History
Presented by the American Library Association to the best fiction and non-fiction books for adult readers published in the United States during the previous year.
Not to be confused with the Carnegie Medal for children's writing, established by the Critish Library Association in 1936.
Latest Winners / Recipients
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Year: 2021
winner (Non-fiction) y
Fathoms : The World in the Whale
Carlton North
:
Scribe
,
2020
21224317
2020
single work
prose
'When writer Rebecca Giggs encountered a humpback whale stranded on her local beachfront in Australia, she began to wonder how the lives of whales shed light on the condition of our seas. Fathoms: The World in the Whale blends natural history, philosophy, and science to explore: How do whales experience ecological change? Will our connection to these storied animals be transformed by technology? What can observing whales teach us about the complexity, splendour, and fragility of life? In Fathoms, we learn about whales so rare they have never been named, whale songs that sweep across hemispheres in annual waves of popularity, and whales that have modified the chemical composition of our planet’s atmosphere. We travel to Japan to board the ships that hunt whales and delve into the deepest seas to discover the plastic pollution now pervading the whale’s undersea environment.
'In the spirit of Rachel Carson and Rebecca Solnit, Giggs gives us a vivid exploration of the natural world even as she addresses what it means to write about nature at a time of environmental crisis. ' (Publication summary)
