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!
This program is supported in part by:
