The 2025 Ohio Book Award Winners
The Ohio Book Awards will take place at the Ohio Statehouse on Wednesday evening, October 15, 2025. Mark your calendars & grab tickets here.
Ohio Book Awards
In 2024, the Awards have officially been renamed to the Ohio Book Awards, Presented by Ohioana Library. Each year, juried awards are given to books in six categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, About Ohio/an Ohioan, Young Adult Literature, Middle Grade Literature, and Juvenile Literature. Fans have the opportunity to make their voices heard by selecting the Readers’ Choice Book Award from among all thirty finalists in an online poll. Finally, we present a special prize for emerging writers, the Walter Rumsey Marvin Grant.
First given in 1942, the Ohio Book Awards presented by the Ohioana Library Association are the second oldest, and among the most prestigious, state literary prizes in the nation. Nearly every major writer from Ohio in the past 80 years has been honored, including James Thurber, Robert McCloskey, Toni Morrison, Mary Oliver, Rita Dove, Anthony Doerr, Celeste Ng, and many more.
Seven of the Ohio Book Award winners, as well as the Marvin Grant recipient, are selected by juries. The Readers’ Choice Award is determined by voters in a public online poll. Over 3,500 votes were cast for this year’s Readers’ Choice Award.
Listed below are the 2025 Ohio Book Award winners. Click on the title to learn more about the author or illustrator and their winning book.
Fiction: Christopher Bollen. Havoc. Harper: New York, NY, 2024.
Poetry: Yalie Saweda Kamara. Besaydoo: Poems. Minneapolis, MN: Milkweed Editions, 2024.
Nonfiction: Timothy Snyder. On Freedom. New York, NY: Crown, 2024.
Young Adult: Mindy McGinnis. Under This Red Rock. New York, NY: Katherine Tegen Books, 2024.
Middle Grade: Andrea Wang. Summer at Squee. New York, NY: Kokila, 2024.
Juvenile: Loren Long. The Yellow Bus. New York, NY: Roaring Brook Press, 2024.
About Ohio or an Ohioan: Keith O’Brien*. Charlie Hustle: The Rise and Fall of Pete Rose, and the Last Glory Days of Baseball. New York, NY: Pantheon, 2024.
Readers’ Choice: Amanda Flower. To Slip the Bonds of Earth (A Katharine Wright Mystery). Kensington: New York, NY, 2024.
Walter Rumsey Marvin Grant
2025 Walter Rumsey Marvin Grant Recipient, Claudia Owusu
Claudia Owusu
Claudia Owusu is a Ghana girl through and through. As a writer and filmmaker, her work divulges the nuance of Black girlhood through a personal and collective lens.
Her writing has appeared or is forthcoming in Ninth Letter, Bellingham Review, Indianapolis Review, Vogue, Narrative Northwest, Akoroko, and Brittle Paper. Her films have screened internationally at Aesthetica, the New York African Film Festival, Urbanworld, and Blackstar Fest. She is the author of the chapbook, In These Bones I am Shifting from Akashic Books. She holds an MFA in Creative Nonfiction at The Ohio State University.
Learn more about Claudia Owusu and her work on her website.
Ohioana is accepting nominations for the 2026 Ohio Book Awards until December 31, 2025!
Established in 1942, the Ohio Book Awards recognize Ohio authors and illustrators for outstanding books published each calendar year in the categories of Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Young Adult Literature, Middle Grade Literature, Juvenile Literature, and Book about Ohio or an Ohioan (which may include books by non-Ohio authors or illustrators). Click here for the nomination form and more information about eligibility. Nomination forms must be postmarked by December 31, 2025, to be considered for the 2027 Awards.
Ohioana is accepting submissions for the 2026 Walter Rumsey Marvin Grant until February 2026!
The Walter Rumsey Marvin Grant was established in honor of the Ohioana Library Association’s second director, who served from 1954 to 1965. The Marvin Grant is a $1,000 award given annually to an Ohio writer 30 years of age or younger who has not had a book published. Click here to download the application form and see more details about the submission requirements. Email kkiehl@ohioana.org with any questions.
