2022 Washington State Book Award Winners Announced by the Washington Center for the Book and The Seattle Public Library
release date: September 13, 2022
The Washington Center for the Book and The Seattle Public Library have selected winners in eight categories for the 2022 Washington State Book Awards (WSBA) for outstanding books published by Washington authors in 2021. This is the 56th year of the program, formerly called the Governor's Writers Awards.
“This year’s Washington State Book Awards highlight Washington authors who write about worlds both near and far,” said Sara Peté, director of the Washington Center for the Book, “including the waters of Puget Sound [Lynda Mapes], a journey from Afghanistan to Australia [E. Lily Yu], and a treasured spot in India [Jennifer Bradbury]. Join us in celebrating these exceptional authors and stories.”
The finalists were announced Aug. 23, 2022. For a complete list of finalists, see this Shelf Talk blog post.
2022 WSBA WINNERS: BOOKS FOR ADULTS CATEGORIES
Biography/Memoir
- “Being Seen: One Deafblind Woman's Fight to End Ableism” by Elsa Sjunneson, of Seattle (S&S/Simon Element)
Creative Nonfiction
- “The Book of Difficult Fruit: Arguments for the Tart, Tender, and Unruly (with recipes)” by Kate Lebo, of Spokane (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Fiction
- “On Fragile Waves” by E. Lily Yu, of Western Washington (Erewhon)
General Nonfiction
- “Orca: Shared Waters, Shared Home” by Lynda Mapes, of Seattle (Braided River and The Seattle Times)
Poetry
- “More American” by Sharon Hashimoto, of Tukwila (Grid Books / Off the Grid Press)
2022 WSBA WINNERS: BOOKS FOR YOUTH CATEGORIES
Picture Books
- “Rock by Rock: The Fantastical Garden of Nek Chand” by Jennifer Bradbury, of Burlington; illustrated by Sam Boughton (Atheneum Books for Young Readers)
Books for Young Readers
- “Mighty Inside” by Sundee Frazier, of Renton (Levine Querido)
Books for Young Adult Readers
- “Little Thieves” by Margaret Owen, of Seattle (Henry Holt and Company)
ABOUT THE AWARDS
The Washington State Book Awards are presented by the Washington Center for the Book (an affiliate of the Library of Congress Center for the Book administered by Washington State Library, a division of the Office of the Secretary of State) in partnership with The Seattle Public Library. The 2022 awards are administered by Linda Johns and Sarah Wang of The Seattle Public Library and Sara Peté of the Washington State Library. This year's awards program is supported by a grant from the Amazon Literary Partnership.
These awards honor outstanding books published by Washington authors in 2021. An award is given based on the strength of the publication's literary merit, lasting importance and overall quality to an author who is a current resident of Washington. For the 2022 book awards, judges read and evaluated 243 books.
Submissions for the 2023 awards cycle are being accepted at this time. For more information, see the Washington Center for the Book's website.
JUDGES
Judges for adult titles: Andrea Y. Griffith, Owner, Browsers Bookshop; Valerie McBeth, Librarian, Northwest Indian College Library; Tiffany Midge, Author and 2020 WSBA Finalist; Corinne Wilson, Librarian, Spokane County Library District; Jenna Zarzycki, Librarian, Covington Library / King County Librarian System
Judges for youth titles: Tamar Clarke, Teen Services Coordinator, Whatcom County Library System; Avery Mead, Teacher-Librarian, East Valley High School Library; Christopher Robert, Librarian, Seattle Public Schools
MORE INFORMATION
For more information about the Awards, visit Washington Center for the Book, call the Library at 206-386-4636 or Ask Us.