The Book Prize Index

A Darker Wilderness: Black Nature Writing from Soil to Stars

Erin Sharkey

A vibrant collection of personal and lyric essays in conversation with archival objects of Black history and memory. What are the politics of nature? Who owns it, where is it, what role does it play in our lives? Does it need to be tamed? Are we ourselves natural? In A Darker Wilderness, a constellation of luminary writers reflect on the significance of nature in their lived experience and on the role of nature in the lives of Black folks in the United States. Each of these essays engages with a single archival object, whether directly or obliquely, exploring stories spanning hundreds of years and thousands of miles, traveling from roots to space and finding rich Blackness everywhere. Erin Sharkey considers Benjamin Banneker's 1795 almanac, as she follows the passing of seasons in an urban garden in Buffalo. Naima Penniman reflects on a statue of Haitian revolutionary François Makandal, within her own pursuit of environmental justice. Ama Codjoe meditates on rain, hair, protest, and freedom via a photo of a young woman during a civil rights demonstration in Alabama.

Nature & EnvironmentNature & Environment · medium confidenceNature & Environment81 signalsLlm Classifier: Nature & Environment -> Nature & EnvironmentKeyword Classifier: American History -> American HistoryKeyword Classifier: Gender & Sexuality -> Gender & SexualityCivil Rights & Racial JusticeArt, Music & PerformanceBlack History & CultureDeath, Memory & Commemoration

Award History

0 wins · 1 total

AwardYearResultCategory / Notes
Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in NonfictionMajor2024LonglistOfficial source
View all award history (1)
Experimental book profileGenerated by GPT-5.4 nano · may contain inaccuracies

This is an unverified interpretation of the catalog description, offered as an opt-in discovery experiment—not as bibliographic fact.

  1. 01 Central figures

    None extracted with sufficient confidence.

    These suggestions did not meet the normal display threshold and are more likely to be wrong.

    • Benjamin Banneker55%
    • François Makandal45%

  2. 02 Central places

    None extracted with sufficient confidence.

    These suggestions did not meet the normal display threshold and are more likely to be wrong.

    • Buffalo55%
    • Alabama40%

  3. 03 Suggested argument

    No argument inferred with sufficient confidence.

    This suggestion did not meet the normal display threshold and is more likely to be wrong.

    The politics of nature—who owns it, where it is, and whether it must be tamed—shapes Black lived experience, so Blackness is found across spaces from roots to space.

    Model confidence 48%

  4. 04 Reading orientation

    35 / 100 academic

    Serious trade

    An estimate of intended readership and scholarly apparatus—not quality or importance.

Confidence percentages are the model's own estimates. Profile confidence: 58%.