The 43rd Annual Northern California Book Awards

43rd ANNUAL

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA BOOK AWARDS

Saturday, September 7, 2024, 2:00 pm

Koret Auditorium

San Francisco Main Library

100 Larkin Street, San Francisco, CA

Northern California's vibrant literary scene will celebrate Saturday, September 7, 2024, 2:00pm, Koret Auditorium, San Francisco Main Library, Civic Center, San Francisco, when the 43rd annual Northern California Book Awards will recognize published works of 2023 by Northern California authors and California translators, selected by the Northern California Book Reviewers, and presented by Poetry Flash and the San Francisco Public Library, with our community partners Mechanics' Institute Library and Women’s National Book Association-San Francisco Chapter. The event is free and open to the public.

Winning authors will accept their awards and briefly present remarks on their books. Nominated and honored books will be available for sale and signing. A reception will follow in the SFPL’s Latino/Hispanic Community Room.

The Fred Cody Award for Lifetime Achievement and Service is presented for lifetime achievement and distinguished service to the literary community. The NCBA Recognition Award is presented to a book or literary project that falls outside of NCBA categories. The NCBA Groundbreaker Award is presented to pioneering and innovative works. The California Translation Awards in Poetry and Prose honor works of translation by translators who live anywhere in California.

Northern California reviewers and editors, members of Northern California Book Reviewers, select the awards. Membership is open to eligible Northern California reviewers and editors. All of the nominated books, the Recommended Reading List, will be acknowledged and celebrated at the ceremony. Jurors’ statements by Northern California Book Reviewers will be available in the event program and on the NCBA page at Poetryflash.org.

The categories are: Fiction, Poetry, Creative Nonfiction, General Nonfiction, Translation,

and Children’s Literature.

FRED CODY AWARD FOR LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT & SERVICE

Jane Hirshfield, poet, essayist, and “one of American poetry’s central spokepersons for the biosphere”

The Asking: New and Selected Poems, Knopf

NCBA GROUNDBREAKER AWARD

Transit Books
A nonprofit publisher of international and American literature, committed to the discovery and promotion of enduring works that carry readers across borders and communities.

NCBA RECOGNITION AWARD
Dear California: The Golden State in Diaries and Letters, edited by David Kipen, Redwood Press

NOMINEES:

POETRY

Light and Clay: New and Selected Poems, Maxine Chernoff, Madhat Press

In the Cities of Sleep, Elizabeth C. Herron, Fernwood Press

Eggtooth, Jesse Nathan, Unbound Edition Press

The Disordered Alphabet, Cintia Santana, Four Way Books

Leviathan, Michael Shewmaker, Louisiana State University Press

Songbirds of the Nine Rivers, Joseph Zaccardi, Sixteen Rivers Press

FICTION

North Woods, Daniel Mason, Random House

The Dog of the North, Elizabeth McKenzie, Penguin Press

Wildflowers, stories, Beverly Parayno, PAWA Press/Philippine American Writers and Artists

Forget I Told You This, Hilary Zaid, University of Nebraska Press

Land of Milk and Honey, C Pam Zhang, Riverhead Books

CREATIVE NONFICTION

What You Don’t Know Will Make a Whole New World, Dorothy Lazard, Heyday

Secret Harvests: A Hidden Story of Separation and the Resilience of a Family Farm, David Mas Masumoto, Artwork by Patricia Wakida, Red Hen Press

Starstruck: A Memoir of Astrophysics and Finding Light in the Dark, Sarafina El-Badry Nance, Dutton

Unraveling: What I Learned About Life While Shearing Sheep, Dyeing Wool, and Making the World's Ugliest Sweater, Peggy Orenstein, Harper

Most Delicious Poison: The Story of Nature's Toxins—From Spices to Vices, Noah Whiteman, Little, Brown Spark

GENERAL NONFICTION

Inflamed: Abandonment, Heroism, and Outrage in Wine Country's Deadliest Firestorm, Anne E. Belden, Paul Gullixson, Lauren A. Spates, Permuted Press 

Immeasurable Outcomes: Teaching Shakespeare in the Age of the Algorithm, Gayle Greene, Johns Hopkins University Press

The Hungry Season: A Journey of War, Love, and Survival, Lisa M. Hamilton, Little, Brown and Company

Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon, Michael Lewis, W.W. Norton & Company

Freedom to Win: A Cold War Story of the Courageous Hockey Team That Fought the Soviets for the Soul of Its People—And Olympic Gold, Ethan Scheiner, Pegasus Books

CALIFORNIA TRANSLATION

California Translation in Poetry

A Cha Chaan Teng That Does Not Exist, Derek Chung, translated from the Chinese by May Huang, Zephyr Press

Through the Walls of Solitude, Álamo Oliveira, translated from the Portuguese by Diniz Borges, Letras Lavadas Edições/Bruma Publications

Whoever Drowned Here, Max Sessner, translated from the German by Francesca Bell, Red Hen Press

Columns, Nikolai Zabolotsky, translated from the Russian by Dmitri Manin, ARC Publications

California Translation in Prose

The Short End of the Sonnenallee, Thomas Brussig, translated from the German by Jonathan Franzen and Jenny Watson, Picador

Blue Hunger, Viola Di Grado, translated from the Italian by Jamie Richards, Bloomsbury Publishing

Whale, Cheon Myeong-kwan, translated from the Korean by Chi-Young Kim, Archipelago Books

CHILDREN'S LITERATURE

Younger Readers

How Does Santa Go Down the Chimney?, Mac Barnett, illustrated by Jon Klassen, Candlewick Press

To Boldly Go: How Nichelle Nichols and Star Trek Helped Advance Civil Rights, Angela Dalton, illustrated by Lauren Semmer, Harper

The Shape of You, Mượn Thị Văn, illustrated by Miko Sato, Kids Can Press

Middle Grade

The Eyes and the Impossible, Dave Eggers, illustrated by Shawn Harris, published simultaneously by Knopf Books for Young Readers and McSweeney’s 

Farther Than the Moon, Lindsay Lackey, Roaring Brook Press

Boomi’s Boombox, Shanthi Sekaran, Katherine Tegan Books

Young Adult
The Coldest Winter I Ever Spent, Ann Jacobus, Carolrhoda Lab

All the Yellow Suns, Malavika Kannan, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Accountable: The True Story of a Racist Social Media Account and the Teenagers Whose Lives It Changed, Dashka Slater, Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers

History of the Northern California Book Awards
Since 1981, the Northern California Book Reviewers, a volunteer group of book reviewers and book review editors, have honored the work of Northern California authors. One of the group's founders was Fred Cody, proprietor of the late great independent bookstore in Berkeley. The Fred Cody Award for lifetime achievement is presented every year to a member of the literary community. Previous recipients include Brenda Hillman, Isabel Allende, Juan Felipe Herrera, Daniel Ellsberg, Sandra M. Gilbert, Jack Hirschman, Judy Grahn, Susan Griffin, Willis Barnstone, Adam Hochschild, Kay Ryan, Michael Pollan, Al Young, Tamim Ansary, Andrew Hoyem, Diane di Prima, Orville Schell, Philip Levine, Ronald Takaki, Francisco X. Alarcón, Carolyn Kizer, Ishmael Reed, Maxine Hong Kingston, Robert Hass, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Malcolm Margolin, Adrienne Rich, Wallace Stegner, Kay Boyle, William Everson, Alice Walker, Gary Snyder, Jessica Mitford, Tillie Olsen, M.F.K. Fisher, Robert Duncan, and Nancy J. Peters.

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