Announcing the Winners of the 2024 Stackies

The winners of the most important and well respected book prize in the history of literature are announced below.

Jan 24, 2025

The votes have been tallied and the best books of 2024 according to you all, the readers with the best taste in the world, have been decided. I put these books up against any list or award in the literary game; past, present, or future1. Congrats to all the winners.

If you want to be a part of nominating and voting for The Stackies in 2025 be sure you join as a paid subscriber of Unstacked right here on Substack.

And now, I proudly present to you the 2024 winners of The Stackies.

Best Debut

The Coin by Yasmin Zaher
I Shouldn’t Be Telling You This: (But I’m Going to Anyway) by Chelsea Devantez
Oye by Melissa Mogollon
Piglet by Lottie Hazel
The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden

Best Fiction

Colored Television by Danzy Senna
Come & Get It by Kiley Reid
James by Percival Everett
Margo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe
Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar

Best Nonfiction

Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space by Adam Higginbotham
Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here: The United States, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis by Jonathan Blitzer
The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates
There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension by Hanif Abdurraqib
The Unclaimed: Abandonment and Hope in the City of Angels by Pamela Prickett and Stefan Timmermans

Best Memoir

Another Word for Love by Carvell Wallace
Be Ready When the Luck Happens by Ina Garten
Coming Home by Brittney Griner
I Shouldn’t Be Telling You This: (But I’m Going to Anyway) by Chelsea Devantez
There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension by Hanif Abdurraqib

Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Annie Bot by Sierra Greer
Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino
The Ministry of Time by Kalaine Bradley
Mirrored Heavens by Rebecca Roanhorse
Sky Full of Elephants by Cebo Campbell

Best Romance

Funny Story by Emily Henry
Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez
A Love Song for Ricki Wilde by Tia Williams
The Pairing by Casey McQuiston
This Could Be Us by Kennedy Ryan

Best Thriller/Mystery/Horror

Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
Guide Me Home by Attica Locke
Little Rot by Akwaeke Emezi
Nightwatching by Tracy Sierra

Best Short Story Collection

Convergence Problems by Wole Talabi
Ghostroots by ‘Pemi Aguda
Neighbors by Diane Oliver
Rejection by Tony Tulathimutte
Table for Two by Amor Towles

Best Poetry Collection

[...] by Fady Joudah
Bluff by Danez Smith
Forest of Noise by Mosab Abu Toha
The Moon that Turns You Back by Hala Alyan
We Alive, Beloved by Frederick Joseph

Best Translated Lit

Butter: A Novel of Food and Murder by Asako Yuzuki, translated by Polly Barton
The Empusium: A Health Resort Horror Story by Olga Tokarczuk, translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones
A Long Walk from Gaza by Asmaa Alatawna, translated by Michelle Hartman & Caline Nasrallah
Mina's Matchbox by Yoko Ogawa, translated by Stephen B. Snyder
A Sunny Place for Shady People by Mariana Enriquez, translated Megan McDowell

Best Cookbook

Big Night: Dinners, Parties & Dinner Parties by Katherine Lewin
Big Vegan Flavor: Techniques and 150 Recipes to Master Vegan Cooking by Nisha Vora
Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts: Stories and Recipes from Five Generations of Black Country Cooks Ghosts by Crystal Wilkinson
What Goes with What: 100 Recipes, 20 Charts, Endless Possibilities by Julia Turshen
What to Cook When You Don't Feel Like Cooking by Caroline Chambers

Best Book Not on The Stacks

All Fours by Miranda July
Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino
James by Percival Everett
The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Relinquished: The Politics of Adoption and the Privilege of American Motherhood by Gretchen Sisson

Best Cover

Colored Television by Danzy Senna
Come & Get It by Kiley Reid
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
Piglet by Lottie Hazel
The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden

Best Main Character

All Fours by Miranda July
Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino
Colored Television by Danzy Senna
James by Percival Everett
Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar

Funniest Book

Colored Television by Danzy Senna
Come & Get It by Kiley Reid
Joyful Recollections of Trauma by Paul Scheer
Margo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe
Oye by Melissa Mogollon

Most Hated

All Fours by Miranda July
All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker
Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder by Salman Rushdie
Melania by Melania Trump
The Women by Kristin Hannah

Book for President Biden

By the Fire We Carry: The Generations-Long Fight for Justice on Native Land by Rebecca Nagle
James by Percival Everett
The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Soldiers and Kings: Survival and Hope in the World of Human Smuggling by Jason De León
What If We Get It Right?: Visions of Climate Futures by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson

Best Pick for The Stacks Book Club

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

Best Stacks Episode

Ep. 350 The Best Books of 2024 with Greta Johnsen & MJ Franklin

Best Bookstore

Book & Bottle (St. Petersburg, FL)
Call & Response Books (Chicago, IL)
Lemuria Books (Jackson, MS)
Loyalty Bookstores (Washington, DC)
Reparations Club (Los Angeles, CA)

Thank you all so much for being part of the second annual Stackies. I look forward to more books to gush over and to hate in 2025.

If you want more of me and my nonsense be sure to listen to The Stacks podcast every Wednesday and follow me over on Instagram for a lot more book content.

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Pulitzer, we’re coming for you!

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