Congratulations to the winners of the 2022 Washington State Book Awards!
The Washington Center for the Book and the Library selected winners in eight categories for the awards, which honor outstanding books published by Washington authors in 2021. This is the 56th year of the program, formerly called the Governor’s Writers Awards.
Join us in celebrating these exceptional authors and stories, including all the finalists that were announced in August. (Scroll down for a list of all the finalists.) Find out more about the awards and how to submit for 2023 at the Washington Center for the Book website.
2022 WSBA WINNERS: BOOKS FOR ADULTS CATEGORIES
Biography/Memoir
- Being Seen: One Deafblind Woman’s Fight to End Ableism by Elsa Sjunneson, of Seattle (S&S/Simon Element)
Creative Nonfiction
- The Book of Difficult Fruit: Arguments for the Tart, Tender, and Unruly (with recipes) by Kate Lebo, of Spokane (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Fiction
- On Fragile Waves by E. Lily Yu, of Western Washington (Erewhon)
General Nonfiction
- Orca: Shared Waters, Shared Home by Lynda Mapes, of Seattle (Braided River and The Seattle Times)
Poetry
- More American by Sharon Hashimoto, of Tukwila (Grid Books / Off the Grid Press)
2022 WSBA WINNERS: BOOKS FOR YOUTH CATEGORIES
Picture Books
- Rock by Rock: The Fantastical Garden of Nek Chand by Jennifer Bradbury, of Burlington; illustrated by Sam Boughton (Atheneum Books for Young Readers)
Books for Young Readers
- Mighty Inside by Sundee Frazier, of Renton (Levine Querido)
Books for Young Adult Readers
- Little Thieves by Margaret Owen, of Seattle (Henry Holt and Company)
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ALL 2022 WSBA FINALISTS
BOOKS FOR ADULTS CATEGORIES
Biography/Memoir
- Winner: Being Seen: One Deafblind Woman’s Fight to End Ableism by Elsa Sjunneson, of Seattle (S&S/Simon Element)
- Crossing the River: Seven Stories That Saved My Life by Carol Smith, of Seattle (Harry N. Abrams)
- Heart Radical: A Search for Language, Love, and Belonging by Anne Liu Kellor, of Seattle (She Writes Press)
- The Other Mothers: Two Women’s Journey to Find the Family That Was Always Theirs by Jennifer Berney, of Olympia (Sourcebooks)
Creative Nonfiction
- Winner: The Book of Difficult Fruit: Arguments for the Tart, Tender, and Unruly (with recipes) by Kate Lebo, of Spokane (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
- Readying to Rise: Essays by Marcus Harrison Green, of Skyway / South Seattle (Vertvolta Press)
- Rooted: Life at the Crossroads of Science, Nature, and Spirit by Lyanda Lynn Haupt, of West Seattle (Little, Brown Spark)
- We Hereby Refuse: Japanese American Resistance to Wartime Incarceration written by Frank Abe of Seattle and Tamiko Nimura of Tacoma; artwork by Ross Ishikawa of Seattle and Matt Sasaki of Edmonds (Chin Music Press)
- White Magic: Essays by Elissa Washuta, enrolled member of the Cowlitz Indian Tribe (Tin House Books)
Fiction
- Winner: On Fragile Waves by E. Lily Yu, of Western Washington (Erewhon)
- The Ex Talk by Rachel Lynn Solomon, of Seattle (Berkley)
- Legends of the North Cascades by Jonathan Evison, of Bainbridge Island (Algonquin Books)
- One Two Three by Laurie Frankel, of Seattle (Henry Holt and Company)
- What Comes After by JoAnne Tompkins, of Port Townsend (Riverhead Books)
General Nonfiction
- Winner: Orca: Shared Waters, Shared Home written by Lynda Mapes, of Seattle (Braided River and The Seattle Times)
- Coming Home to Nez Perce Country: The Niim̕ipuu Campaign to Repatriate Their Exploited Heritage by Trevor James Bond, of Pullman (Washington State University Press)
