| Oregon Book Award | |
| Awarded For: | Literary excellence |
| Presenter: | Literary Arts and Oregon |
| Country: | United States |
| Year: | 1987 |
| Website: | Literary-arts.org |
The Oregon Book Awards are presented annually by the Portland, Oregon, United States-based organization Literary Arts, Inc. to honor the "state’s finest accomplishments by Oregon writers who work in genres of poetry, fiction, graphic literature, drama, literary nonfiction, and literature for young readers."[1]
Oregon Book Award was founded in 1987 by Brian Booth and Oregon Institute for Literary Arts (OILA).[2] [3] In 1993, Literary Arts, Inc., a statewide non-profit organization dedicated to enriching the lives of Oregonians through language and literature, joined with the OILA and continued to support and promote Oregon's authors with the book awards and Oregon Literary Fellowships. Award winners are selected based solely on literary merit by out-of-state judges who change each year.
In 2005, the award ceremony was moved from Portland's Scottish Rite Center to the Wonder Ballroom, in an effort to make it more lively and fun.[4] Since 2009, the awards ceremony has been held at the Gerding Theatre at the Armory, the home of Portland Center Stage.[5]
| Year | Book | Author |
|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Seal Rock | John Haislip |
| 1988 | Singing the Mozart Requiem | Ingrid Wendt |
| 1989 | The Admiration's | Lex Runciman |
| 1990 | Dreamer | Primus St. John |
| 1990 | Toluca Street | Maxine Scates |
| 1991 | Psyche Drives the Coast | Sharon Doubiago |
| 1992 | Selected Poems | Vern Rutsala |
| 1993 | A Book of Other Days | Lisa M. Steinman |
| 1994 | Lauds | Tom Crawford |
| 1995 | Poem Rising Out of the Earth and Standing Up in Someone | James Grabill |
| 1996 | Journeyman's Wages | Clemens Starck |
| 1997 | Drawing the Line | Lawson Fusao Inada |
| 1998 | Cocktails with Brueghel at the Museum Café | Sandra Stone |
| 1999 | Ruining the Picture | Pimone Triplett |
| 2000 | Passion | Judith Montgomery |
| 2001 | The Evening Light | Floyd Skloot |
| 2002 | In The Margins Of The World | Willa Schneberg |
| 2003 | The Play of Dark and Light | Rita Ott Ramstad |
| 2004 | Men Holding Eggs | Henry Hughes |
| 2005 | Leaving | Laton Carter |
| 2006 | Facts About the Moon | Dorianne Laux |
| 2007 | The Sky Position | Tom Blood |
| 2008 | A is for Anne: Mistress Hutchinson Disturbs the Commonwealth | Penelope Scambly Schott |
| 2009/2010 | All-American Poem | Matthew Dickman |
| 2011 | The Book of Men and Women | David Biespiel |
| 2012 | Curses And Wishes | Carl Adamshick |
| 2013 | Fjords Vol. 1 | Zachary Schomburg |
| 2014 | Incarnadine | Mary Szybist |
| 2015 | Sorrow Arrow | Emily Kendal Frey |
| 2016 | Saint Friend | Carl Adamshick |
| 2017 | When We Were Birds | Joe Wilkins |
| 2018 | Field Theories | Samiya Bashir |
| 2019 | Small Gods | Matthew Minicucci |
| 2020 | Spectra | Ashley Toliver |
| 2021 | Hope of Stones | Anna Elkins |
| 2022 | Instrument | Dao Strom |
| 2023 | Mouth, Sugar, and Smoke | Eric Tran |
| 2024 | Chorus | Daniela Naomi Molnar |
| Year | Book | Author |
|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Resurrectionists | Russell Working |
| 1988 | Within Normal Limits | Todd Grimson |
| 1989 | Cardinal Numbers | Hob Broun |
| 1990 | The Jump-off Creek | Molly Gloss |
| 1991 | (no award given) | |
| 1992 | Searoad | Ursula K. Le Guin |
| 1993 | Dreams Like Thunder | Diane Simmons |
| 1994 | Arabian Jazz | Diana Abu-Jaber |
| 1995 | Native Speaker | Chang-Rae Lee |
| 1996 | What Falls Away | Tracy Daugherty |
| 1997 | Fight Club | Chuck Palahniuk |
| 1998 | The Ugliest House in the World | Peter Ho Davies |
| 1999 | Like Never Before | Ehud Havazelet |
| 2000 | Storm Riders | Craig Lesley |
| 2001 | Throwing Knives | Molly Best Tinsley |
