The Washington State Book Awards announced its finalists yesterday. The Awards are presented by the Washington Center for the Book (an affiliate of the Library of Congress Center for the Book administered by Washington State Library, a division of the Office of the Secretary of State). The 2025 awards are administered by Sara Peté, Director of the Washington Center for the Book.
These awards honor outstanding books published by Washington authors in 2024. An award is given based on the strength of the publication’s literary merit, lasting importance and overall quality to an author who is a current resident of Washington state. For the 2025 book awards, judges read and evaluated 271 books.
Submissions for the 2026 awards cycle are being accepted at this time. For more information, see the Washington Center for the Book’s website.
2025 WSBA FINALISTS: BOOKS FOR ADULTS CATEGORIES
Creative Nonfiction/Memoir
A Fatal Inheritance: How a Family Misfortune Revealed a Deadly Medical Mystery (Henry Holt & Co., an imprint of Macmillan Publishers) by Lawrence Ingrassia of Gig Harbor
Feeding Ghosts: A Graphic Memoir (MCD) by Tessa Hulls of Seattle/Port Townsend
The Manicurist’s Daughter: A Memoir (Celadon Books) by Susan Lieu of Seattle
River Songs: Moments of Wild Wonder in Fly Fishing (Mountaineers Books) by Steve Duda of Seattle
Thunder Song: Essays (Counterpoint Press) by Sasha taqʷšəblu LaPointe of Tacoma
The Wives (Gallery/Scout Press) by Simone Gorrindo of Tacoma
Fiction
Ocean’s Godori (Zando) by Elaine U. Cho of Seattle
Polite Calamities (Lake Union Publishing) by Jennifer Gold of Port Townsend
Roland Rogers Isn’t Dead Yet (Zando) by Samantha Allen of Seattle
Rough Trade (MCD/Farrar, Straus & Giroux) by Katrina Carrasco of Seattle
West Passage (Tor Publishing Group) by Jared Pechaček of Seattle
The Women (St. Martin’s Press) by Kristin Hannah of Seattle
General Nonfiction/Biography
Be A Revolution (HarperOne) by Ijeoma Oluo of Seattle
Big River: Resilience and Renewal in the Columbia Basin (Braided River, the conservation imprint of Mountaineers Books) by David Moskowitz of Winthrop
Field Notes from a Fungi Forager (Sasquatch Books) by Ashley Rodriguez of Seattle
A Forest of Your Own: The Pacific Northwest Handbook of Ecological Forestry (Skipstone, an imprint of Mountaineers Books) by Seth Zuckerman of Vashon and Kirk Hanson of Olympia
The Inner Clock: Living in Sync with Our Circadian Rhythms (Riverhead Books/Penguin Random House) by Lynne Peeples of Seattle
When Driving Is Not an Option: Steering Away from Car Dependency (Island Press) by Anna Letitia Zivarts of Seattle
Poetry
Blue Atlas (Red Hen Press) by Susan Rich of West Seattle
My Heart Is Not Asleep (MoonPath Press) by Thomas Thomas of Olympia
The Scarecrow of My Former Self (MoonPath Press) by Sarah Stockton of Port Townsend
Something About Living (The University of Akron Press) by Lena Khalaf Tuffaha of Redmond
Tell This to the Universe (YesYes Books) by Katie Prince of Seattle
This One We Call Ours (Lynx House Press) by Martha Silano of Seattle
2025 WSBA FINALISTS: BOOKS FOR YOUTH CATEGORIES
Picture Books
Daughter of the Light-Footed People (Atheneum – Simon & Schuster) by Belen Medina of Vancouver and Natalia Rojas Castro
Haiku, Ew!: Celebrating the Disgusting Side of Nature (Lerner Publishing Group) by Lynn Brunelle of Bainbridge Island and Julia Patton
Fox, Fox, and More Fox: Three Stories (Greenwillow Books, an Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers) by Corey Tabor of Tacoma
Log Life (Simon & Schuster) by Amy Hevron of Seattle
Love Is My Favorite Color (Paula Wiseman Books/Simon & Schuster) by Nina Laden of Lummi Island and Melissa Castrillon
What Did My Ancestors Eat? (Wheat Penny Press, an imprint of Row House Publishing) by Quinn Miller Murphy of King County and Jillian Thalman
Books for Young Readers
Beware the Dragon and the Nozzlewock (Wordsong, an imprint of Astra Books for Young Readers) by Vikram Madan of Seattle
Hike It: An Introduction to Camping, Hiking, and Backpacking (Magic Cat Publishing) by Iron Tazz of Union and Martin Stanev
The Loneliest Place (Atheneum Books for Young Readers/Simon & Schuster) by Lora Senf of Spokane and Alfredo Cáceres
Table Titans Club (Holiday House Publishing) by Scott Kurtz of Bothell
Unhappy Camper (Harper Collins/HarperAlley) by Lily LaMotte of Port Townsend and Ann Xu
The World-Famous Nine (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers) by Ben Guterson of Seattle and Kristina Kister
Books for Young Adult Readers
Coyote Lost and Found (Henry Holt and Co./BYR) by Dan Gemeinhart of Cashmere
Just Another Epic Love Poem (Dial Books For Young Readers/Penguin) by Parisa Akhbair of Seattle
Looking for Smoke (Heartdrum, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers) by K.A. Cobell of Olympia
A Magic Fierce and Bright (Simon & Schuster) by Hemant Nayak of Bellevue
Sweetest Darkness (Holiday House) by Leslie Lutz of Poulsbo
Take All of Us (Holiday House) by Natalie Leif of Seattle
JUDGES
2025 WSBA Judges are librarians, authors, and independent booksellers.
Judges for adult titles:
Robin Bradford, Collection Development Librarian, Pierce County Library System
Marcus Harrison Green, 2022 WSBA Finalist, Publisher, Author, Columnist, Speaker, & Podcaster
Sarah Jaffa, Librarian/Adult Fiction Selector, Kitsap Regional Library
Sarah Morrison, Librarian, North Olympic Library System
Emma Radosevich, Collection Development Librarian, Whatcom County Library System
Judges for youth titles:
Louise Chambers, Elementary Librarian, Highline Public Schools
Jen Haas, Librarian, Echo Glen Children’s Center
Lauren Kessel, Teacher-Librarian, Kent Elementary School
