The Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association (PNBA) is a non-profit association of independent bookstores from five Northwest states, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Alaska and British Columbia. The Association produces educational and promotional events and materials for its members and offers literacy, free speech, and author promotional vehicles through its member stores.
Since 1965, the PNBA Awards have recognized such luminary figures in Northwest literature as Ivan Doig, Ursula K. Le Guin, Cheryl Strayed, Jamie Ford, Jonathan Evison, Anthony Doerr, Molly Gloss, and Brian Doyle. Many of these authors were honored by PNBA before they received national attention. A history of past winners of the Pacific Northwest Book Award can be viewed on the Book Awards homepage.
PNBA’s Awards Committee is comprised of nine volunteer booksellers from throughout the member region. This year’s Committee considered almost 300 nominated titles published during October 2022-November 2023 for the 2024 award.
These titles, announced in early November, comprise the list from which up to six 2024 winners will be selected.
Winners be announced in early January 2024 and promoted by NW independent bookstores stores during the winter and spring of 2024.
Legends & Lattes
Travis Baldree
Spokane, WA
A delightful fantasy debut for fans of TJ Klune and T Kingfisher, about a retired orc who trades the warrior life for the quiet life. Or so she planned…
Tor Books
The Lost Journals of Sacajewea
Debra Magpie Earling
Missoula, MT
From the award-winning author of Perma Red comes a devastatingly beautiful novel that challenges prevailing historical narratives of Sacajewea.
Milkweed Editions
Cascadia Field Guide
Art | Ecology | Poetry
Edited by Derek Sheffield & CMarie Fuhrman (In conjunction with Editor Elizabeth Bradfield)
Leavenworth, WA & McCall, ID
Brings together art, poetry, and stories holding scientific, sensory, and cultural knowledge…
Mountaineers Books
Wolfish: Wolf, Self, and the Stories We Tell about Fear
Erica Berry
Portland, OR
This story blends science, history, and cultural criticism in a years-long journey to understand our myths about wolves, tracking one legendary wolf in particular, OR-7.
Flatiron Books
Enter the Body
Joy McCullough
Seattle, WA
This novel-in-verse gives Shakespeare’s Juliet, Ophelia, Cordelia, and Lavinia the chance to tell their own stories full of passion, justice, sisterhood, and love.
Dutton Books for Young Readers
Meet Me Tonight in Atlantic City: A Memoir
Jane Wong
Seattle, WA
An incandescent, exquisitely written memoir about family, food, girlhood, resistance, and growing up in a Chinese American restaurant…
Tin House
“You Just Need to Lose Weight” and 19th Other Myths about Fat People
Aubrey Gordon
Portland, OR
The co-host of the Maintenance Phase podcast and creator of Your Fat Friend equips you with the facts to debunk common anti-fat myths and with tools to take action for fat justice.
Beacon Press
Sun House
David James Duncan
Missoula, MT
An epic comedy about the quest for transcendence in an anything-but-transcendent America, set amid the gorgeous landscapes of the American west.
Little, Brown and Company
Making More: How Life Begins
Katherine Roy
Corvallis, OR
A story that seamlessly explains life’s most fundamental process, answers children’s questions, and provides an essential tool for parents, caregivers, and educators.
Norton Young Readers
Crip Up the Kitchen: Tools, Tips, and Recipes for the Disabled Cook
Jules Sherred
Duncan, BC
A comprehensive guide and recipe collection that brings the economy and satisfaction of home cooking to disabled and neurodivergent cooks.
Touchwood Editions
Doppleganger: A Trip into the Mirror World
Naomi Klein
Sunshine Coast, BC
Combining comic memoir with chilling reportage and cobweb-clearing analysis, Klein seeks to smash that mirror and chart a path beyond despair.
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Weird Rules to Follow
Kim Spencer
Vancouver, BC
A young Indigenous girl growing up in the the 1980s learns some hard lessons about friendship, family and cultural differences.
Orca Book Publishers