The QBR 2015 Phyllis Wheatley Book Award Program Winners

Max Rodriguez, publisher and founder of the Quarterly Black Book Review (QBR) and the Harlem Book Fair, presented a culturally enlightening and creatively inspiring literary event with the 14th Annual Phyllis Wheatley Book Award Program. The evening began with a reception for the author finalists that included an interview by program host Sheila E. Anderson, author of “The Quotable Musician: From Bach to Tupac” and host of Weekend Jazz After Hours on WBGO-FM, with Benilde Little, author of “Welcome to My Breakdown: A Memoir” and “Good Hair: A Novel.”  

The Awards Program included uplifting ancestral performances by Atiba Wilson & the Befo’ Quotet; singer Imani Uzuri; and a spoken word excerpt “From Ashes to Angels” by Sherri Pullum, Chantal Maurice, and Vesta Walker.  

The seven Phyllis Wheatley Book Award winners from the 2015 Finalists are:

YOUNG READERS

• Granny’s Helper by Selma Jackson

YOUNG ADULT

• The Madman of Piney Woods by Christopher Paul Curtis

FIRST NONFICTION

• Regina Anderson, Harlem Renaissance Librarian by Ethelene Whitmire

NONFICTION

•  A Light Shines in Harlem: New York’s First Charter School and the Movement It Led by Mary C. Bounds

POETRY

• City of Eternal Spring by Afaa Michael Weaver

FIRST FICTION

• Born at Dawn by Nigeria Lockley

FICTION

• Land of Love and Drowning by Tiphanie Yanique

PHYLLIS WHEATLEY LEGACY AWARD WINNERS

• Nikki Giovanni
• Jerry Pinkney