| 2002 | The Necessary Grace to Fall: Stories | Gina Ochsner |
| Year | Book | Author |
|---|---|---|
| 2003 | His Mother's Son | Cai Emmons |
| 2004 | Axeman's Jazz | Tracy Daugherty |
| 2005 | Marc Acito | |
| 2006 | The Best People in the World: A Novel | Justin Tussing |
| 2007 | Twenty Questions | Alison Clement |
| Year | Book | Author |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Bearing the Body | Ehud Havazelet |
| 2009/2010 | Livability: Stories | Jon Raymond |
| 2011 | Lean on Pete | Willy Vlautin |
| 2012 | The Sisters Brothers | Patrick deWitt |
| 2013 | Shards | Ismet Prcic |
| 2014 | The Unreal and The Real: Collected Stories, Vols. 1 and 2 | Ursula K. Le Guin |
| 2015 | The Revolution of Every Day | Cari Luna |
| 2016 | The Small Backs of Children | Lidia Yuknavitch |
| 2017 | A Great Length of Time | Joyce Cherry Cresswell |
| 2018 | American War | Omar El Akkad |
| 2019 | Red Clocks | Leni Zumas |
| 2020 | No God like the Mother | Kesha Ajọsẹ Fisher |
| 2021 | The Great Offshore Grounds | Vanessa Veselka |
| 2022 | What Strange Paradise | Omar El Akkad |
| 2023 | Seeking Fortune Elsewhere: Stories | Sindya Bhanoo |
| 2024 | The Librarianist | Patrick deWitt |
| Year | Book | Author |
|---|---|---|
| 1998 | The Ugliest House in the World | Peter Ho Davies |
| 1999 | Like Never Before | Ehud Havazelet |
| 2000 | Storm Riders | Craig Lesley |
| 2001 | Throwing Knives | Molly Best Tinsley |
| 2002 | The Necessary Grace to Fall | Gina Ochsner |
| 2003 | It Takes a Worried Man | Tracy Daugherty |
| 2004 | Saving Stanley | Scott Nadelson |
| 2005 | Resistance | Barry Lopez |
| 2006 | People I Wanted to Be | Gina Ochsner |
| 2007 | The Dead Fish Museum | Charles D'Ambrosio |
| Year | Book | Author |
|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Arctic Dreams | Barry Lopez |
| 1988 | Faces of a Reservation | Cynthia Stowell |
| 1989 | A Golden Journey | Luther Cressman |
| 1990 | Baja Journey | Robin Carey |
| 1991 | Wings for My Flight / My Country, My Right to Serve | Marcy Cottrell Houle / Mary Ann Humphrey (tie) |
| 1992 | No Duty to Retreat | Richard M. Brown |
| 1993 | The Trail Home | John Daniel |
| 1994 | Stubborn Twig | Lauren Kessler |
| 1995 | Voyage of a Summer Sun | Robin Cody |
| 1996 | Volcano | Garrett Hongo |
| 1997 | Looking After | John Daniel |
| 1998 | Making It Home | Lars Nordström |
| 1999 | The Left Hand of Eden | William Ashworth |
| 2000 | The Night Gardener | Marjorie Sandor |
| 2001 | When Broken Glass Floats | Chanrithy Him |
| 2002 | My Wars Are Laid Away in Books | Alfred Habegger |
| Year | Book | Author |
|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Dispatches and Dictators: Ralph Barnes for the Herald Tribune | Barbara S. Mahoney |
| 2004 | In Search of Ancient Oregon | Ellen Morris Bishop |
| 2005 | Plague and Fire: Battling Black Death and the 1900 Burning of Honolulu's Chinatown | James C. Mohr |
| 2006 | Modern Passings: Death Rites, Politics, and Social Change in Imperial Japan | Andrew Bernstein |
| 2007 | Democracy Reborn: The Fourteenth Amendment and the Fight for Equal Rights in Post-Civil War America | Garrett Epps |
| 2008 | One Night in America: Robert Kennedy, Cesar Chavez, and the Dream of Dignity | Steven W. Bender |
| 2009/2010 | Hiding Man: A Biography of Donald Barthelme | Tracy Daugherty |
| 2011 | Savages and Scoundrels | Paul VanDevelder |
| 2012 | Imperial Japan At Its Zenith: The Wartime Celebration Of The Empire's 2600th Anniversary | Kenneth J. Ruoff |
| 2013 | Kent Hartman | |
| 2014 | Duel with the Devil | Paul Collins |
| 2015 | Big Little Man: In Search of My Asian Self | Alex Tizon |
| 2016 | A Long High Whistle | David Biespiel |
| 2017 | The Last Love Song: A Biography of Joan Didion | Tracy Daugherty |
| 2018 | Fish Market | Lee van der Voo |
