Tayari Jones' novel 'Kin' wins the Kirkus Prize for fiction, earning a $50,000 award

NEW YORK (AP) — Tayari Jones' “Kin,” a novel tracing the life and times of two Black friends from small-town Louisiana, has won the Kirkus Prize for fiction.Pamela Colloff's “Catch the Devil: A True Story of Murder, Deception, and Injustice on the Gulf Coast” won for nonfiction, and Elizabeth Acevedo's “Anger Is Only a Shadow” was awarded for young readers' literature.Each of the three authors receives a $50,000 cash prize.Colson Whitehead's “Cool Machine,” Douglas Stuart's “John of John” and Patrick Radden Keefe's “London Falling” were among the finalists.The Kirkus awards, presented by the industry publication Kirkus Reviews, were established in 2014. Previous winners include Whitehead, Joy Williams and Ta-Nehisi Coates.___This story was first published Oct. 7, 2026. It was updated Oct. 16, 2026, to correct the first name of the nonfiction winner to Pamela Colloff, not Paula Colloff.