Join us for a celebration of the winners of the 91st annual California Book Awards!
Since 1931, the California Book Awards have honored the exceptional literary merit of California writers and publishers. Each year a select jury considers hundreds of books from around the state in search of the very best in literary achievement. Over its 90 years, the California Book Awards have honored the writers who have come to define California to the world. Among them are John Steinbeck, Wallace Stegner, MFK Fisher, Thom Gunn, Richard Rodriquez, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Joan Didion, Ishmael Reed, and Amy Tan. Recent award winners include Hector Tobar, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Susan Orlean, Rachel Kushner, Rachel Khong, Tommy Orange, Morgan Parker and Steph Cha.
This year’s winners include:
GOLD MEDALS
FICTION
The Archer, Shruti Swamy, Algonquin Books, an imprint of Workman Publishing, Hachette Book Group
FIRST FICTION
Skinship, Yoon Choi, Alfred A. Knopf
NONFICTION­
Paradise: One Town’s Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire, Lizzie Johnson, Crown
JUVENILE
Wishes, Mượn Thị Văn and Victo Ngai, Orchard Books, an imprint of Scholastic Inc
YOUNG ADULT
Home Is Not a Country, Safia Elhillo, Make Me a World
POETRY
Refractive Africa, Will Alexander, New Directions
CALIFORNIANA
Everything Now: Lessons from the City-State of Los Angeles, Rosecrans Baldwin, MCD, an imprint of Farrer, Straus & Giroux
CONTRIBUTION TO PUBLISHING
A Rebel’s Outcry, Naomi Hirahara, Little Tokyo Historical Society
SILVER MEDALS
FICTION
The Committed, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Grove Atlantic
FIRST FICTION
City of a Thousand Gates, Rebecca Sacks, Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers
NONFICTION
Light on Fire: The Art and Life of Sam Francis, Gabrielle Selz, University of California Press
SPEAKERS
Peter Fish
California Book Awards Jury Chair
Sarah Rosenthal
California Book Awards Juror
Rosalind Chang
California Book Awards Juror
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on June 6th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California.
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