| 2019 | Dangerous Subjects: James D. Saules and the Rise of Black Exclusion in Oregon | Kenneth R. Coleman |
| 2020 | Aloha Rodeo: Three Hawaiian Cowboys, the World’s Greatest Rodeo, and a Hidden History of the American West | David Wolman and Julian Smith |
| 2021 | The Fire Is upon Us: James Baldwin, William F. Buckley Jr., and the Debate over Race in America | Nicholas Buccola |
| 2022 | The Wretched Atom: America’s Global Gamble with Peaceful Nuclear Technology | Jacob Darwin Hamblin |
| 2023 | Free: Two Years, Six Lives, and the Long Journey Home | Lauren Kessler |
| 2024 | Where We Call Home: Lands, Seas, and Skies of the Pacific Northwest | Josephine Woolington |
| Year | Book | Author |
|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Providence of a Sparrow | Chris Chester |
| 2003 | In The Shadow Of Memory | Floyd Skloot |
| 2004 | The Stuff of Life | Karen Karbo |
| 2005 | The Pine Island Paradox | Kathleen Dean Moore |
| 2006 | When the River Ran Wild! Indian Traditions on the Mid-Columbia and the Warm Springs Reservation | George W. Aguilar |
| 2007 | The Things Between Us | Lee Montgomery |
| 2008 | Dancing with Rose: Finding Life in the Land of Alzheimer's | Lauren Kessler |
| 2009/2010 | Convictions: A Prosecutor’s Battles Against Mafia Killers, Drug Kingpins, and Enron Thieves | John Kroger |
| 2011 | The Far Corner | John Daniel |
| 2012 | The Shape Of The Eye: Down Syndrome, Family, And The Stories We Inherit | George Estreich |
| 2013 | Crazy Enough | Storm Large |
| 2014 | Wedlocked | Jay Ponteri |
| 2015 | The Great Floodgates of the Wonderworld | Justin Hocking |
| 2016 | Objects in Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear | Kate Carroll de Gutes |
| 2017 | Angels With Dirty Faces | Walidah Imarisha |
| 2018 | Animals Strike Curious Poses | Elena Passarello |
| 2019 | The Gospel of Trees | Apricot Irving |
| 2020 | Anxious Attachments | Beth Alvarado |
| 2021 | Yellow Bird: Oil, Murder, and a Woman’s Search for Justice in Indian Country | Sierra Crane Murdoch |
| 2022 | Plastic: An Autobiography | Allison Cobb |
| 2023 | Diary of a Misfit: A Memoir and a Mystery | Casey Parks |
| 2024 | Wolfish: Wolf, Self, and the Stories We Tell About Fear | Erica Berry |
| Year | Book | Author |
|---|---|---|
| 1988 | The Second Coming of Joan of Arc | Carolyn Gage |
| 1989 | Holding Patterns | Dan Duling |
| 1990 | Five Minute Wars | Sharon Whitney |
| 1992 | The Disappearance and Death of Amelia Earhart | E. J. Westlake |
| 1994 | A Pirate's Lullaby | Jessica Litwak |
| 1996 | Picasso in the Backseat | Dmae Roberts |
| 1997 | Drawing Down Clio | Doug Baldwin |
| 1998 | Freud's Girls | Dori Appel |
| 1999 | The Lunatic Within | Dori Appel |
| 2000 | Wonderbroads | Melinda Pittman |
| 2001 | Lost and Found | Dori Appel |
| 2004 | Vitriol and Violets | Shelly Lipkin, Louanne Moldovan, and Sherry Lamoreaux |
| 2006 | Arthur's Dreams | Richard Moeschl |
| 2008 | Lost Wavelengths | Steve Patterson |
| 2011 | The Lost Boy | Susan Mach |
| 2013 | Antarktikos | Andrea Stolowitz |
| 2015 | Ithaka | Andrea Stolowitz |
| 2017 | Words That Burn | Cindy Williams Gutiérrez |
| 2019 | Successful Strategies | Andrea Stolowitz |
| 2021 | You Cannot Undo This Action | Conor Eifler |
| 2023 | The Storyteller | Sara Jean Accuardi |
| Year | Book | Author |
|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Dragon's Milk | Susan Fletcher |
| 1991 | Four Dollars and Fifty Cents | Eric Kimmel |
| 1992 | The Striped Ships | Eloise McGraw |
| 1993 | Blue Skin of the Sea | Graham Salisbury |
| 1994 | Make Lemonade | Virginia Euwer Wolff |
| 1995 | Under the Blood Red Sun | Graham Salisbury |
| 1996 | Journey of the Red Wolf | Roland Smith |
| 1997 | The Moorchild | Eloise McGraw |
| 1998 | Shark Bait | Graham Salisbury |
