First-ever Andrew Carnegie medal winners announced

The first-ever Andrew Carnegie Awards for Excellence in Literature were given to authors of both fiction and nonfiction on Sunday during a ceremony in Anaheim, Calif. Anne Enright’s novel “The Forgotten Waltz” and Robert Massie’s biography “Catherine the Great” were the first to win the newly introduced awards. When announcing the awards, the library association praised Enright’s “supple prose” and Massie’s “compulsively readable” style. Both authors will receive $5,000.

The Carnegie awards for fiction and nonfiction are the first adult prizes ever sponsored by the association, which also manages the top honors for children’s literature, the John Newbery and Randolph Caldecott medals.