The “Heavy: An American Memoir” author and educator will donate his prize money from the American Library Association award to organizations that work with young people in his home state.

With his new memoir ,”Heavy,” the Mississippi author and professor charts a childhood filled with trauma, fear, violence and secrets. Here’s why he revealed so very much about his family, friends and hometown.

Darnell L. Moore: “Because it’s time to reflect on the ways our collective love for ‘masculinity’ is like a tight ass grip choking brothers’ freedom, whether they have learned to breathe with hands around their necks or not.”

Jesmyn Ward’s “The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks about Race” hit bookshelves earlier this month. Here are three passages you must read even before you buy your own copy.

Jackson, Miss., native Kiese Laymon is the first-time author of not one but two books: “How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America,” an essay collection released this week, and a satirical time-travel novel, “Long Division,” which came out in June.