Writers’ League of Texas has announced the honorees of its 2020 Book Award.
In lieu of an in-person awards event, this year the honorees will be celebrated at a virtual event during the Texas Book Festival.
“Everything that we do at the Writers’ League of Texas is about supporting and championing Texas writers and nothing is more emblematic of that than these annual book awards,” said Becka Oliver, the League’s executive director. “This year especially, it’s an honor for us to be able to shine a bright light on these writers and their wonderful books.”
The 2020 honorees are:
Fiction
Winner: “The Secrets We Kept” by Lara Prescott
Finalists: “Where We Come From” by Oscar Cásares, “A Particular Kind of Black Man” by Tope Folarin, “Heaven, My Home” by Attica Locke, “The Electric Hotel” by Dominic Smith, “Lot: Stories” by Bryan Washington
Discovery Prize Winner: “Watershed” by Mark Barr
Nonfiction
Winner: “Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion” by Jia Tolentino
Finalists: “Big Wonderful Thing: A History of Texas” by Stephen Harrigan, “How We Fight for Our Lives” by Saeed Jones, “Sontag: Her Life and Work” by Benjamin Moser, “The Weil Conjectures” by Karen Olsson
Discovery Prize Winner: “This Is My Body: A Memoir of Religious and Romantic Obsession” by Cameron Dezen Hammon
Poetry
Winner: “The Tiny Journalist: Poems” by Naomi Shihab Nye
Finalists: “The Last Visit” by Chad Abushanab, “I Will Destroy You: Poems” by Nick Flynn, “Another Last Day” by Alex Lemon, “Newsworthy: Poems” by Deborah Mouton
Discovery Prize Winner: “Ceremony of Sand: Poems by Rodney Gomez”
Middle Grade & Young Adult
Winner: “Redwood and Ponytail” by K.A. Holt
Finalists: “The Other Half of Happy” by Rebecca Balcárcel, “Her Own Two Feet: A Rwandan Girl’s Brave Fight to Walk” by Meredith Davis and Rebeka Uwitonze, “Song for a Whale” by Lynne Kelly
Discovery Prize Winners: “Eloia Born” by Britta Jensen, “Manufactured Witches” by Michelle Rene
Picture Book
Winner: “Ella McKeen, Kickball Queen” by Beth Mills
Finalists: “Chicken Break! A Counting Book” by Cate Berry, “King of the Tightrope: When the Great Blondin Ruled Niagara” by Donna Janell Bowman, “Instructions Not Included: How a Team of Women Coded the Future” by Tami Lewis Brown and Debbie Loren Dunn, “A Voice for the Spirit Bears: How One Boy Inspired Millions to Save a Rare Animal” by Carmen Oliver
