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Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards Weekend
Join us for a weekend of opening and challenging minds as we honor this year's Anisfield-Wolf Book Award winners. Attend our signature ceremony on September 18 as this year’s winners join the esteemed canon of America’s only juried book prize focusing on works that address racism and diversity. And on September 19, join us in Ohio City for a variety of author events
2026 AWBA Winners
Join us to celebrate the winners of the year’s Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards:
- Poetry: Death Does Not End at the Sea by Gbenga Adesina
- Nonfiction: Born in Flames: The Business of Arson and the Remaking of an American City by Bench Ansfield
- Memoir: The Hollow Half: A Memoir of Bodies and Borders by Sarah Aziza
- Fiction: Make Your Way Home by Carrie R. Moore
Pioneering historian Nell Irvin Painter has also received the Lifetime Achievement Award, honoring her transformative role in reshaping how we understand history, race, and identity in America. Known for her groundbreaking work on race and the American experience, particularly The History of White People, which reframes “whiteness” as a constructed and evolving category rather than a fixed identity.
Friday: Awards Ceremony
Friday, September 18, 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. at the Maltz Performing Arts Center
A signature ceremony to honor the 2026 winners as they join the esteemed canon of America’s only juried book prize focusing on works that address racism and diversity.
Saturday: Author Events
Dive deeper with a full day of events featuring the winning authors in conversation with other literary luminaries at must-visit venues in Cleveland's Ohio City.
These events are free, but registration is required for each.
Bench Ansfield
Nonfiction, Born in Flames: The Business of Arson and the Remaking of the American City
11 a.m. | Market Garden
Ansfield joins civil rights activist and Campaign Zero Executive Director DeRay Mckesson and Director of the Tenant Union Federation Tara Raghuveer for a fireside chat on arson, insurance fraud, and tenant organizing in the Bronx and beyond.
Sarah Aziza
Memoir, The Hollow Half: A Memoir of Bodies and Borders
Noon | Jaja
Aziza will be joined by members of Cleveland Public Theatre’s Community Ensemble Masrah Cleveland Al-Arabi and three-time Arab American Book Award winner Phil Metres for a performance and conversation on Arabic, translation, and the politics of language.
Carrie R. Moore
Fiction, Make Your Way Home
2:30 p.m. | The Foundry
A conversation on writing Black romance, faith, and the American South will feature debut fiction writer Carrie R. Moore in dialogue with writer and cultural worker Stevona Elem-Rogers.
Gbenga Adesina
Poetry, Death Does Not End at the Sea
3:30 p.m. | The Foundry
Debut poet Gbenga Adesina reads a selection of pieces from Death Does Not End at the Sea. Adesina is joined by poet, performer and educator Ajanaé Dawkins for a conversation rooted in grief, migration, borders, faith and the power of the sea.
Registration
Tickets are free but required. There will be a standby line at the venue; if there is available space, people will be seated on a first come, first served basis. A livestream option will be available for those who cannot attend in person.