A total of 46 books (23 fiction, 23 nonfiction) has been selected for the longlist for the 2025 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction. The list is now available on the awards’ website. The six-title shortlist—three each for the fiction and nonfiction medals—will be chosen from longlist titles and announced on November 12, 2024.

The Swans of Harlem (Adapted for Young Adults): Five Black Ballerinas, a Legacy of Sisterhood, and Their Reclamation of a Groundbreaking History
by Karen Valby

​During the COVID-19 lockdown of 2020, five former dancers reconnected over Zoom to form the 152nd Street Black Ballet Legacy Council, determined to preserve the groundbreaking work and immense talent of Arthur Mitchell’s Dance Theatre of Harlem (DTH). These women—Lydia Abarca, Gayle McKinney-Griffith, Sheila Rohan, Marcia Sells, and Karlya Shelton—were among its founding or early company members, yet history did not remember their names.

Read-alikes: Karen Valby’s The Swans of Harlem
by Julia Smith

Readers of all ages deserve to know about dancers of color, both their place in history and their inspiring work today. These biographies and memoirs shine well-deserved spotlights on some of these astonishing artists.

10 Questions for Rose Carlyle
By John Charles

Rose Carlyle is a lawyer and keen adventurer. She has crewed on scientific yachting expeditions to subantarctic islands and has sailed with her family from Thailand to South Africa.

10 Questions for Jayne Allen​
By John Charles

Jayne Allen is a writer, producer, and entrepreneur. In the earliest years of her career, as an alumna of Harvard Law School and Duke University Pratt School of Engineering, she worked as an entertainment attorney, including in service to the late artist Prince.

The Shelf Care Interview: Carole Boston Weatherford​

In this episode of Shelf Care Interview, Sarah Hunter talked to Carole Boston Weatherford about The Doll Test: Choosing Equality

Essentials: Band Together, Rock ‘n’ Roll
by Donna Seaman

Music history is being enriched and electrified with a surge of books about rock bands and bands at the roots of rock ‘n’ roll. These group portraits, memoirs, and biographies reflect the rich spectrum of artistry, personalities, adventures, struggles, and resilience that make rock music and its kin profoundly and universally influential.

Essentials: Amazing Artivists
by Kelly Ferreira

​There’s no shortage of youth biographies about every kind of artist. Recently, those whose lives and artistic pursuits have revolved around activism and advocacy are being featured more and more, from the empowerment of Cree women drummers to the artistic use of life preservers to bring attention to refugee crises. Young musicians, painters, photographers, performers—any kind of artist, really—will surely be inspired by the thoughtful work of these creative crusaders.​

Books by Booklist Authors: Donna Seaman’s River of Books
by Susan Maguire

​Keen readers of Booklist know Adult Books Editor Donna Seaman as an astute reader and critic, and have come to rely on her analysis and depth of knowledge for their collection development and readers’ advisory needs. Donna would never tell you this herself, but I’ve heard our readers tell her that they’ll pick up anything she reviews: that’s how clearly Donna’s writing can convey a book’s beauty, meaning, and necessity. It won’t come as a surprise that Donna has been a great reader her whole life, and that, like so many of us, she came of age in the library.