2019 Washington State Book Awards finalists!

Congratulations to the finalists for the 2019 Washington State book Awards!  The awards, a program of the Washington Center for the Book, honor outstanding books published by Washington authors in 2018.

Finalists in all eight categories will be honored and winners announced at a ceremony and reception on Saturday, Oct. 12, 2019, 7 to 9 p.m. at the Central Library. The event is free and open to all.

Here are the finalists!

BOOKS FOR ADULTS

FICTION

• The Best Bad Things by Katrina Carrasco, of Seattle (MCD/Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
• The Lost Girls of Camp Forevermore by Kim Fu, of Seattle (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
• So Lucky by Nicola Griffith, of Seattle (MCD/Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
• Night Hawks by Charles Johnson, of Seattle (Scribner/Simon & Schuster)
• Winter Sisters by Robin Oliveira, of Seattle (Viking)

BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR

• Guts by Janet Buttenwieser, of Seattle (Vine Leaves Press)
• The Shame of Losing by Sarah Cannon, of Edmonds (Red Hen Press)
• Nothing Good Can Come from This by Kristi Coulter, of Seattle (MCD/Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
• The Seminarian by Patrick Parr, of Bellevue (Chicago Review Press)
• Arctic Solitaire by Paul Souders, of Seattle (Mountaineers Books)

NONFICTION

• A False Report by Ken Armstrong, of Seattle, and Christian T. Miller (Crown)
• Like a Mother by Angela Garbes, of Seattle (Harper Wave / HarperCollins)
• So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo, of Shoreline (Seal Press)
• Our Native Bees by Paige Embry, of Seattle (Timber Press)
• Uplake by Ana Maria Spagna, of Stehekin (University of Washington Press)
• The Lines that Make Us: Stories from Nathan’s Bus by Nathan Vass, of Seattle (Tome Press)

POETRY

• What We Do by Michele Bombardier, of Bainbridge Island (Kelsay Press)
• The Book of Sharks by Rob Carney, formerly of Washington (Black Lawrence Press)
• Instruments of the True Measure by Laura Da’, of Newcastle (University of Arizona Press)
• Between Darkness and Trust by Lorraine Ferra, of Port Townsend (Moonpath Press)
• The Slow Art by Sierra Golden, of Seattle (Bear Star Press)

BOOKS FOR YOUTH

PICTURE BOOKS

• Summer Supper, illustrated by Mike Austin, of Seattle, and written by Rubin Pfeffer (Random House)
• The Frightful Ride of Michael McMichael by Bonny Becker, of Seattle, and illustrated by Mark Fearing (Candlewick Press)
• Something Smells by Blake Liliane Hellman, of Seattle, and illustrated by Steven Henry, of Seattle (Simon & Schuster)
• Trevor, illustrated by Amy Hevron, of Seattle, and written by Jim Averbeck (Roaring Brook Press)
• All Are Welcome, illustrated by Suzanne Kaufman, of Seattle, and written by Alexandra Penfold (Knopf Books for Young Readers)
• Adrian Simcox Does Not Have a Horse, illustrated by Corinna Luyken, of Olympia, and written by Marcy Campbell (Dial Books)

BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS (ages 6 to 8)

• King & Kayla and the Case of the Lost Tooth by Dori Hillestad Butler, of Kirkland (Peachtree Press)
• Peanut Butter and Jelly by Ben Clanton, of Tacoma (Tundra Books)
• The Sasquatch and the Lumberjack by Crix Sheridan, of Seattle (Little Bigfoot/Sasquatch Books)

MIDDLE GRADE (readers 8 to 12) 

• Winterhouse by Ben Guterson, of North Bend (Christy Ottaviano Books/Henry Holt)
• The Ostrich and Other Lost Things by Beth Hautala, formerly of Bellingham (Philomel Books)
• Dog Man: Lord of the Fleas by Dav Pilkey, of western Washington (Graphix/Scholastic Inc.)
• Wish Upon a Sleepover by Suzanne Selfors, of Bainbridge Island (Imprint/Macmillan)

YOUNG ADULT (readers 12 and up)

• Unpresidented by Martha Brockenbrough, of Seattle (Feiwel & Friends)
• A Heart in a Body in the World by Deb Caletti, of Kenmore (Simon & Schuster)
• I Am Still Alive by Kate Alice Marshall, of Seattle (Viking Books for Young Readers)
• Blood Water Paint by Joy McCullough, of Seattle (Dutton Books for Young Readers)
• Fast Backward by David Patneaude, of Woodinville (Koehler Books)
• The Price Guide to the Occult by Leslye Walton, of Seattle (Candlewick Press)

The book awards celebrate the top writing (and illustrating, in children’s picture books) in the state for books published the previous year. Awards are given based on literary merit and overall quality. The awards are administered by the Washington Center for the Book, an affiliate of the Center for the Book at the Library of Congress. WCB is a partnership of the Washington State Library and The Seattle Public Library.

The judges for the books for adults are: Kelly Evert (owner, Village Books, Bellingham), Kalani Kapahua (Third Place Books), Zola Mumford (librarian, North Seattle College), Brian Soneda (retired librarian), and Jenna Zarzycki (librarian, King County Library System).

Judges for the books for youth are: Sheri Boggs (Spokane County Library District), Chris Robert (Seattle Public Schools), and Janelle Smith (Wishing Tree Books, Spokane).

~ Posted by Linda J.