90th Annual California Book Awards

Since 1931, the California Book Awards have honored the exceptional literary merit of California writers and publishers. Each year a select jury considers hundreds of books from around the state in search of the very best in literary achievement. Over its 90 years, the California Book Awards have honored the writers who have come to define California to the world. Among them are John Steinbeck, Wallace Stegner, MFK Fisher, Thom Gunn, Richard Rodriquez, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Joan Didion, Ishmael Reed, and Amy Tan. Recent award winners include Hector Tobar, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Susan Orlean, Rachel Kushner, Rachel Khong, Tommy Orange, Morgan Parker and Steph Cha. This year’s winners include: GOLD MEDALSFICTION A Registry of My Passage Upon the Earth, Daniel Mason, Little, Brown and Company  FIRST FICTION How Much of These Hills Is Gold, C Pam Zhang, Riverhead Books NONFICTION South to Freedom: Runaway Slaves to Mexico and the Road to the Civil War, Alice L. Baumgartner, Basic Books JUVENILE Efrén Divided, Ernesto Cisneros, Quill Tree Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers YOUNG ADULT Private Lessons, Cynthia Salaysay, Candlewick Press POETRY Quiet Orient Riot, Nathalie Khankan, Omnidawn  CALIFORNIANA California Exposures: Envisioning Myth and History, Richard White, with photos by Jesse Amble White, W.W. Norton & Company  CONTRIBUTION TO PUBLISHING A Natural History of the Anza-Borrego Region, Marie Simovich and Mike Wells, Sunbelt Publications SILVER MEDALSFICTION Interior Chinatown, Charles Yu, Pantheon/Vintage NONFICTION Golden Gates: The Housing Crisis and a Reckoning for the American Dream, Conor Dougherty, Penguin Press YOUNG ADULT The Black Kids, Christina Hammonds Reed, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers SPEAKERS Julia Flynn Siler Juror, California Book Awards—Moderator Peter Fish Jury Chair, California Book Awards—Moderator In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on August 16th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices