On April 25, 2022 during our first in-person ceremony since 2019, this year’s Oregon Book Awards winners, selected by panels of out-of-state judges, were announced.
KEN KESEY AWARD FOR FICTION
Omar El Akkad of West Linn, What Strange Paradise: A Novel (Alfred A. Knopf)
Judges: Alexandra Kleeman, Robin Wasserman, Charles Yu
STAFFORD/HALL AWARD FOR POETRY
Dao Strom of Portland, Instrument (Fonograf Editions)
Judges: Craig Morgan Teicher, Sun Yung Shin, Malcolm Tariq
AWARD FOR GRAPHIC LITERATURE
Breena Bard of Portland, Trespassers: A Graphic Novel (Graphix, Scholastic)
Judges: Nidhi Chanani, Matthew Forsythe, Michael Sheyahshe
FRANCES FULLER VICTOR AWARD FOR GENERAL NONFICTION
Jacob Darwin Hamblin of Corvallis, The Wretched Atom: America’s Global Gamble with Peaceful Nuclear Technology (Oxford University Press)
Judges: Paula Becker, Elizabeth Rush, Julie Tate-Libby
SARAH WINNEMUCCA AWARD FOR CREATIVE NONFICTION
Allison Cobb of Portland, Plastic: An Autobiography (Nightboat Books)
Judges: Melissa Febos, John Freeman, Marie Mutsuki Mockett
LESLIE BRADSHAW AWARD FOR YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE
Courtney Gould of Salem, The Dead and the Dark (Wednesday Books)
Judges: Zan Romanoff, Francisco X. Stork, Shelley Tanaka
ELOISE JARVIS MCGRAW AWARD FOR CHILDREN’S LITERATURE
Jennie Englund of Ashland, Taylor Before and After (Square Fish, Macmillan)
Judges: Joseph Bruchac, Lisa Jahn-Clough, Mechal Renee Roe
SPECIAL AWARD: The Stewart H. Holbrook Literary Legacy Award
Cynthia Whitcomb of Wilsonville
You can find the winners’ (and all of the Oregon Book Awards finalists‘) books at Broadway Books!