The winner of the 2019 Clara Johnson Award for Women’s Literature is Tayari Jones for her bestselling tour de force An American Marriage. The award was established in 2018 to honor women-authored literature that captures the essence of Johnson in being “groundbreaking, purposeful, bold, excellent, and challenging to social constructs.”

Johnson Award judges were impressed by the literary mastery of Jones’s novel and its rich character development, particularly the fullness of its female characters. Judges also noted the social significance of the work as it examines the impacts of unjust incarceration not only on the incarcerated but also on family and friends.