| 1999 | A Voice from the Border | Pamela Smith Hill |
| 2000 | The Gate in the Wall | Ellen Howard |
| 2001 | True Believer | Virginia Euwer Wolff |
| Year | Book | Author |
|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Three Samurai Cats | Eric Kimmel |
| 2004 | Luba | Michelle McCann |
| 2005 | Cave Paintings to Picasso | Henry Sayre |
| 2006 | Tour America | Diane Siebert |
| 2007 | Not in Room 204 | Shannon Riggs |
| 2008 | A Day With No Crayons | Elizabeth Rusch |
| 2009/2010 | Keep On! The Story of Matthew Henson, Co-discoverer of the North Pole | Deborah Hopkinson |
| 2011 | Calvin Coconut: The Zippy Fix | Graham Salisbury |
| 2012 | Calvin Coconut: Hero Of Hawaii | Graham Salisbury |
| 2013 | Drawing From Memory | Allen Say |
| 2014 | Calvin Coconut: Extra Famous | Graham Salisbury |
| 2015 | Whistle in the Dark | Susan Hill Long |
| 2016 | With a Friend by Your Side | Barbara Kerley |
| 2017 | Hannah and Sugar | Kate Berube |
| 2018 | The Tragically True Adventures of Kit Donovan | Patricia Bailey |
| 2019 | The Turning | Emily Whitman |
| 2020 | Lowriders: Blast from the Past | Cathy Camper |
| 2021 | A Game of Fox and Squirrels | Jenn Reese |
| 2022 | Taylor Before and After | Jennie Englund |
| 2023 | Friends Are Friends, Forever | Dane Liu |
| 2024 | Too Early | Nora Ericson |
| Year | Book | Author |
|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Empress of the World | Sara Ryan |
| 2003 | The Voyage of Patience Goodspeed | Heather Vogel Frederick |
| 2004 | Deep | Susanna Vance |
| 2005 | A Heart for Any Fate | Linda Crew |
| 2006 | Eyes of the Emperor | Graham Salisbury |
| 2007 | Alphabet of Dreams | Susan Fletcher |
| 2008 | The Rules for Hearts | Sara Ryan |
| 2008 | A Taste for Rabbit | Linda Zuckerman |
| 2009/2010 | I.Q. Book One: Independence Hall | Roland Smith |
| 2011 | The Last Great Getaway of the Water Balloon Boys | Scott William Carter |
| 2012 | Wildwing | Emily Whitman |
| 2013 | Blue Thread | Ruth Tenzer Feldman |
| 2014 | The Theory of Everything | Kari Luna |
| 2015 | The Body In the Woods | April Henry |
| 2016 | Martin Marten | Brian Doyle |
| 2017 | Courage & Defiance: Stories of Spies, Saboteurs, and Survivors in World War II Denmark | West Linn |
| 2018 | Strange the Dreamer | Laini Taylor |
| 2019 | The Wicked Deep | Shea Ernshaw |
| 2020 | How I Became A Spy: A Mystery of WWII London | Deborah Hopkinson |
| 2021 | The Sullivan Sisters | Kathryn Ormsbee |
| 2022 | The Dead and the Dark | Courtney Gould |
| 2023 | Dream, Annie, Dream | Waka T. Brown |
| 2024 | The Very Unfortunate Wish of Melony Yoshimura | Waka T. Brown |
| Year | Book | Author |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Footnotes in Gaza | Joe Sacco |
| 2014 | Hereville: How Mirka Met a Meteorite | Barry Deutsch |
| 2016 | The Zoo Box | Ariel Cohn and Aron Nels Steinke |
| 2018 | Fetch: How A Bad Dog Brought Me Home | Nicole J. Georges |
| 2020 | Penny Nichols | Greg Means and M. K. Reed |
| 2022 | Trespassers | Breena Bard |
| 2024 | The Faint of Heart | Kerilynn Wilson |
| Year | Book | Author |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Lean on Pete | Willy Vlautin |
| 2012 | The Chronology Of Water | Lidia Yuknavitch |
| 2013 | Cheryl Strayed | |
| 2014 | The Orchardist | Amanda Coplin |
| 2015 | The Free | Willy Vlautin |
| 2016 | The Small Backs of Children: A Novel | Lidia Yuknavitch |
| 2017 | A Series of Small Maneuvers | Eliot Treichel |
| 2018 | Fetch: How A Bad Dog Brought Me Home | Nicole J. Georges |
| 2019 | Ladder to the Light | Beth Wood |
1988: William Everson
1989: George Venn
1990: Mary Barnard
1991: Don James
1992: Paul Pintarich
1994: Ralph Friedman
1995: Wilma Erwin
1987: George Belknap
1988: Dorothy Johansen
1989: Vi Gale
1990: Janet Stevenson
1991: Walt Morey
1992: Terence O'Donnell
1993: Alvin M. Josephy, Jr.
