Published by Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollins, The Known World was nominated by 4 libraries in the U.S.A:

• Lincoln Library, Springfield, Illinois
• Minneapolis Public Library, Minneapolis, Minnesota
• Multnomah County Library, Portland, Oregon
• Richmond Public Library, Virginia.

The winner was chosen from a shortlist of 10, and a longlist of 147 books.

182 libraries participated - representing 129 cities in 51 countries

The Judges

In their comments on the novel the judges said "The Known World begins with the death, at the age of 31, of Henry Townsend, a black farmer in Manchester County, the largest county in antebellum Virginia. Among the property bequeathed to his widow are 13 women, 11 men and 9 children - for Henry, once a slave, was an owner of slaves himself...Edward P. Jones has created a richly imagined novel, in which a multitude of moral contradictions are revealed and explored.

.........Jones loops backwards and forward from the day of Henry's death, in prose that is generally measured and restrained, but with passages of intense lyricism and outbursts of casual savagery. Vividly conceived and profoundly humane, The Known World is a remarkable re-creation of a world we might have thought we already knew".

The winner was presented with a specially commissioned piece of Waterford Crystal and the prize money at a presentation dinner on Wednesday June 15th 2005.