A local author who has already topped the list of some of the literary world’s most prestigious book prizes has been named a finalist for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence.
Esi Edugyan, a Colwood-based author, was named as one of three finalists for the Carnegie Medal, established in 2012 by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the American Library Association to recognize the best fiction and non-fiction published in the U.S.
Washington Black, Edugyan’s latest novel, is the story of an 11-year-old slave on a Barbados plantation whose unlikely friendship with his master’s brother explores the themes of friendship, love, betrayal and redemption from the Caribbean to the Arctic.
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Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and a finalist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, Washington Black follows Edugyan’s 2011 award-winning Half-Blood Blues and her 2004 debut, The Second Life of Samuel Tyne, nominated for the Hurston-Wright Legacy Award.
Also shortlisted were Rebecca Makkai for The Great Believers and Tommy Orange for There There.
The Andrew Carnegie Medal winners will be announced Jan. 27.
