A Recent Book Award Wrap Up (and I’m Back!)

I’ve fallen off a bit on blogging over the last 6 months, but am making a commitment to myself to start again in 2024! I’m starting with a few BIG blog posts, since not blogging for over 6 months certainly means I have a lot to talk about! Today, I’m looking at recent book awards from the second half of 2023, including some books you likely have heard of, and quite a few that you may have not encountered yet! Next week, I have a look at my reading year in 2023 (and looking forward to March, we have my favorite event of the spring coming up, the Tournament of Books!)

So, onto award winning books! There are so many awards out there, and it is impossible to track them all unless you make it a very full time hobby, but there are so many riches to find, so my hope is to make that a bit easier for you.

If you have not explored it yet, I have a catalogue of various diverse book awards on my site (you can find it here) that I try and keep as up to date as I can. I try and cover book awards that recognize diversity in as many forms as possible. While I do look at the larger more traditional prizes, I’ve also worked to find prizes that are administered by the group they recognize. For example, the Bocas Prize in Caribbean Literature is administered by a group of organizers and judges from the Caribbean. I especially love tracking translation awards or awards from other English speaking countries, as these tend to give me so many hidden gems!

So today, I have a collection 20 of the most recent award winners that excite me most – there are books on here for readers of all ages, and I think most readers will find something they like below.

---

Unique Formats or Stories

I love a good epistolary novel, and sometimes the novelty of a book is enough to catch my attention. The books below caught my eye either through their format or the novelty of the story they are telling.

Ordinary Notes by Christina Sharpe – Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize

This book about the Black experience is told through art and a series of over 200 interconnected notes, which seems like it would feel like both a poem and a book. I’m excited to read this one.

Chivalry by Neil Gaiman adapted by Colleen Doran – The Eisner Award

I feel like Neil Gaiman probably has more graphic novel adaptations than most, but the artwork in this short story adaptation really drew my eye.

Whalefall by Daniel Kraus – Alex Award

The premise of this book is that a man who is scuba diving finds himself inside a sperm whale and must escape. I have no idea if this book is good or bad, but it is getting enough buzz that I am tempted to pick it up solely for the originality here.

Faltas: Letters to Everyone in My Hometown Who Isn’t My Rapist by Cecilia Gentili – Stonewall Book Award

Told as a series of letters (I’m sensing a theme in my recent interests here), this memoir of growing up transgender in 1970s Argentina is an interesting and compelling story. With a title like this, you know it will be both wrenching and funny, which is a fun combination.

Unfamiliar Locations

One of my favorite pieces of this book award research is discovering books that I would likely have never encountered due to them being published in a different country or just a little out of the mainstream book publishing world. I do actually track the settings of my books every year, as I like to make sure I don’t just read books set in familiar locations, and these would all help me build this out!

The Words That Remain by Stênio Gardel, translated from Portuguese by Bruna Dantas Lobato – National Book Award

In a story that sounds both brutal and captivating, this book tells the story of an older man who, after learning to read in his old age, is finally able to read a letter given to him as a young man by another young man he fell in love with, but was separated from due to unfortunate circumstances.

A History of Burning by Janika Oza – Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature

An inter-generational story of Indian immigrants to Uganda which covers both the British occupation and the dictatorship of Idi Amin, this book sounds like a sweeping family saga with an added element of an interesting, and new to me location.

Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens by Shankari Chandran – Miles Franklin Literary Award

Set in Australia, this book is about a nursing home and its residents, and looks at all their lives, including the ways in which cultural clashes and racism can occur in these more insulated spaces. It is described by one reviewer as “delicate, harsh and filled with love” which has me intrigued.

Nature or Adventure Books

I can never shake my naturalist side completely when looking at book awards, and the following books all caught my eye immediately! I am excited to learn a little more about my local environment as well as to explore some further flung adventures!

The Comfort of Crows by Margaret Renkl – Southern Book Prize

This book follows the plants and animals in the author’s backyard over the course of a year. The 52 entries (one for each week) come with full color illustrations, and as a nature nerd who is particularly interested in following the ways one place can change over the course of a year, this appeals to me, and seems like it may be a bit of a modern take on the exceptional Edwardian Lady’s Country Diary, which I also loved.

