91st Annual California Book Awards

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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