ShelfEvidentHurston/Wright Legacy Award (Fiction)
2025 Winner
2025 Shortlist & Longlist
Shortlist
Shortlist
Shortlist
Complete History
2020s
2010s
- 2019Heads of the Colored People — Nafissa Thompson-Spires
- 2018Black Moses — Alain Mabanckou
- 2017The Underground Railroad — Colson Whitehead
- 2016Delicious Foods
- 2015The Moors' Account: A Novel — Laila Lalami
- 2014We Need New Names — NoViolet Bulawayo
- 2013Half-Blood Blues — Esi Edugyan
- 2012Mr. Fox — Helen Oyeyemi
- 2011Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self — Danielle Evans
- 2010I Am Not Sidney Poitier — Percival Everett
2000s
- 2009Say You're One of Them — Uwem Akpan
- 2008The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao — Junot Díaz
- 2007All Aunt Hagar's Children — Edward P. Jones
- 2006My Jim — Nancy Rawles
- 2005Who Slashed Celanire's Throat? — Maryse Conde
- 2004Hunting in Harlem — Mat Johnson
- 2003The Heart of Redness — Zakes Mda
- 2002Erasure — Percival Everett
About the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award (Fiction)
The Hurston/Wright Legacy Award is presented by the Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Foundation, the first national award presented to Black writers by a national organization of Black writers. Established in 2001, the Fiction category honors outstanding published fiction by writers of African descent. The award is named for two towering figures of African American literature—Zora Neale Hurston, author of Their Eyes Were Watching God, and Richard Wright, author of Native Son—and reflects the Foundation's mission to discover, mentor, and honor Black writers. Past winners include Percival Everett (five-time winner), Colson Whitehead, Junot Diaz, Edward P. Jones, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, among other luminaries. Winners are selected by a jury of established writers and literary professionals.
Frequently Asked Questions
- The Hurston/Wright Legacy Award is the first national literary award presented to Black writers by a national organization of Black writers. Administered by the Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Foundation, the Fiction category honors outstanding published fiction by writers of African descent.
- The award is open to published fiction by writers of African descent. Eligible works include novels and short story collections published in the United States during the preceding year. The award celebrates the breadth of the African diaspora, honoring writers from across the Americas, Africa, the Caribbean, and Europe.
- Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960) was a novelist, folklorist, and anthropologist best known for Their Eyes Were Watching God. Richard Wright (1908–1960) was the author of Native Son and Black Boy. Together they represent two defining voices of 20th-century African American literature, and the Foundation honors their legacy by supporting emerging and established Black writers.
- The award is typically presented each autumn at a ceremony organized by the Hurston/Wright Foundation, often held in Washington, D.C. The Foundation also hosts the Hurston/Wright Writers' Week and other programs supporting Black writers throughout the year.
- Yes. Percival Everett is the most decorated winner, having won the Fiction category five times—for Erasure (2002), I Am Not Sidney Poitier (2010), Telephone (2021), The Trees (2022), and James (2025). James Hannaham has won twice, for Delicious Foods (2016) and Didn't Nobody Give a Shit What Happened to Carlotta (2023).