Putting Cleveland’s Literary Scene on the Map
Since 2016, Cleveland Book Week has celebrated literary excellence in Northeast Ohio, anchored by the latest class of Anisfield-Wolf Book Award winners. View the full archive of events below.
2023
The eighth annual Cleveland Book Week brought five literary powerhouses — poet Saeed Jones, historian Matthew F. Delmont, novelists Geraldine Brooks and Lan Samantha Chang and lifetime achievement winner Charlayne Hunter-Gault — to unique venues all across the city.
Our in-person programming was facilitated by our partnerships with Karamu House, Dunham Tavern Gardens & Museum, Cleveland Police Mounted Unit, Asia Plaza, East Technical High School and the City Club of Cleveland.
2022
Book lovers gathered in person for the first time since 2019 to celebrate Cleveland Book Week with our current Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards winners — novelist Percival Everett, poet Donika Kelly, historian George Makari, historian Tiya Miles and lifetime achievement recipient Ishmael Reed.
Our return to in-person programming was facilitated by our partnerships with the LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland, Black Environmental Leaders, St. Ignatius of Antioch, Cleveland Botanical Gardens, Lake View Cemetery and the City Club of Cleveland.
2021
Cleveland Book Week featured a one-hour documentary with historian Vincent Brown, poet Victoria Chang, lifetime achievement recipient Samuel R. Delany, novelist James McBride, and memoirist Natasha Trethewey. Jury Chair Henry Louis Gates Jr. served as host.
Our 2021 programming was possible due to generous collaborations with Case Western Reserve University, Great Lakes African American Writers Conference, Cleveland International Film Festival, Cleveland Public Library, and Cuyahoga County Public Library.
2020
The fifth annual Cleveland Book Week celebrated our 2020 Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards winners, while broadening our reach into film and podcasts. The week was anchored by a one-hour documentary featuring a visit to the hometowns of historian Eric Foner, poet Ilya Kaminsky, scholar Charles King and novelist Namwali Serpell, replacing our annual in-person awards ceremony.
The slate of virtual programming was made possible due to collaborations with the Cleveland International Film Festival, Western Reserve Historical Society, Global Cleveland, the City Club of Cleveland, and the Great Lakes African American Writers Conference.
2019
Cleveland Book Week 2019 took attendees from the shores of Lake Erie to the campus of Kent State University 40 miles to the south, honoring historian Andrew Delbanco, novelist Tommy Orange, lifetime achievement recipient Sonia Sanchez, and poet Tracy K. Smith.
The Cleveland Foundation and Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards presented Cleveland Book Week in partnership with Brews + Prose, Case Western Reserve University, The City Club of Cleveland, Cleveland Public Library, Cleveland State University Poetry Center, Cuyahoga County Public Library, Great Lakes African American Writers Conference, Great Lakes Science Center, Karamu House, Kent State University, Lake Erie Native American Council, Project 400, and St. John’s Episcopal Church.
2018
In 2018, Cleveland celebrated present and past Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards winners and hosted 13 events, 5,000 people, a world of incredible writing and reading. The week honored our 2018 winners right here in Northeast Ohio: poet Shane McCrae, lifetime achievement recipient N. Scott Momaday, novelist Jesmyn Ward, and author and editor Kevin Young.
The Cleveland Foundation and Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards presented Cleveland Book Week in partnership with Baker-Nord Center, Brews + Prose, The City Club of Cleveland, Cleveland Public Library, Cuyahoga County Public Library, Karamu House, Literary Cleveland and Twelve Literary Arts.
2017
The 82nd annual Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards ceremony during Cleveland Book Week drew a record crowd of more than 1,200 to the State Theatre at Playhouse Square to celebrate the year’s winners: lifetime achievement recipient Isabel Allende, novelist Peter Ho Davies, poet Tyehimba Jess, novelist Karan Mahajan and nonfiction writer Margot Lee Shetterly.
Among the partners of Cleveland Book Week were Cleveland Kids’ Book Bank, Great Lakes Science Center, Case Western Reserve University, Cuyahoga County Community College, the City Club of Cleveland, Overdrive, Brews & Prose, Twelve Literary Arts, Karamu House, MOCA Cleveland and the Cleveland Flea.
2016
In 2016, we celebrated the inaugural Cleveland Book Week, a series of special events to celebrate Anisfield-Wolf Book Award winners past and present, and showcase people and organizations working to promote literature and literacy in Greater Cleveland. Throughout the week, in coordination with a number of community partners, we hosted an array of events to honor the Anisfield-Wolf class of 2016: historian Lillian Faderman, novelist Mary Morris, sociologist Orlando Patterson, poet Rowan Ricardo Phillips and dance critic Brian Seibert.
Many thanks to Brews & Prose, the City Club of Cleveland, the Cleveland Flea, Cuyahoga County Public Library, Beck Center for the Arts, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and Case Western Reserve University for partnering on this inaugural celebration.