- Facing the Mountain: A True Story of Japanese American Heroes in World War II by Daniel James Brown, of Redmond (Viking)
- Fear No Man: Don James, the ’91 Huskies, and the Seven-year Quest for a National Football Championship by Mike Gastineau, of Whidbey Island (University of Washington Press)
- Murder at the Mission: A Frontier Killing, Its Legacy of Lies, and the Taking of the American West by Blaine Harden, of Seattle (Penguin Books)
- Skid Road: on the Frontier of Health and Homelessness in an American City by Josephine Ensign, of Seattle (Johns Hopkins University Press)
Poetry
- Winner: More American by Sharon Hashimoto, of Tukwila (Grid Books / Off the Grid Press)
- Broken by Water: Salish Sea Years by Gary Thompson, of Friday Harbor, San Juan County (Turning Point)
- Dialogues with Rising Tides by Kelli Russell Agodon, of Port Ludlow, Jefferson County (Copper Canyon Press)
- Self-Portrait with Cephalopod by Kathryn Smith, of Spokane (Milkweed Editions)
- Stray Birds by Andrew Robin, of Lopez Island, San Juan County (Kelson Books)
ALL 2022 WSBA FINALISTS: BOOKS FOR YOUTH CATEGORIES
Picture Books
- Winner: Rock by Rock: The Fantastical Garden of Nek Chand written by Jennifer Bradbury, of Burlington; illustrated by Sam Boughton (Atheneum Books for Young Readers)
- 1, 2, 3 Salish Sea: A Pacific Northwest Counting Book written and illustrated by Nikki McClure, of Olympia (Little Bigfoot)
- The Barking Ballad: A Bark-along, Meow-along Book written and illustrated by Julie Paschkis, of Seattle (Atheneum Books for Young Readers)
- Something Good illustrated by Corinna Luyken, of Olympia; written by Marcy Campbell (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
Books for Young Readers
- Winner: Mighty Inside by Sundee Frazier, of Renton (Levine Querido)
- Almost Flying by Jake Maia Arlow, of Seattle (Dial Books)
- Happily For Now written by Kelly Jones, of Seattle (Knopf Books for Young Readers)
- The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera, of Issaquah (Levine Querido)
- Orca Rescue: The True Story of an Orphaned Orca Named Springer written by Donna Sandstrom, of Seattle; illustrated by Sarah Burwash (Kids Can Press)
Books for Young Adult Readers
- Winner: Little Thieves by Margaret Owen, of Seattle (Henry Holt and Company)
- Calculated by Nova McBee, of Edmonds (Wise Wolf Books)
- A Complicated Love Story Set in Space by Shaun David Hutchinson, of Seattle (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)
- Remedy by Eireann Corrigan, of Tacoma (Scholastic Press)
- We Are the Ashes, We Are the Fire by Joy McCullough, of Shoreline (Dutton Books for Young Readers)
The Washington State Book Awards are presented by the Washington Center for the Book and The Seattle Public Library. These awards honor outstanding books published by Washington authors in 2021.
This year, the judges read and evaluated 243 books. The judges for adult titles were: Andrea Y. Griffith, Owner, Browsers Bookshop in Olympia; Valerie McBeth, Librarian, Northwest Indian College Library; Tiffany Midge, Author and 2020 Washington State Book Award finalist; Corinne Wilson, Librarian, Spokane County Library District; Jenna Zarzycki, Librarian, Covington Library / King County Librarian System
The judges for youth titles were: Tamar Clarke, Teen Services Coordinator, Whatcom County Library System; Avery Mead, Teacher-Librarian, East Valley High School Library in Spokane Valley; and Christopher Robert, Librarian, Seattle Public Schools. 
You can find more information about the book awards previous years’ finalists and winners, and submission policies for the 2023 awards at the Washington Center for the Book website.
Elisa M., Communications
Shelf Talk 