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Announcing the 2022 Oregon Book Awards Finalists

Literary Arts is thrilled to announce this year’s Oregon Book Awards finalists. Thirty-five Oregonians across seven genre categories were chosen as finalists by panels of out-of-state judges, from a total of 202 submitted titles.

Winners will be announced live at the 2022 Oregon Book Awards Ceremony at Portland Center Stage at The Armory on Monday, April 25, 2022. This is the first time the ceremony will be held in person since 2019. The ceremony will be hosted by 2020 Ken Kesey Award for Fiction recipient Kesha Ajose-Fisher. 

KEN KESEY AWARD FOR FICTION  
Judges: Alexandra Kleeman, Robin Wasserman, Charles Yu
  • Callum Angus of Portland, A Natural History of Transition (Metonymy Press)
  • Omar El Akkad of West Linn, What Strange Paradise: A Novel (Alfred A. Knopf)
  • Tracey Lange of Bend, We Are the Brennans: A Novel (Celadon Books)
  • A. E. Osworth of Portland, We Are Watching Eliza Bright: A Novel (Grand Central Publishing)
  • Chris Stuck of Portland, Give My Love to the Savages: Stories (Amistad, HarperCollins)
STAFFORD/HALL AWARD FOR POETRY
Judges: Craig Morgan Teicher, Sun Yung Shin, Malcolm Tariq
  • Irene Cooper of Bend, spare change (Finishing Line Press)
  • Emily Kendal Frey of Portland, LOVABILITY (Fonograf Editions)
  • Jessica (Tyner) Mehta of Hillsboro, When We Talk of Stolen Sisters: New and Revised Poems (Not a Pipe Publishing)
  • Zachary Schomburg of Portland, Fjords vol. 2 (Black Ocean)
  • Dao Strom of Portland, Instrument (Fonograf Editions)
FRANCES FULLER VICTOR AWARD FOR GENERAL NONFICTION
Judges: Paula Becker, Elizabeth Rush, Julie Tate-Libby
  • Bryna Goodman of Eugene, The Suicide of Miss Xi: Democracy and Disenchantment in the Chinese Republic (Harvard University Press)
  • Jacob Darwin Hamblin of Corvallis, The Wretched Atom: America’s Global Gamble with Peaceful Nuclear Technology (Oxford University Press)
  • Annelise Heinz of Portland, Mahjong: A Chinese Game and the Making of Modern American Culture (Oxford University Press)
  • Kenneth I. Helphand of Eugene, Hops: Historic Photographs of the Oregon Hopscape (Oregon State University Press)
  • Kathleen Dean Moore of Corvallis, Earth’s Wild Music: Celebrating and Defending the Songs of the Natural World (Counterpoint Press)
SARAH WINNEMUCCA AWARD FOR CREATIVE NONFICTION 
Judges: Melissa Febos, John Freeman, Marie Mutsuki Mockett
  • David Biespiel of Portland, A Place of Exodus: Home, Memory, and Texas (Kelson Books)
  • Allison Cobb of Portland, Plastic: An Autobiography (Nightboat Books)
  • Mary Emerick of Joseph, The Last Layer of the Ocean: Kayaking through Love and Loss on Alaska’s Wild Coast (Oregon State University Press)
  • Aaron Gilbreath of Portland, The Heart of California: Exploring the San Joaquin Valley (Bison Books, University of Nebraska Press)
  • Tina Ontiveros of Hood River, rough house: a memoir (Oregon State University Press)
LESLIE BRADSHAW AWARD FOR YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE 
Judges: Zan Romanoff, Francisco X. Stork, Shelley Tanaka
  • J. C. Geiger of Eugene, The Great Big One (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
  • Courtney Gould of Salem, The Dead and the Dark (Wednesday Books)
  • April Henry of Portland, Eyes of the Forest (Henry Holt and Company, Macmillan)
  • April Henry of Portland, Playing with Fire (Henry Holt and Company, Macmillan)
  • Deborah Hopkinson of West Linn, We Must Not Forget: Holocaust Stories of Survival and Resistance (Scholastic Focus)
ELOISE JARVIS MCGRAW AWARD FOR CHILDREN’S LITERATURE
Judges: Joseph Bruchac, Lisa Jahn-Clough, Mechal Renee Roe
  • Waka T. Brown of West Linn, While I Was Away (Quill Tree Books, HarperCollins)
  • Cathy Camper of Portland, Ten Ways to Hear Snow (Kokila, Penguin Random House)
  • Jennie Englund of Ashland, Taylor Before and After (Square Fish, Macmillan)
  • Gabi Snyder of Corvallis, Listen (Paula Wiseman Books, Simon & Schuster)
  • Tracy Subisak of Portland, Jenny Mei Is Sad (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
AWARD FOR GRAPHIC LITERATURE
Judges: Nidhi Chanani, Matthew Forsythe, Michael Sheyahshe
  • Breena Bard of Portland, Trespassers: A Graphic Novel (Graphix, Scholastic)
  • Cat Farris of Portland, The Ghoul Next Door (HarperAlley, HarperCollins)
  • Matt Fraction and Steve Lieber of Portland, Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen: Who Killed Jimmy Olsen? (DC Comics)
  • Sarah Mirk of Portland, Guantanamo Voices: True Accounts from the World’s Most Infamous Prison (Abrams ComicArts)
  • Aron Nels Steinke of Portland, Field Trip: A Graphic Novel (Mr. Wolf’s Class #4) (Graphix, Scholastic)
SPECIAL AWARD

In addition to recognizing the finest achievements of Oregon authors in several genres, Literary Arts recognizes individual contributions with the Stewart H. Holbrook Literary Legacy Award. Special Award recipients are nominated by the community and determined by an advisory council and the Literary Arts Board of Directors. The Stewart H. Holbrook Literary Legacy Award

  • Cynthia Whitcomb of Wilsonville
Celebrate the finalists at this year’s Oregon Book Awards Ceremony!
This program is supported in part by:

UPCOMING EVENTS WITH OREGON BOOK AWARDS FINALISTS

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