Listed in alphabetical order, here are the books that were shortlisted for 2021:
1. 1619, the 5-episode podcast by Nikole Hannah-Jones and The New York Times
2. Between the World and Me, by Ta-Nehisi Coates
3. Heavy: An American Memoir, by Kiese Laymon
4. Monument: Poems New and Selected, by Natasha Trethewey
5. The City We Became, by NK Jemisin
6. When They Call You a Terrorist, by Patrice Cullors & asha bandele