Have You Heard? 2021 Award Winning Books
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Have You Heard? 2021 Award Winning Books

As 2021 comes to a close, check out these titles that all won literary awards this past year.

Below you’ll find audiobook recommendations from the Plano Public Library. This is just a sample of the audiobooks in our collection, and you can visit a library location for assistance in finding personalized recommendations.

Adult

Hell of a Book by Jason Mott, narrated by Ronald Peet. Winner of the 2021 National Book Award for Fiction and the 2021 Sir Walter Raleigh Award for Fiction, longlisted for the 2022 Carnegie Medal Fiction, the 2022 Joyce Carol Oates Prize and the 2022 Aspen Words Literary Prize. Available in eAudiobook / eBook / Print.

Deacon King Kong by James McBride, narrated by Dominic Hoffman. Winner of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for Fiction, the Gotham Book Prize and the 2021 Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction. Available in eAudiobook / Playaway / eBook / Print / Large Print.

Fathoms: The World in the Whale by Rebecca Giggs, narrated by Shiromi Arserio. Winner of the 2021 Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction. Finalist for the 2020 Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction and the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award. Available in eAudiobook / eBook / Print.

All that She carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family Keepsake by Tiya Miles, narrated by Janina Edwards. Winner of the National Book Award for Nonfiction and a Kirkus Prize finalist. Available in eAudiobook / eBook / Print.

Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell, narrated by Ell Potter. Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction, the 2021 Dalkey Literary Award for Novel of the Year and the 2020 Women’s Prize for Fiction, shortlisted for the 2021 Walter Scott Prize, and longlisted for the 2021 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction. Available in eAudiobook / eBook / Print.

Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning, written and narrated by Cathy Park Hong. Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Autobiography and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction. Available in eAudiobook / eBook / Print.

Luster by Raven Leilani, narrated by Ariel Blake. Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for the John Leonard Prize, the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, and the Kirkus Prize for Fiction, longlisted for the 2021 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction. Available in eAudiobook / eBook / Print.

The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw, narrated by Janina Edwards. Winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, the Story Prize, and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Longlisted for the L.D. and LaVerne Harrell Clark Fiction Prize and a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction. Available in eAudiobook / Print.

The Night Watchman, written and narrated by Louise Erdrich. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the Aspen Words Literary Prize. Available in eAudiobook / eBook / Playaway / Print / Large Print.

Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America by Marcia Chatelain, narrated by Machelle Williams. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for History. Available in eAudiobook / eBook / Print.

The Dead are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X, by Les Payne and Tamara Payne, narrated by Dion Graham. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Biography and the National Book Award for Nonfiction. Longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction. Available in Playaway / eBook / Print.

Wow, No Thank You, written and narrated by Samantha Irby. Winner of the Lambda Literary Award for Bisexual Nonfiction. Available in eAudiobook / eBook / Print.

All the Devils are Here by Louise Penny, narrated by Robert Bathurst. Winner of the Agatha Award for Best Contemporary Novel. Available in eAudiobook / Playaway / eBook / Print / Large Print.

Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara, narrated by Indira Varma, Himesh Patel, and Antonio Aakeel. Winner of the Edgar Award for Best Novel. Longlisted for the 2020 Women’s Prize for Fiction. Available in eAudiobook / eBook / Print.

When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole, narrated by Susan Dalian and Jay Aaseng. Winner of the Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original. Available in eAudiobook / eBook / Print.

Teen

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo, narrated by Emily Woo Zeller. Winner of the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature. Available in eAudiobook / eBook / Print.

Look Both Ways: a Tale Told in Ten Blocks by Jason Reynolds, narrated by a full cast. Winner of the Carnegie Medal. Finalist for the National Book Award and a Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book. Available in eAudiobook / eBook / Playaway / Print.

All Thirteen: the Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys’ Soccer Team by Christina Soontornvat, narrated by Quincy Surasmith & Christina Soontornvat. Winner of the 2021 Kirkus Prize for Young Readers’ Literature and the Golden Kite Award for Nonfiction Text for Older Readers. Received a 2021 Newbery Honor and a 2021 Sibert Honor. Finalist for the YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction. Available in Playaway / eBook / Print.

The Blossom and the Firefly by Sherri L. Smith, narrated by Traci Kato-Kiriyama and Greg Watanabe. Winner of the Golden Kite Award for Young Adult Fiction. Available in eAudiobook / Print.

Everything Sad is Untrue (a True Story), written and narrated by Daniel Nayeri. Winner of the Michael L. Printz Award. Available in eAudiobook / eBook / Print.

Not So Pure and Simple by Lamar Giles, narrated by Korey Jackson. Winner of the Black Caucus of the ALA Literary Award for Fiction. Available in eAudiobook / Print.

The Talk: conversations About Race, Love & Truth, edited by Wade Hudson and Cheryl Willis Hudson, narrated by a full cast. Winner of the Black Caucus of the ALA Literary Award for Nonfiction. Available in eAudiobook / eBook / Print.

The Companion by Katie Alender, narrated by Taylor Meskimen. Winner of the Edgar Award for Best Young Adult. Available in eAudiobook / eBook / Print.

A Sitting in St. James by Rita Williams-Garcia, narrated by Machelle Williams. Winner of the Boston Globe Horn Book Award for Fiction and Poetry. Available in eAudiobook / eBook / Print.

From a Whisper to a Rallying cry: the Killing of Vincent Chin and the Trial that Galvanized the Asian American Movement by Paula Yoo, narrated by Catherine Ho. Winner of the Boston Globe Horn Book Award for Nonfiction. Available in eAudiobook / eBook / Print.

Children’s

We are Water Protectors, written and narrated by Carole Lindstrom. Winner of the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award for Younger Children and the Caldecott Medal. Finalist for the 2020 Kirkus Prize for Young Readers’ Literature. Available in eAudiobook / eBook / Print.

When you Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller, narrated by Greta Jung. Winner of the Newbery Medal and the Asian Pacific American Literature Award. Available in eAudiobook / Wonderbook / eBook / Print / Large print.

Before the Ever After by Jacqueline Woodson, narrated by Guy Lockard. Winner of the Coretta Scott King Award and the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work for Youth/Teens. Available in eAudiobook / eBook / Print.

Lupe Wong Won’t Dance by Donna Barba Higuera, narrated by Kyla Garcia. Winner of the Sid Fleischman Humor Award, a 2021 Pura Belpre Honor Book, and a 2021 Pacific Northwest Book Award winner. Available in eAudiobook / eBook / Print.

A Good Kind of Trouble by Lisa Moore Ramee, narrated by Imani Parks. Winner of the Black Caucus of the ALA Literary Award for a First Novelist. Available in eAudiobook / Playaway / eBook / Print.

King and the Dragonflies by Kacen Callender, narrated by Ron Butler. Winner of the Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ Children’s/Middle Grade, the 2020 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, and the Boston Globe Horn Book Award. Available in eAudiobook / Playaway / eBook / Print / Large Print.

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