![Winners of the 2020-2021 NYC Book Awards](/sites/default/files/2024-06/2020-2021%20NYCBA_Winners_Assembled_Horizontal.jpg)
Welcome to the 25th anniversary season for the New York City Book Awards! Founded in 1995, these awards honor the best books about New York City published in a given year, regardless of genre. This year marked the 25th anniversary of the New York City Book Awards and the 10th anniversary of the Hornblower Award for a first book.
The 2020 winners were
Johanna Fernández, The Young Lords: A Radical History (University of North Carolina Press)
Bill Hayes, How We Live Now: Scenes from the Pandemic (Bloomsbury)
N.K. Jemisin, The City We Became (Orbit)
James McBride, Deacon King Kong (Riverhead)
Jonathan Daniel Wells, The Kidnapping Club: Wall Street, Slavery, and Resistance on the Eve of Civil War (Bold Type Books)
THE HORNBLOWER AWARD FOR A FIRST BOOK
Stephen Haff, Kid Quixotes: A Group of Students, Their Teacher, and the One-Room School Where Everything is Possible
and
Sarah Sierra and Stephen Haff, Becoming Kid Quixote: A True Story of Belonging in America
(HarperCollins)
We were delighted to honor the winners of the 2019 and 2020 New York City Book Awards at a special online ceremony on Wednesday, June 9, 2021. Head Librarian Carolyn Waters welcomed attendees, with remarks by trustee and awards sponsor Ellen M. Iseman, 2019 jury chair Warren Wechsler, and 2020 jury chair Bianca Calabresi. Events staffer Katie Fricas, who has worked closely with the jury in both years, emceed the evening. The presentation concluded with a festive overview of the awards' 25 years of history.