James McBride wins $50,000 Kirkus Prize for fiction for ‘The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store’

McBride's new novel is set in an eclectic Pennsylvania town in the 1930s

NEW YORK (AP) — Three books that explore and celebrate the diversity of American culture were awarded Kirkus Prizes on Wednesday night, with each winner receiving $50,000.

James McBride’s “The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store,” a novel set in an eclectic Pennsylvania town in the 1930s, won in the fiction category.

Author and executive producer, James McBride of “The Good Lord Bird” speaks during the Showtime segment of the 2020 Winter TCA Press Tour at The Langham Huntington, Pasadena on January 13, 2020 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Amy Sussman/Getty Images)

Héctor Tobar’s “Our Migrant Souls: A Meditation on Race and the Meanings and Myths of ‘Latino’” received the nonfiction award, and Ariel Aberg-Riger’s ”America Redux: Visual Stories From Our Dynamic History” won for young reader’s literature.

The awards were presented by the trade publication Kirkus Reviews.

“History and community emerged as central themes in the most outstanding works of literature published this year,” Meg Kuehn, publisher of Kirkus Reviews, said in a statement.

“We see these ideas come to life in wildly different ways in all three of this year’s winners, each one compelling from beginning to end, begging to be celebrated, discussed, and shared.”

Previous winners of the Kirkus Prize, established in 2014, include Hanya Yanagihara’s “A Little Life,” Jason Reynolds’ “As Brave as You” and Susan Faludi’s “In the Darkroom.”

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