2020 Washington State Book Award Winners Announced
The Washington Center for the Book has selected the 2020 Washington State Book Awards (WSBA) winners for outstanding books published by Washington authors in 2019. This is the 54th year of the program, formerly called the Governor’s Writers Awards.
A complete list of 2020 WSBA Finalists can be found here.
Picture Books
- “Flora Forager ABC” by Bridget Beth Collins, of Seattle (Little Bigfoot)
Books for Young Readers
- “Growing Up Gorilla: How a Zoo Baby Brought Her Family Together” by Clare Hodgson Meeker, of Friday Harbor (Lerner Publishing Group)
Books for Young Adult Readers
- “Slay” by Brittney Morris, of Seattle (Simon & Schuster)
Biography/Memoir
- “The Death and Life of Aida Hernandez: A Border Story” by Aaron Bobrow-Strain, of Walla Walla (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Creative Nonfiction
- “Become America: Civic Sermons on Love, Responsibility, and Democracy ” by Eric Liu, of Seattle (Sasquatch Books)
Fiction
- “Deep River” by Karl Marlantes, of Duvall (Atlantic Monthly Press)
General Nonfiction
- “The Big Thaw: Ancient Carbon, Modern Science, and a Race to Save the World” photography by Chris Linder; text by Eric Scigliano, with Dr. Robert Max Holmes, Dr. Susan Natali, and Dr. John Schade (Braided River / Mountaineers Books)
Poetry
- “Nightingale” by Paisley Rekdal, formerly of Seattle now lives in Salt Lake City, UT (Copper Canyon Press)
These awards honor outstanding books published by Washington authors in 2019. 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 state and has maintained residence here for at least three years or previously lived in Washington state for at least five years.
Thank you to our amazing judges who read and re-read hundreds of entries. The judges are:
Adult titles:
- Kerry Halls, manager, Auntie’s Bookstore, Spokane
- Kalani Kapahua, off-site events manager, Third Place Books, Lake forest Park
- Zola Mumford, reference and instruction librarian, North Seattle College Library
- Betsey Stahler, collection development manager, NCW Libraries
- Jenna Zarzycki, adult services librarian, King County Library System
Youth titles:
- Tamar Clarke, Teen Services Coordinator, Whatcom County Library System
- Christopher Robert, Librarian, Seattle Public Schools
- Janelle Smith, owner, Wishing Tree Books, Spokane
This year’s awards program is supported by a grant from the Amazon Literary Partnership.