The New York Public Library revealed its lists of the best books of 2020, with works by Mikki Kendall, N.K. Jemisin, and Raven Leilani all making the cut.
Leilani made the list of books for adults with Luster, her acclaimed debut novel. Her book won this year’s Kirkus Prize and was shortlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize.
Jemisin’s The City We Became and Kendall’s Hood Feminism: Notes From the Women That a Movement Forgotalso appeared on the adult book list, along with Maggie O’Farrell’s Hamnet, V.E. Schwab’s The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, and Charles Yu’s National Book Award–winning Interior Chinatown.
Rounding out the list were Matt Haig’s The Midnight Library, Roxane Gay and Tracy Lynne Oliver’s The Sacrifice of Darkness, Grady Hendrix’s The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires, and Hilary Leichter’s Temporary.
The library also released lists of the best 2020 books for kids and teens. The list of children’s books included Aida Salazar’s The Land of the Cranes, Meg Medina’s Evelyn Del Rey Is Moving Away, and Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed’s When Stars Are Scattered.
Making the list for teen books were Trung Le Nguyen’s The Magic Fish, Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam’s Punching the Air, and Jenny Torres Sanchez’s We Are Not From Here.
In addition, the library compiled lists of the Top 10 Books in Spanish and Top 10 Poetry Books.
Michael Schaub is a Texas-based journalist and regular contributor to NPR.
