NEW YORK – Novelist James McBride, former U.S. poet laureate Natasha Trethewey and science fiction great Samuel R.
Delaney are among this year's winners of Anisfeld-Wolf awards for books that confront racism and help promote diversity. McBride's “Deacon King Kong” won for fiction and Trethewey's memoir “Memorial Drive” was a co-winner for nonfiction, along with Vincent Brown's “Tacky's Revolt.” Delaney, known for such influential novels as “Babel-17” and “Dahlgren,” received a lifetime achievement prize.
Victoria Chang's “Obit” was honored for the best work of poetry. The winners were announced Monday. "The new Anisfield-Wolf winners bring us fresh insights on race and the human condition,” jury chair Henry Louis Gates Jr.