Since 2016, the Chicago Review of Books Awards have honored exemplary works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and essays & short stories published by authors from the Chicagoland literary community. The awards are voted on by a committee of Chicago booksellers and
Chicago Review of Books staff, and past winners have included authors such as
Rebecca Makkai,
Eve L. Ewing,
Mikki Kendall,
Erika L. Sánchez, and more. The
Chicago Review of Books also introduced the
Adam Morgan Literary Leadership Award to the annual awards ceremony in 2019. Named after the magazine's founding editor Adam Morgan, the award honors individuals for their contributions to the Chicago literary community through service, advocacy, and stewardship.
Past Winners Fiction •
2025 – The El by Theodore C. Van Alst Jr. •
2024 – Hot Springs Drive by Lindsay Hunter •
2023 – Bliss Montage: Stories by
Ling Ma •
2022 – The School For Good Mothers by
Jessamine Chan •
2021 – The Upstairs House by Julia Fine •
2020 – The Lost Book of Adana Moreau by Michael Zapata •
2019 – False Bingo by
Jac Jemc •
2018 – The Great Believers by
Rebecca Makkai •
2017 – How to Behave in a Crowd by Camille Bordas •
2016 – The Lightkeepers by Abby Geni
Nonfiction •
2025 – Original Sins: The [Mis]education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racsim by
Eve L. Ewing •
2024 – The Night Parade by Jami Nakamura Lin •
2023 – King: A Life by
Jonathan Eig •
2022 – Crying in the Bathroom: A Memoir by
Erika L. Sánchez •
2021 – Three Girls from Bronzeville: A Uniquely American Memoir of Race, Fate, and Sisterhood by Dawn Turner •
2020 – Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot by
Mikki Kendall •
2019 – Burn the Place by
Iliana Regan •
2018 – Ghosts in the Schoolyard: Racism and School Closings on Chicago’s South Side by
Eve L. Ewing •
2017 – The Wrong Way to Save Your Life by Megan Stielstra •
2016 – The South Side by Natalie Y. Moore
Poetry •
2025 – Hardly Creatures by Rob Macaisa Colgate •
2024 – The Murmuring Grief of the Americas by Daniel Borzutsky •
2023 – I Done Clicked My Heels Three Times by Taylor Byas •
2022 – Against Heaven by Kemi Alabi •
2021 – Wolf Lamb Bomb by Aviya Kushner •
2020 – Too Much Midnight by
Krista Franklin •
2019 – 1919 by
Eve L. Ewing •
2018 – Citizen Illegal by
José Olivarez •
2017 – Electric Archces by
Eve L. Ewing •
2016 – child in a winter house brightening by Abigail Zimmer
Essay/Short Story •
2025 – “A Trans Migrant Came to Chicago to Escape Violence. Now She's Afraid of Deportation” by Adriana Cardona-Maguigad in
WBEZ Chicago •
2024 – “After 25 years of selling tamales in Chicago, an undocumented immigrant mother returns to Mexico without her family” by Laura Rodríguez Presa in
Chiacago Tribune •
2023 – “After the Buses: Meet the Migrants at the Center of Texas’ Manufactured Crisis” by Madison Savedra in
Block Club Chicago &
Borderless Magazine •
2022 – “It’s quiet around here until it’s not” by Salem Collo-Julin in
Chicago Reader •
2021 – “The climate crisis haunts Chicago’s future. A Battle Between a Great City and a Great Lake” by Dan Egan in
The New York Times •
2020 – “When reporting on movement actions, revolutionary joy must be given the same space as the struggle” by Matt Harvey in
The TRiiBE •
2019 – “An Axe for the Frozen Sea” by Megan Stielstra in
Believer Magazine •
2018 – “After Unthinkable Loss” by Sarah Conway, photos by Sebastián Hidalgo in
City Bureau /
Chicago Magazine ==References==