The Archivists by Daphne Kalotay has also been named to the 2024 Longlist in Fiction.

Massachusetts Center for the Book (MCB) is pleased to announce the long-listed titles in the 24th Annual Massachusetts Book Awards program. These titles, previously referred to as the “Must Reads,” represent achievements in fiction, nonfiction, poetry and young people’s literature by Massachusetts writers and illustrators published during 2023.

“The Mass Book Awards are recognized as one of the strongest state award programs in the nation,” noted Courtney Andree, Executive Director. “This year’s longlists reflect the strength, diversity, and vitality of the Commonwealth’s writing community – across all genres.”

During the coming months, Program Manager Karolina Zapal plans promotion of these longlisted books throughout Massachusetts and at National Book Festival in Washington, D.C. “In late summer, one award winner and two honors titles will be announced in the Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Young Adult/Middle Grade, and Picture Book/Early Reader categories as well as an award for Translated Literature,” stated Zapal. “We’ll invite all of these authors to the State House for an awards celebration in the fall.”

Fiction Longlist: The Light of Seven Days by River Adams; Rouge by Mona Awad; Relentless Melt by Jeremy P. Bushnell; The Last Beekeeper by Julie Carrick Dalton; Scorched Grace by Margot Douaihy; Kantika by Elizabeth Graver; Shark Heart: A Love Story by Emily Habeck; The Archivists by Daphne Kalotay; Like the Appearance of Horses by Andrew Krivak; Muckross Abbey and Other Stories by Sabina Murray; Night Angels by Weina Dai Randel; We Have Always Been Who We Are by Sofia T. Romero.

Like the Appearance of Horses by Andrew Krivak, winner of the 2021 Mass Book Award in Fiction, has been named to the 2024 Longlist in Fiction.

Nonfiction Longlist: He/She/They by Schuyler Bailar; Spoken Word: A Cultural History by Joshua Bennett; How Infrastructure Works by Deb Chachra; Necessary Trouble by Drew Gilpin Faust; An Unruled Body by Ani Gjika; The Country of the Blind by Andrew Leland; What’s Gotten Into You by Dan Levitt; Winter Solstice: An Essay by Nina MacLaughlin; Everyday Something Has Tried to Kill Me and Has Failed by Kim McLarin; Into the Amazon by Larry Rohter; Chomsky & Me by Bev Boisseau Stohl; Master Slave Husband Wife by Ilyon Woo.

Poetry Longlist: Navigating the Reach by Mary Buchinger; Gravity and Center by Henri Cole; The Diaspora Sonnets by Oliver de la Paz; Ordinary Entanglement by Melissa Dickey; Fierce Elegy by Peter Gizzi; Shadow Act by Daniel Brock Johnson; The Observable Universe by Hannah Larrabee; Ghost::Seeds by Sebastian Merrill; Love Is A Shore by Hilary Sallick; American Scapegoat by Enzo Silon Surin; This Far North by Jason Tandon; The Mansions by Daniel Tobin.

Love is a Shore by Hilary Sallick has been named to the 2024 Longlist in Poetry.

Middle Grade/Young Adult Longlist: All You Have to Do by Autumn Allen; Spin by Rebecca Caprara; The Remarkable Rescue at Milkweed Meadow by Elaine Dimopoulos; Pedro & Daniel by Federico Erebia; The Song of Us by Kate Fussner; A Work in Progress by Jarrett Lerner; Chinese Menu by Grace Lin; Squished by Megan Wagner Lloyd, illustrated by Michelle Mee Nutter; The Fall of Whit Rivera by Crystal Maldonado; The Moonlit Vine by Elizabeth Santiago; I Am Not Alone by Francisco X. Stork; Ghosts, Toast, and Other Hazards by Susan Tan.

Picture Book/Early Reader Longlist: When Things Aren’t Going Right, Go Left by Marc Colagiovanni, illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds; If the Rivers Run Free by Andrea Debbink, illustrated by Nicole Wong; A Very Cranky Book by Angela DiTerlizzi, illustrated by Tony DiTerlizzi; Night Owl Night by Susan Edwards Richmond; Summer Is for Cousins by Rajani LaRocca; Once Upon a Book by Grace Lin and Kate Messner, illustrated by Grace Lin; Homeland by Hannah Moushabeck; Everything Possible by Fred Small; Mole Is Not Alone by Maya Tatsukawa; Yoshi’s Big Swim by Mary Wagley Copp; Food for the Future by Mia Wenjen; Nana and Me: Special Poems Just for Us by Jane Yolen.

The Massachusetts Center for the Book, chartered as the Commonwealth Affiliate of the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, is a public-private partnership charged with developing, supporting and promoting cultural programming that advances the cause of books and reading and enhances the outreach potential of Massachusetts public libraries. For additional information: Massachusetts Center for the Book, 17 New South Street, Ste 302, Northampton, 01060. Email: bookawards@massbook.org.  Web: https://www.massbook.org/mass-book-awards  Phone: 413-341-3143; 617-872-3718