1994: Earl Pomeroy
1995: Damon Knight
1996: Eloise McGraw
1998: Priscilla Knuth
1999: Ken Kesey
2003: George Hitchcock
2006: Ursula K. Le Guin
2008: Barry Lopez
2014: Vern Rutsala
2015: Ralph Salisbury
2017: Jarold Ramsey
2020: Lawson Fusao Inada
2021: Molly Gloss
1987: Northwest Review
1988: Calyx, A Journal of Art & Literature
1989: Katharine McCanna
1990: Sandra Williams
1991: Walt Curtis
1992: Clyde Rice
1993: Penny Avila
1994: George Venn
1995: Tom Ferte
1996: Brian Booth
1997: Ruth Gundle & Judith Barrington
1998: Dennis & Linny Stovall
1999: Peter Sears
2000: Rich Wandschneider
2001: Erik Muller
2002: Carla Perry
2003: David Hedges
2004: David Milholland
2005: Barbara LaMorticella
2006: Paulann Petersen
2007: Kim Stafford
2008: Marlene Howard
2009: Matt Love
2011: John Laursen
2013: Larry Colton
2014: Vince & Patty Wixon
2015: Tom Spanbauer
2016: Douglas Spangle
2017: The Independent Publishing Resource Center
2018: Tracey Daugherty and Marjorie Sandor
2019: José González
2020: Write Around Portland
2021: Elizabeth Lyon
2023: Gary Miranda
2024: Ellen Waterston
1998: Barbara J. McKillip
1999: Claudia Jones
2000: Cathy Schneider
2001: Oregon advisory boards of First Book
2002: Ready to Learn
2003: Jerry Isom
2004: Patricia R. Gallagher
2005: Carol Brown
2006: John Monteverde
2007: Mark Mizell
2008: Young Writers Association
2009: The Dove Lewis Read to the Dogs Program
2011: The Children's Book Bank
2012: Ulrich Hardt
2013: Oregon Battle of the Books
2014: Ellen Fader
2015: Jann Tankersley
2016: Curtis Kiefer
2017: The SMART (Start Making A Reader Today) Program
2018: Carmen T. Bernier-Grand
2020: Reading Results
2021: PlayWrite, Inc.
2023: Dawn Babb Prochovnic
2018: Matthew Minicucci
2019: Pamela K. Santos
2020: Alicia Jo Rabins
2021: Amy Miller
2018: Erica A. Briggs
2019: Amy Baskin
2020: Kelly Garrett
2021: Shana Targosz
2018: Omar El Akkad and Adair V
2018: manuel arturo abreu, Danielle Cadena Deulen, and Milo R. Muise
2018: Clackamas Literary Review and Pacifica: Poetry International
2019: Atelier 26 Books and Opossum: A Literary Marsupial
2020: Fonograf Editions and Octopus Books
2021: Forest Avenue Press and Northwest Review
2018: Elizabeth Enslin, Susan Shepard, and Brian Trapp
2019: Sterling Cunio and Justin Taylor
2020: Garet Lahvis
2018: Takashi L. Kendrick and Mika Tanner
2019: Ana-Maurine Lara and Chris Stuck
2020: Cynthia L. Brown and Taylor Koekkoek
2021: Pedro Hoffmeister and Emily Woodworth
2018: Alberto Yáñez (for nonfiction)
2019: Chelsea Biondolillo (for nonfiction)
2020: Rachael Carnes (for drama)
2021: Sara Jean Accuardi (for drama)
2018: Jacob Aiello and Jake Vermaas
2019: Karen Luper and Marcus Lund
2020: Marjorie Celona and Gabriel Urza
2020: Beth Alvarado and Dao Strom
2021: Annie Sheppard and Sandy Tanaka
2019: Jennifer Perrine
2021: Alyssa Ogi
2018: Cindy Baldwin (for drama)
2019: Stacy Brewster (for drama)
2020: Jamie Cooper (for poetry)
2021: Scott Korb (for nonfiction)
2018: Naomi Ulsted
2019: Natalie Hirt
2020: Eliza Rotterman
2021: A. M. Rosales
2018: Reema Zaman
2019: Christopher Rose
2020: Olufunke Grace Bankole
2021: Kesha Ajose-Fisher