Hidden Mountains: Survival and Reckoning After a Climb Gone Wrong by Michael Wejchert – The National Outdoor Book Award

So often books about the outdoors speak to triumphs rather than losses. Hardships are mentioned but ultimately, the suffering is “all worth it”. I’m fascinated by this book because it seems to be writing from a different perspectives and while I am also interested in the nitty gritty of the search and rescue, I look forward to hearing a fresh perspective.

Battle of Ink and Ice by Darrell Hartman – The National Outdoor Book Award

This is the story of how the news industry and the race for the North Pole intersected. The fervor behind the race for both poles was so intense, and the way that newspapers funded and worked within these expeditions is kind of fascinating, and having read up on some of this already, I’m so excited for more here.

The Killer Whale Journals: Our Love and Fear of Orcas by Hanne Strager – The National Outdoor Book Award

I live in the San Juan Islands, and as a naturalist, I do feel like I need to know more about the Orca population. Strager was an Orca researcher in Norway, but interviews folks from around the world, so I look forward to a global perspective on a whale species I grew up with locally.

Children’s Books

I will always love a good children’s book, and especially enjoy finding new and unique ones, particularly with incredible artwork or a unique story.

We Still Belong by Christine Day – American Indian Literature Association Youth Literature Award

I am so happy that there is an award out there that continues to recognize and highlight new books by Native American or Indian writers so that we don’t need to rely on some of the older “classics” by authors who have come under scrutiny. This seems like a sweet middle grade novel and I love that this book is set in Washington State!

The Lizzie and Belle Mysteries: Drama and Danger by J.T. Williams, illustrated by Simone Douglas – The Diverse Book Award

A middle grade detective series centering two black girls in 18th century London (who are inspired by real world people), this book promises to be a great choice for young readers, and there are lots of comments on how it is a fun read for adults as well so I may need to check it out.

Nothing Special by Desiree Cooper – Independent Publisher Book Award

This book about a young boy visiting his grandparents really stood out to me because the artwork is exceptional, and made using felted characters, so it is incredibly dimensional and cool. I don’t know why I haven’t heard of it before, but I look forward to having this one on my shelf.

Houses with a Story:  A Dragon’s Den, a Ghostly Mansion, a Library of Lost Books, and 30 More Amazing Places to Explore written and illustrated by Seiji Yoshida, translated by Jan Mitsuko Cash – Batchelder Award

This book looks like so much fun! With diagrams and maps, this exploration of unique and made up locations will captivate the right child (or adult) for hours.

US History from Another Perspective

A couple years ago, I fought my way through a very long and academic book called The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity, which made some really compelling points about the way we view history. It did a great job of demonstrating that the fundamentals of how we view history and civilization are flawed, and it has me seeking more alternative histories that challenge established thought. The books below all promise to do this.

Muslims of the Heartland by Edward E. Curtis IV – Arab American Book Award

This book looks at the history of Syrian immigration to the Midwest, which started much earlier than most people realize, and is about a group of people and a history I was not aware of before I learned about this book. I look forward to getting a new window into something here.

The Women’s House of Detention: A Queer History of a Forgotten Prison by Hugh Ryan – Stonewall Book Award

This book is about a prison in Greenwich New York which housed queer women, transgender folks and activists for decades and it looks at the way that this prison impacted social causes as well

The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History by Ned Blackhawk – National Book Award

I am so interested in this book. Blackhawk explores the influence that Native peoples have had on moments in American history, especially when these influences were not recognized, and I look forward to having my view of things flipped on its head.

Grab Bag

There are always a few that don’t quite fit into any other category, but I just couldn’t leave these two out!! These both won Alex Awards this year, which is an award that recognized adult books that are suitable for teens. They made a couple questionable choices this year (*cough cough* Fourth Wing), but a number of these books sounded great!

Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah – Alex Award

I have heard so many good things about this book! It is one I may not have picked up without the buzz – a dystopian look at the private prison system in America. Based on the reviews, I think this book is going to be a good one.

Starter Villain by John Scalzi – Alex Award

Sometimes you want a book to make you think, but other times you just need to find a book that will be a fun read, and this seems to be that. This comedic book follows a man who inherits his uncle’s supervillain business, and sounds like quite a romp.

---

I hope something here catches your eye – I’ll be back next week with a look at my year in reading in 2023!