Founded in 1995, the New York City Book Awards honor the best books about New York City published in a given year, regardless of genre. 

The 2021 winners were

Debby Applegate, Madam: The Biography of Polly Adler, Icon of the Jazz Age (Doubleday)

Colson Whitehead, Harlem Shuffle (Doubleday)

C.G. Esperanza, Boogie Boogie Y'all (Katherine Tegen Books)

Brian Merlis and Clarence Taylor, Historic Black Brooklyn: 400 Years of Struggle and Hope (Israelowitz Publishing)

THE HORNBLOWER AWARD FOR A FIRST BOOK
Ly Tran, House of Sticks: A Memoir (Scribner)

We were particularly thrilled to welcome the New York City Book Awards back to the Members' Room for a festive presentation and reception on May 19. The year's winners were all in attendance in person, with the exception of Colson Whitehead, who accepted his award via video. Ceremony photos by Karen Smul.

Some glimpses of the awards evening, from left to right:

• Chair of the Board and New York City Book Awards sponsor Ellen M. Iseman welcomes attendees and speaks about the awards' importance
• Winner Colson Whitehead accepts his award for Harlem Shuffle
• Chair of the New York City Book Awards Jury Bianca Calabresi presents the award to C.G. Esperanza
• C.G. Esperanza speaks about his winning book Boogie Boogie, Y'all

• Juror Nikhil Iyengar presents the award for Ly Tran's House of Sticks
• Ms. Tran accepts her award from Mr. Iyengar
• Debby Applegate talks about the creation of her winning book Madam
• Ms. Applegate with juror and presenter Tracy Quan

• C.G. Esperanza inscribes a copy of Boogie Boogie, Y'all for the young readers of the New York Society Library (represented here by Children's & YA Librarian Susan Vincent Molinaro)
• Jurors Christine Kendall (left) and Gessy Alvarez (right) with winner Ly Tran
• Winning co-authors Clarence Taylor and Brian Merlis with their book Historic Black Brooklyn
• Mr. Taylor autographs a copy of Historic Black Brooklyn.

The 2021-2022 New York City Book Awards were generously underwritten by Ellen M. Iseman. The 2021-2022 Hornblower Award was generously underwritten by Jenny Lawrence.