The winners for the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association 2022 Northwest Book Awards have been announced.
The Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association (PNBA) is a non-profit association of independent bookstores from five Northwest states, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Alaska. Since 1965, the annual Book Awards have recognized such luminary figures in Northwest literature as Ivan Doig, Ursula K. Le Guin, David James Duncan, Cheryl Strayed, Molly Gloss, Brian Doyle, Chuck Palahniuk, and Pete Fromm. 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. NWBL has coverage of books from past shortlists as well as announcements and essays from past award winners.
PNBA’s Awards Committee is comprised of nine volunteer booksellers from throughout our member region. This year’s Committee considered more than 400 nominated titles published during 2021 for a 2022 award. Here is the shortlist, which was announced in November.
Original essays by the winners will be published on this blog over the next several weeks, beginning next Tuesday, January 11.
Meet the Winners!
REGISTER to join the online celebration for the recipients of the 2022 Pacific Northwest Book Awards.
The virtual event will be on Zoom Feb 8, 2022 at 6:00 PM Pacific Time.
Some winners may visit local bookstores for in-person celebrations if public health allows. As we get information, we will share on the blog and on social media.
The 2022 honorees are:
Unfollow Me
Essays On Complicity
Jill Louise Busby
Olympia, WA
Busby’s essays show, not just tell, why it may ultimately be better to be unfollowed than embraced. Her transparency as a Southern-raised Black LGBTQ woman now living in the Pacific Northwest provides a perspective most readers won’t realize they needed until they encounter her illuminating voice.
Anthony Doerr
Boise, ID
A masterpiece spanning multiple characters, time periods, and places. Readers will be drawn into this clever literary puzzle and repeatedly satisfied every time one piece is revealed to relate to another. Cloud Cuckoo Land celebrates the power of stories and how they connect us as well as comfort us during difficult times.
Omar El Akkad
Portland, OR
The difficult topic of immigration is navigated thoughtfully through the story of a young boy’s accidental ocean voyage with a group of refugees, where, as a lone survivor of the journey, he becomes one himself. With great heart, El Akkad demonstrates the curiosity and compassion the young bring to bear upon the cruel and absurd world adults have created.
Julie Morstad
Vancouver, BC
A brilliant and beautiful invitation to think about our relationship to time and how we spend it. Pages of bright, saturated color flow with a rhythm that allows space to breathe, inviting the reader to turn the pages over and over again.
Funeral For Flaca
Essays
Emilly Prado
Portland, OR
A deeply personal and often hilarious collection about coming of age, family, and identity. Prado pours her heart and soul into these essays and readers are likely to recognize a piece of themselves within these pages. Emerging voices like Prado’s keep the literary landscape of the PNW fresh and exciting!
Xiran Jay Zhao
Vancouver, BC
Giant transforming robots fueled by the life force of their pilots; a system which exploits gender norms and sacrifices girls in the name of empire; a protagonist who will do anything to put an end to it. A fierce retelling of the life of the Chinese Empress Wu Zetian and an iron strong debut.