · winner · Source
  • Things in Nature Merely Grow — Yiyun Li (2026) · Nonfiction · winner · Source
  • Manhattan Beach — Jennifer Egan (2018) · Fiction · winner · Source
  • The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu — Tom Lin (2022) · Fiction · winner · Source
  • A Little Devil in America Notes in Praise of Black Performance — Hanif Abdurraqib (2022) · Nonfiction · winner · Source