The Library is delighted to announce the winners of the 2019-2020 New York City Book Awards. Founded in 1995, these awards honor the best books about New York City published in a given year, regardless of genre. The book awards jury reviewed roughly 150 NYC-related books published last year before making these selections.

The 2019 winners are

• Cynthia Brenwall, The Central Park: Original Designs for New York’s Greatest Treasure (Harry N. Abrams)
• Matthew Goodman, The City Game: Triumph, Scandal, and a Legendary Basketball Team (Ballantine Books)
• Willie Perdomo, The Crazy Bunch (Penguin Books)
• Hugh Ryan, When Brooklyn Was Queer: A History (St. Martin’s Press)
• The Hornblower Award for a First Book: Claire Jimenez, Staten Island Stories (Johns Hopkins University Press)

The winning authors and publishers will be honored at an awards ceremony on May 5.

More general information and a complete list of winners from the awards’ past 23 years can be found here.

The 2019-2020 New York City Book Awards are generously underwritten by Ellen M. Iseman.