Brooklyn Public Library announces 2023 Book Prize winners

Brooklyn Public Library announced the winners of the ninth annual Brooklyn Public Library Book Prize on Monday, awarding Lamya H the nonfiction prize for “Hijab Butch Blues” and Catherine Lacey the fiction prize for “Biography of X.” The prize recognizes writing that captures the spirit of Brooklyn and is selected by both librarians and staff

“Both of the 2023 Brooklyn Public Library Book Prize winners have written daring, genre-defying works. Through a story of love, art, and grief in New York City, Catherine Lacey’s audacious new novel prompts us to question reality, while  Lamya H’s funny and poignant memoir is a palimpsest of stories about being brown, Muslim and queer in the Middle East and here in New York,” said Linda E. Johnson, president and CEO, Brooklyn Public Library. 

“We commend these extraordinarily talented writers and their fellow nominees as well as the librarians and staff who champion free and easy access to diverse and inclusive literature all year long,” she added.

In the best-selling novel “Biography of X,” Catherine Lacey introduces us to a widow intent on setting the record straight about her deceased wife, along the way taking the reader on an extraordinary journey. “I’m very grateful for this support from the staff and readers at the Brooklyn Public Library, especially as we find ourselves in this recurrent struggle with censorship and book bannings and a baseless fear of queer narratives,” said Lacey.

In her memoir, “Hijab Butch Blues,” Lamya H, shares her quest for community and belonging as a queer, devout Muslim immigrant. “I’m so thrilled to receive the BPL prize for ‘Hijab Butch Blues.’ Libraries have been such a big part of my immigrant experience. I grew up in a country without public libraries, and when I came to the U.S., it floored me that I could access any book…