Living Canon

Carnegie Medal 2022: Complete list of winners

The Carnegie Medal, one of the most prestigious recognitions in American letters, honored two remarkable works in 2022 that showcase the award’s commitment to celebrating excellence across genres. Tom Lin’s debut novel The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu captured the fiction prize, a haunting literary western that weaves together historical imagination with a deeply personal narrative of revenge and identity. Meanwhile, Hanif Abdurraqib’s A Little Devil in America: In Praise of Black Performance won the nonfiction award, a vibrant essay collection that traces the power and cultural significance of Black artistic expression across decades. The dual selections reflect the Carnegie Medal’s tradition of recognizing works that transcend commercial success to offer genuine artistic achievement and cultural insight.

What makes these 2022 winners particularly striking is how they both interrogate American identity through unconventional lenses—Lin through the overlooked history of Chinese immigrants in the Old West, and Abdurraqib through the genealogy of Black creativity that has shaped the nation’s soul. These selections demonstrate the Carnegie Medal’s ongoing relevance as a barometer for literary significance, distinguishing itself from other major awards by championing voices and narratives that expand our understanding of what American literature can be. The award’s focus on artistic merit rather than commercial appeal continues to position it as a trusted guide for serious readers seeking their next profound reading experience.

Here are the complete 2022 Carnegie Medal winners:

Fiction

Nonfiction