kirkus prize

Ling Ma's debut, Severance, won for fiction. Crown earned Derrick Barnes and Gordon James the young readers' prize. And Rebecca Solnit's essays, Call Them by Their True Names, won nonfiction laurels.

Reynolds' As Brave as You won in the literary award's category for young readers' literature; Morgan's The Sport of Kings won for fiction; and Faludi's In the Darkroom won for nonfiction.

But they're not the only ones. Eighteen books got the nod when Kirkus Reviews released shortlists for its literary prize on Tuesday.

The literary awards were handed out for nonfiction, fiction and young readers' literature, respectively. Established just last year by Kirkus Reviews, the prize offers $50,000 to each winner.

The literary award, launched last year by Kirkus Reviews, lists Ta-Nehisi Coates, Helen Macdonald and Hanya Yanagihara among 18 finalists across three categories. The prize carries a purse of $50,000.