The In the Margins Award, established in 2013, is an annual literary award presented to fiction and nonfiction "self published books by, for and about people of color living in the margins." The primary audience of the books is generally individuals aged 9-21 who are Black, Indigenous People of Color; "youth from a street culture," "youth in restrictive custody," and/or "youth who are reluctant readers."
The In the Margins Award was established as part of the Library Services for Youth in Custody but since 2017, has operated independently.
Recipients +In the Margins Award Top 10 (2014-present)YearGenreAuthorTitleRef.2014FictionSurvivor and Daniel Lafance (Illus.)War Brothers: The Graphic NovelCriminalYaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your AssGood Kings, Bad KingsNo Matter WhatPieces of MeAnybody’s DaughterNonfictionBuck: A MemoirFrom Crack to College and Vice Versa2015FictionThe LureAnatomy of a Girl GangHow It Went DownWhen I Was the GreatestRuby: Between the Cracks (Volume 1)NonfictionFrom God’s Monster to the Devil’s AngelLeft for DeadThe High Price I Had to Pay 2: Sentenced to 30 Years as a Nonviolent, First Time OffenderLionheart: Coming from Where I’m FromThe Griots of Oakland: Voices from the African American Oral History Project2016FictionThe Triangle: A Year on the Ground with New York’s Bloods and CripsDimeLittle PeachThe Outside CircleTattooed TeardropsNonfictionAmerica’s Massacre: The Audacity of Despair and a Message of HopeThe Boy Who Carried Bricks: A True Story of SurvivalSlugg: A Boy’s Life in the Age of Mass IncarcerationGirls In JusticeGhetto Brother: Warrior to Peacemaker2017Fiction Little Miss SomebodyAmerican FlowersNonfictionAging Out: A True StoryGirl in PiecesOriginal Gangstas: The Untold Story of Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, Ice Cube, Tupac Shakur, and the Birth of West Coast RapTeenage DegenerateDear YvetteOther Broken ThingsThe TruthThe Untold Story of the Real Me: Young Voices from Prison2018FictionBeacon House Writers. K. Crutcher (Ed.) with Z. Gatti (Design)The Day Tajon Got ShotThe Biker’s BrotherThe Pain EaterJumped In with John Jennings and Stacey Robinson (Illus.)I am Alfonso JonesBlood BrothersWhite FlightNonfictionOne Cut and Stacey Debono (Eds.) and Glenn Adhama (Illus.)100 Things Every Black Girl Should KnowPoetryBroken Flowers: And Other Stairways to Heaven2019FictionWhere the Dead Sit TalkingQueenpinHard Knocks High: Darkskins and Redbones, Andrew Donkin, and Giovanni Rigano (Illus.)IllegalNonfiction and Sue JewelerTell Me About When Moms and Dads Go to Jail: Tell Me About Jail and Sue JewelerTell Me About When Moms and Dads Come Home From Jail: Tell Me About JailMotherless Child: A Journey of Growing Up and ForgivingRaw: My Journey Into the Wu-TangWhere the Dead Sit TalkingHey, Kiddoand Santiago CasaresVoces sin Fronteras: Our Stories, Our TruthThe Disturbed Girl’s Dictionary2020Fiction and Natasha DonavanSurviving the CityBloody Seoul and Fabricio Vanden BroeckMy Shoes and I: Crossing Three Borders / Mis Zapatos y Yo: Cruzando tres FronterasDreams on FireYou Who Enter HereNonfiction and Ashley CatheyWhen Hip Hop Met Poetry: An Urban Love Story and Gary LeachColorblind: A Story on Racism, Debbie Reese, and Roxanne Dunbar-OrtizAn Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States for Young People (ReVisioning American History for Young People)Free LunchWhat Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger2021FictionWhy is Kristyn a Kutter?The Comeback: I Raised These Streets, Scott B. Henderson, and Donavan YaciukThe Reckoner Rise: Breakdown and Keisha MorrisFor Beautiful Black Boys Who Believe in a Better WorldNonfictionInto the Streets: A Young Person’s Visual History of Protest in the United States and Mika SongHo'onani: Hula Warrior and Asha BendeleWhen They Call You a Terrorist: A Story of Black Lives Matter and the Power to Change the WorldEverything I Been Through2022FictionMatt de la Peña and Christian RobinsonMilo Imagines the WorldThe Life I’m InThey Called Me 299-359: Poetry by the Incarcerated Youth of Free Minds, Japan Spells, Damarco Taylor, and Rob GibsonAnd Justice for Who?Nonfiction, Andrew Aydin, L. Fury, and Nate PowellRun: Book One and Ashley LukashevskyContinuum (A Pocket Change Collective)Where I BelongFinding Refuge: Real Life Immigration Stories From Young PeopleWhen We Make It, Tamiko Nimura, Ross Ishikawa, and Matt SasakiWe Hereby Refuse: Japanese American Resistance at Wartime Incarceration2023Fiction, Jason GriffinAin’t Burned all the Bright Every Variable of UsNobody’s PilgrimsThe Black Girl Left Standing. The TangiblesNon-fiction, Joshua Bloom, and Waldo E. Martin, Jr.Freedom! The Story of the Black Panther Party Gender Inequality in Sports from Title IX to World Titles, Lacia LucyJump: My Secret Journey From the Streets to the BoardroomKillers of the Flower Moon: Adapted for Young Readers: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI.Free Minds Book Club and Writing WorkshopWhen You Hear Me, You Hear Us: Voices of Youth Incarcerated2024Fiction, Nicole Burton, and Kielamel SibalDreams: Visions of the Crow, Volume 1Eb and FlowInvisible SonThree ShotsNon-fiction, Greg Anderson Elysée, Karen de la Vega and Marcus WilliamsAkim Aliu: DreamerSufferah: The Memoir of a Brixton Raggae-HeadIce-T, Spike, and Douglas CenturySplit Decision: Life StoriesSocial Justice AdvocacyDidn’t Nobody Give a Shit What Happened to Carlotta and Kristen UrodaCan We Please Give the Police Department to the Grandmothers?The Eruption of Possible: To Burst From the Limits of Environment2025Fiction with Aaron Philip ClarkThe Accomplice: A NovelBetter Must ComeThe Second Chance of Darius LoganMarty’s KidNon-fiction, Antoine Patton, Kiara Valdez, and Markia JenaiDear Dad: Growing Up with a Parent in Prison — and How We Stayed ConnectedSito: An American Teenager and the City that Failed HimOne Pill Killed: Fentanyl Poisoning. Are you Next?Nephew: a Memoir in 4-Part Harmony with Lee RomneyWhat Kind of Bird Can’t Fly: A Memoir of Resilience ans ResurrectionSocial Justice Advocacy, Rhael McGregor and Toben RacicotLittle by Little You Can Change the World2026FictionBugCoachLast Chance Live!Needy Little ThingsThe Color of a LieThis Thing of OursNon-fictionGrowing Up in the Shadow of Alcatraz, adapted by Paul Peart-SmithIndigenous Peoples’ History of the United StatesDeath in the Jungle: Murder, Betrayal, and the Lost Dream of JonestownPushing Hope: an Illustrated Memoir of Survival
References