The Reading the West Book Awards celebrate the spirit of the west and the rich variety of writing in and about this region, and reflect the extraordinary diversity of the reading public.
Lakewood, CO - The Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association is honored to announce the thirtieth annual Reading the West Book Awards shortlists in eight award categories. Member booksellers will begin voting today, and the reading public is encouraged to vote for their favorite titles in each category beginning Monday, April 20, on readingthewest.com.
The Reading the West Book Awards winners will be announced on May 20, 2020, and the winning authors and their books will be celebrated by bookstores on websites and social media and with virtual displays and events. The celebration will continue throughout the summer when our indie bookstore members are once again open to the public.
The Reading the West Book Awards are sponsored and promoted by independent booksellers across twelve western and mid-western states. The awards honor the best fiction, non-fiction, and illustrated books for adults and children set in one of the states or created by an author or artist living or working in the region. The awards, given to books published in the previous calendar year, celebrate the spirit of the west and the rich variety of writing in and about this region, and reflect the extraordinary diversity of the reading public.
Bookseller reading committees have curated shortlists from an extraordinary list of titles nominated by publishers.
The Shortlists (in no particular order):
Sabrina and Corina, by Kali Fajardo-Anstine (One World)
The River, by Peter Heller (Knopf)
Cherokee America, by Margaret Verble (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
Lot, by Bryan Washington (Riverhead)
A Job You Mostly Won’t Know How to Do, by Pete Fromm (Counterpoint Press)
Trinity Sight, by Jennifer Givhan (Blackstone Publishing)
Down From the Mountain: The Life and Death of a Grizzly Bear, by Bryce Andrews (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
Aloha Rodeo: Three Hawaiian Cowboys, the World's Greatest Rodeo, and a Hidden History of the American West, by David Wolman and Julian Smith (William Morrow)
The Rise of Wolf 8: Witnessing the Triumph of Yellowstone's Underdog, by Rick McIntyre (Greystone Books)
Shadowlands: Fear and Freedom at the Oregon Standoff, by Anthony McCann (Bloomsbury Publishing)
Lakota America: A New History of Indigenous Power, by Pekka Hamalainen (Yale University Press)
Big Wonderful Thing: A History of Texas, by Stephen Harrigan (University of Texas Press)
Fire Ghosts, by Philip Metcalf and Patricia Galagan (Familius)
In a Rugged Land: Ansel Adams, Dorothea Lange, and the Three Mormon Towns Collaboration, 1953–1954, by James Swensen (The University of Utah Press)
The Warrior’s Tools: Plains Indian Bows, Arrows & Quivers, by Eric Smith (The RoadRunner Press)
America’s Holy Ground: 61 Faithful Reflections on Our National Parks, by Brad Lyons and Bruce Barkhauer (Chalice Press)
National Geographic: Atlas of the National Parks, by Jon Waterman (National Geographic Books)
The Great Unknowable End, by Kathryn Ormsbee (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)
A Song for the Road, by Rayne Lacko (SparkPress)
The Field Guide to the North American Teenager, by Ben Philippe (HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray)
Red Dove, Listen to the Wind, by Sonia Antaki (One Elm Books)
There’s Something About Sweetie, by Sandhya Menon (Simon Pulse)
Momentous Events in the Life of a Cactus, by Dusti Bowling (Sterling Children's Books)
Dear Sweet Pea, by Julie Murphy (HarperCollins)
Indian No More, by Charlene Willing McManis (Lee & Low Books)
What I Saw in Rocky Mountain, by Julie Gillum Lue (Riverbend Publishing)
Howl: Another Look at the Big Bad Wolf, by Ted Rechlin (RexTooth Studios)
The Little Snowplow Wishes for Snow, by Lora Koehler, illustrated by Jake Parker (Candlewick Press)
Just Like Rube Goldberg, by Sarah Aronson, illustrated by Robert Neubecker (Simon & Schuster/Beach Lane Books)
The Day Punctuation Came to Town, by Kimberlee Gard, illustrated by Sandie Sonke (Familius)
What Riley Wore, by Elana K. Arnold, illustrated by Linda Davick (Simon & Schuster/Beach Lane Books)
Unicorn Day, by Diana Murray, illustrated by Luke Flowers (Sourcebooks)
EATING THE WEST (COOKBOOKS & CULINARY WRITING)
Ama: A Modern Tex-Mex Kitchen, by Betty Hallock and Josef Centeno (Chronicle Books)
Centennial Celebrations: A Colorado Cookbook (Junior League of Denver)
The Peached Tortilla: Modern Asian Comfort Food from Tokyo to Texas, by Eric Silverstein (Sterling Epicure)
The Pioneer Woman Cooks: The New Frontier, by Ree Drummond (William Morrow)
The Prairie Homestead Cookbook: Simple Recipes for Heritage Cooking in Any Kitchen, by Jill Winger (Flatiron Books)
READING THE WEST ADVOCACY AWARD
Mni Wiconi/Water Is Life: Honoring the Water Protectors at Standing Rock and Everywhere in the Ongoing Struggle for Indigenous Sovereignty, by John Willis (George F. Thompson Publishing)
Migrating to Prison: America's Obsession with Locking Up Immigrants, by Cesar Cuauhtemoc Garcia Hernandez (The New Press)
Deep Creek: Finding Hope in the High Country, by Pam Houston (W. W. Norton)
Headed Into the Wind: A Memoir, by Jack Loeffler (University of New Mexico Press)
Grinnell: America's Environmental Pioneer and His Restless Drive to Save the West, by John Taliaferro (W. W. Norton)
The mission of the Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association is to support and promote independent booksellers in their region, raise awareness of the value of locally owned businesses in our communities, and celebrate literary culture and an open exchange of ideas as crucial to a free society.
MPIBA is a non-profit professional association of bookstores, booksellers, authors, and industry professionals. The association began over fifty years ago in Denver, Colorado, and has grown to represent booksellers in Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming.
