May 16, 2022
A scene from the 2016 Ohioana Awards ceremony (Photo by Mary Rathke)
The Ohioana Library is pleased to announce the finalists for the 81st annual Ohioana Book Awards. First given in 1942, the awards are the second-oldest state literary prizes in the nation and honor outstanding works by Ohio authors and illustrators in five categories: Fiction, Poetry, Juvenile Literature, Middle Grade/Young Adult Literature, and Nonfiction. The sixth category, About Ohio or an Ohioan, may also include books by non-Ohio authors.
This year’s stellar list includes a Pulitzer Prize winner, three finalists for the National Book Award, a Dayton Literary Peace Prize finalist, and winners of the Coretta Scott King Book Award, the Caldecott Medal, Newbery Honors, and the Kirkus Prize. Four finalists have had their works adapted for film and television. Eight authors are previous Ohioana Book Award winners and two are past recipients of Ohioana’s Walter Rumsey Marvin Grant for emerging writers.
Beginning June 1, Ohioana will profile all the finalists with “30 Books, 30 Days,” a special feature on our social media in which one finalist is highlighted each day. Later in June, Ohioana will launch its seventh Readers’ Choice Award poll, allowing the public to vote online for their favorite book from the finalists.
Winners will be announced in July. The 2022 Ohioana Awards ceremony will be held at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus on Wednesday, October 26. The finalists are:
Fiction
Bethea, Jesse. Fellow Travellers, Bellwether
Doerr, Anthony. Cloud Cuckoo Land, Scribner
Gornichec, Genevieve. The Witch’s Heart, Ace
Stine, Alison. Trashlands, MIRA
Walter, Laura Maylene. Body of Stars, Dutton
Nonfiction
Abdurraqib, Hanif. A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance, Random House
Butcher, Amy. Mothertrucker: Finding Joy on the Loneliest Road in America, Little A
Haygood, Wil. Colorization: One Hundred Years of Black Films in a White World , Alfred A. Knopf
Orlean, Susan. On Animals, Avid Reader Press
Schillace, Brandy. Mr. Humble & Dr. Butcher: A Monkey’s Head, the Pope’s Neuroscientist, and the Quest to Transplant the Soul, Simon & Schuster
About Ohio or an Ohioan
Abbott, Anneliese. Malabar Farm: Louis Bromfield, Friends of the Land, and the Rise of Sustainable Agriculture, The Kent State University Press
Alexander, Brian. The Hospital: Life, Death, and Dollars in a Small American Town, St. Martin’s Press
Baier, Bret, and Catherine Whitney. To Rescue the Republic: Ulysses S. Grant, the Fragile Union, and the Crisis of 1876, Custom House
Broome, Brian. Punch Me Up to the Gods: A Memoir, Mariner Books
Shesol, Jeff. Mercury Rising: John Glenn, John Kennedy, and the New Battleground of the Cold War, W.W. Norton & Company
Poetry
Spencer, Emily. East Walnut Hills, Zone 3 Press
Bracken, Conor. The Enemy of My Enemy is Me, Diode Editions
Iris, Manuel. The Parting Present / Lo que se irá, Dos Madres Press
Kim, Joey S. Body Facts, Diode Editions
Zamora, Felicia. I Always Carry My Bones, University of Iowa Press
Juvenile Literature
Campbell, Marcy. Illus. by Corinna Luyken. Something Good, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Dawson, Keila V. Illus. by Alleanna Harris. Opening the Road: Victor Hugo Green and His Green Book, Beaming Books
Gorman, Amanda. Illus. by Loren Long. Change Sings: A Children’s Anthem, Viking Books for Young Readers
Wang, Andrea. Illus. by Jason Chin. Watercress, Neal Porter Books
Wynter, Anne. Illus. by Oge Mora. Everybody in the Red Brick Building, Balzer + Bray
Middle Grade/Young Adult Literature
Carson, Rae. Any Sign of Life, Greenwillow Books
Draper, Sharon M. Out of My Heart, Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books
Kiely, Brendan. The Other Talk: Reckoning with Our White Privilege, Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books
Wang, Andrea. The Many Meanings of Meilan, Kokila
Warga, Jasmine. The Shape of Thunder, Balzer + Bray