The honorees will be celebrated with a toast at the WLT booth at the Texas Book Festival in October.
The state of Texas has a long tradition of serving as a setting for and inspiring great storytelling. Honoring that tradition, the Writers’ League of Texas Book Awards were established in 1991 (known first as the Violet Crown Awards before being renamed in 2008) to recognize the year’s best among those stories and to celebrate the exceptional writers behind them.
Here are the books and authors that won the 2018 Writers' League of Texas Book Award winners, finalists, and Discovery Prize Winners:
Fiction
Winner: LITTLE by Edward Carey
Finalists:
DAUGHTER OF A DAUGHTER OF A QUEEN by Sarah Bird
THE WHICH WAY TREE by Elizabeth Crook
PRESIDIO by Randy Kennedy
SHE WOULD BE KING by Wayétu Moore
EVERYONE KNOWS YOU GO HOME by Natalia Sylvester
Discovery Prize Winner: DEATH TO THE BULLSHIT ARTISTS OF SOUTH TEXAS by Fernando A. Flores
Nonfiction
Winner: THE RECKONINGS: ESSAYS by Lacy M. Johnson
Finalists:
FISHERMAN'S BLUES by Anna Badkhen
THE LINE BECOMES A RIVER: DISPATCHES FROM THE BORDER by Francisco Cantú
AN UNLIKELY JOURNEY: WAKING UP FROM MY AMERICAN DREAM by Julián Castro
TICKER: THE QUEST TO CREATE AN ARTIFICIAL HEART by Mimi Swartz
Discovery Prize Winner: BEYONCÉ IN FORMATION: REMIXING BLACK FEMINISM by Omise'eke Tinsley
Poetry
Winner: REGISTERS OF ILLUMINATED VILLAGES: POEMS by Tarfia Faizullah
Finalists:
WITH THE DOGSTAR AS MY WITNESS by John Fry
SKY THE OAR by Stacy R. Nigliazzo
GIRLDOM by Megan Peak
ARSONIST by Joaquin Zihuatanejo
Discovery Prize Winner: GIRL PAPER STONE by Laurie Filipelli
Middle Grade/Young Adult
Winner: THE PARKER INHERITANCE by Varian Johnson
Finalists:
I'M NOT MISSING by Carrie Fountain
ALL THE STARS DENIED by Guadalupe García McCall
THE HOUSE IN POPLAR WOOD by K.E. Ormsbee
THE PROPHET CALLS by Melanie Sumrow
Discovery Prize Winner: SECRETS OF THE CASA ROSADA by Alex Temblador
Picture Book
Winner: WHAT DO YOU DO WITH A VOICE LIKE THAT? THE STORY OF EXTRAORDINARY CONGRESSWOMAN BARBARA JOHNSON by Chris Barton
Finalists:
PENGUIN & TINY SHRIMP DON'T DO BEDTIME! by Cate Berry
ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S DUELING WORDS by Donna Janell Bowman
ALABAMA SPITFIRE: THE STORY OF HARPER LEE AND TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Bethany Hegedus
LUCY AND THE STRING by Vanessa Roeder
Discovery Prize Winner: THE BOOK THAT JAKE BORROWED by Susan Kralovansky
The honorees will be celebrated with a toast at the WLT booth at the Texas Book Festival in October.
To enter this contest, you must be a Texas author. "Texas author" is defined as anyone who (whether currently a resident or not) has lived in Texas for a period of three or more years. This contest is open to indie or self-published authors as well as traditionally published authors. The categories are fiction, nonfiction, poetry, middle grade/young adult books, and picture books. Each category is reviewed by at least three judges.
In response to the high quality of work submitted by small/indie presses, university presses, and self-published authors, the Writers’ League introduced a new award in 2014—the “Discovery Prize”—to recognize one outstanding book in each category. Eligible books are considered for the Discovery Prize in addition to, not instead of, the primary award. To be eligible for the Discovery Prize, your entry must be either self-published, published by a small/independent press, or published by a university press. You don't have to be a debut author to qualify for the Discovery Prize.
For more than three decades, the purpose and mission of the Writers’ League of Texas has been to provide a forum for information, support, and sharing among writers; to help writers improve on their craft and market their skills; to promote the interests of writers and the writing community at large; and to elevate the art and enterprise of writing.
The Writers’ League of Texas (WLT) was founded in January 1981 as the Austin Writers’ League. Inspired by the example of the Washington Independent Writers, the original founders sought to develop a meaningful support system for writers that would focus on the craft, business, and community of writing. The group was incorporated in June 1984 and in November 2000 the organization’s name was changed to the Writers’ League of Texas to better reflect the demographics of its membership and the scope of the organization’s programs and services.
