Living Canon

Kirkus Prize 2014: Complete list of winners

The 2014 Kirkus Prize winners showcase the kind of literary range that keeps the award respected across the publishing world. Lily King’s Euphoria, a gorgeous novel set in 1930s New Guinea that explores passion and anthropology, took home the fiction prize, while Roz Chast’s brutally funny graphic memoir Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant? claimed the nonfiction award. Meanwhile, Kate Samworth’s imaginative Aviary Wonders Inc.: Spring Catalog and Instruction Manual won in Young Readers’ Literature, proving that picture books could be just as clever and layered as their adult counterparts.

What’s striking about this particular year’s slate is how each winner brings a distinct narrative voice—whether King’s lush prose, Chast’s sardonic drawings, or Samworth’s inventive visual storytelling. The Kirkus Prize, which has become one of the year’s most anticipated literary honors since its launch, rewards books that demonstrate both artistic excellence and the kind of distinctive perspective that lingers with readers long after the final page. These three winners represent exactly the kind of boldness in form and content that the prize has come to celebrate.

Below, discover what made each of these 2014 Kirkus Prize winners stand out among an exceptionally strong field of finalists.

Fiction

Nonfiction

Young Readers’ Literature