The Chicago Review of Books is proud to announce the shortlist for the 2021 CHIRBy Awards.
Now in its sixth year, the CHIRBy Awards recognizes the best fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and short essays published by Chicago-based writers. Congratulations to all of these incredible writers on this year’s shortlist!
The winners in each category will be announced at the virtual 6th CHIRBy Awards ceremony on Thursday, December 9 at 7 pm CT. Join us, StoryStudio Chicago, and our wonderful host Jenn White of NPR’s podcast 1A as we celebrate some of the brightest writing minds in Chicago today! Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased here.
All funds raised will help support the Chicago Review of Books. We hope to see you there!
2021 FICTION SHORTLIST
The Upstairs House
By Julia Fine
Harper
Clark and Division
By Naomi Hirahara
Soho Crime
The Kindest Lie
By Nancy Johnson
William Morrow & Company
How I Learned to Hate in Ohio
By David Stuart Maclean
Harry N. Abrams
Arsenic and Adobo
By Mia P. Manansala
Berkley Books
2021 NONFICTION SHORTLIST
The Most Fun Thing: Dispatches from a Skateboard Life
By Kyle Beachy
Grand Central Publishing
Refugee High: Coming of Age in America
By Elly Fishman
New Press
Blow Your House Down
By Gina Frangello
Counterpoint LLC
Love Is an Ex-Country
By Randa Jarrar
Catapult
Three Girls from Bronzeville: A Uniquely American Memoir of Race, Fate, and Sisterhood
By Dawn Turner
Simon & Schuster
2021 POETRY SHORTLIST
Written after a Massacre in the Year 2018
By Daniel Borzutzky
Coffee House Press
Doppelgangbanger
By Cortney Lamar Charleston
Haymarket Books
Wolf Lamb Bomb
By Aviya Kushner
Orison Books
Mother/Land
By Ananda Lima
Black Lawrence Press
Asked What Has Changed
By Ed Roberson
Wesleyan University Press
2021 ESSAY SHORTLIST
“The climate crisis haunts Chicago’s Future. A Battle Between a Great City and a Great Lake”
By Dan Egan
The New York Times
“The neighborhood I grew up in is full of affordable housing, but that’s not enough”
By Natalie Frazier
The TRiiBE
“The Three Corpses”
by Jami Nakamura Lin
Catapult
“Looking back, I really should have jumped up on stage and danced with Prince”
By Natalie Y. Moore
Chicago Sun Times
“Inside the Last Men’s Hotel in Chicago”
By Katie Prout
The New Republic & Chicago Reader
2021 JUDGES
Chair
Michael Welch, CHIRBy Awards Director
- Rebecca George, Volumes Bookcafe
- Jeff Deutsch, Seminary Co-op and 57th Street Books
- Wayne Giacalone, Madison Street Books
- DL Mullen, Semicolon Bookstore & Gallery
- Stephanie Kitchen, City Lit Books
- Suzy Takacs, The Book Cellar
- Sara Batkie, Editor-in-Chief
- Adam Morgan, CHIRB Founding Editor
- Amy Brady, CHIRB Contributing Editor & Publishing Consultant
- Jen St. Jude, CHIRB Managing Director
- Todd Van Luling, CHIRB Senior Director
- Sarah Blakley-Cartwright, CHIRB Publishing Director
- Sara Cutaia, Editor-in-Chief at Arcturus Magazine and CHIRB Editor-at-Large
- Clancey D’Isa, CHIRB Project Editor
- Dana Dunham, CHIRB Senior Editor
- Mandana Chaffa, CHIRB Editor & Senior Strategist
- Christina Drill – CHIRB Social Media Editor
- Cait Stout, CHIRB Daily Editor
- Greer Macallister, CHIRB Editor-at-Large, Historical Fiction & Lit on Screen
- Rachel León, CHIRB Contributing Editor
