Jewish Fiction Award

The Association of Jewish Libraries Jewish Fiction Award was established in 2017 with generous underwriting from Dan Wyman Books.

All works of fiction with significant Jewish thematic content written in or translated into English which are published and available for purchase in the United States during 2023 are eligible for the 2024 award. Jewish thematic content means an extended grappling with Jewish themes throughout the book, including Judaism, Jewish history and culture, Jewish identity, etc. See our complete guidelines for submission.

The award will include a $1,000 cash prize as well as support to attend the AJL conference to receive the award.

Add Jewish Fiction Award and Honor seals to the books in your library; available on the AJL shops page.

2023 AJL Jewish Fiction Award Winner

See the press release for the 2023 winner

Winner: The Man Who Sold Air in the Holy Land by Omer Friedlander

Honor Book Winner: Atomic Anna by Rachel Barenbaum

Honor Book Winner: Thistlefoot by GennaRose Nethercott

2022 AJL Jewish Fiction Award Winner

See the press release for the 2022 winner

Winner: How to Find Your Way in the Dark by Derek B. Miller

Honor Book Winner: A Play for the End of the World by Jai Chakrabarti

2021 AJL Jewish Fiction Award Winner

See the Press release for the 2021 winner

Winner: The Lost Shtetl by Max Gross

Honor Book Winner: To Be a Man: Stories by Nicole Krauss,

Honor Book Winner: Apeirogon: A Novel by Colum McCann

2020 AJL Jewish Fiction Award Winner

See the Press release for the 2020 winner

Winner: On Division by Goldie Goldbloom (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

Honor Book Winner: The Flight Portfolio by Julie Orringer (Knopf)

2019 AJL Jewish Fiction Award Winners

See the Press release for the 2019 winners

Winner: Memento Park by Mark Sarvas (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

Honor Book Winner: The Cloister by James Carroll, (Nan Talese)

Honor Book Winner: The Fourth Corner of the World by Scott Nadelson (Engine Books)

2018 AJL Jewish Fiction Award Winners

See the Press release for the 2018 winners

Winner: The Weight of Ink by Rachel Kadish (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

Honor Book Winner: Nine Folds Make a Paper Swan by Ruth Gilligan (Tin House Books)

Honor Book Winner: A Boy in Winter by Rachel Seiffert (Pantheon Books, part of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group)