Carnegie Medal 2025: Complete list of winners
The Carnegie Medal, one of the publishing world’s most prestigious honors, has announced its 2025 winners, and this year’s selections showcase the remarkable range of contemporary American letters. Percival Everett’s James claims the fiction prize, a bold reimagining that has already generated significant literary conversation since its release. Meanwhile, Kevin Fedarko’s A Walk in the Park: The True Story of a Spectacular Misadventure in the Grand Canyon takes the nonfiction award, proving that narrative excellence transcends genre. These two works represent the Carnegie Medal’s enduring commitment to recognizing books that combine artistic merit with the power to captivate and challenge readers.
What makes the 2025 Carnegie Medal selections particularly interesting is how they reflect current trends in publishing: the appetite for imaginative retellings of classic literature and the continued strength of narrative nonfiction that reads like a thriller. Everett’s novel has already become a cultural touchstone, while Fedarko’s Grand Canyon adventure captures the kind of true-life storytelling that refuses to be confined by conventional boundaries between journalism and literary narrative. Both winners demonstrate why the Carnegie Medal remains essential reading for anyone serious about contemporary literature.
Below you’ll find the complete details about this year’s honored authors and their remarkable works.
Fiction
- James by Percival Everett