The stars shine especially brightly on these terrific Texas authors. Read on to learn of their many recent appointments, awards, and accolades. 

APPOINTMENTS 

Amanda Johnston has been named as the  2024 Texas State Poet Laureate. 

Alfredo Corchado, journalist and author, was elected to the National Association of Hispanic Journalists Hall of Fame. 

AWARDS WINNERS 

Johnnie Bernhard is a National Award Winner-- First Place / Fiction Book / Adult Readers-- from the National Federation of Press Women for her book HANNAH AND ARIELA. 

Abigail Carl-Klassen received the 2022 Bougainvillea Poetry Prize from FlowerSong Press for the collection VILLAGE MECHANICS. 

Carrie Carter won a Certificate of Excellence in Cat Fiction- Other from The Cat Writer's Association for her book WHISKER’S ABROAD: ASHI AND AUDREY’S ADVENTURES IN JAPAN. 

Elizabeth Crook was named the 2023 Texas Writer Award recipient by the Texas Book Festival.  

Julia Daily won First Prize in Literary Fiction/Journey & Adventure at the Bookfest Awards for THE FIFTH DAUGHTER OF THORN RANCH—and her book was featured on a billboard in Times Square! 

James Dennis's LISTENING DEVICES was selected as Best Collection of Religious Poetry by the International Book Awards.  

Gabino Iglesias won the Shirley Jackson Award for Best Novel with THE DEVIL TAKES YOU HOME.  

Roger Reeves won the 2023 Griffin Poetry Prize for his collection, BEST BARBARIAN. “As of 2023, the prize is worth $130,000, making it the world’s largest international prize for a single book of poetry written in, or translated into English.” In addition, he received a 2023 Guggenheim Fellowship. 

Larry Thomas won the 2023 Spur Award for Poem for his work “New Mexico Bootheel: A Triptych.” 

James Wade won the 2023 Spur Award for Contemporary Novel for BEASTS OF THE EARTH. 

Joaquín Zihuatanejo was the only Texas recipient of a 2023 Poet Laureate Fellow award from the Academy of American Poets.  

OTHER ACCOLADES 

Mary Alford is a finalist in the AWSA Golden Scroll awards for her book AMONG THE INNOCENT.  

Donnaldson Brown learned that her novel BECAUSE I LOVED YOU is a finalist for the 2023 International Book Award for Literary Fiction. The International Book Awards honor excellence in independent and mainstream publishing. 

Patrick Dearen's THE END OF NOWHERE was selected as a finalist in the Best Western Novel category in the Peacemaker Award of Western Fictioneers. 

Ruben Degollado’s novel THE FAMILY IZQUIERDO was long listed for the 2023 Mark Twain American Voice Award.  

Dawn Greenfield Ireland learned that her screenplay THE GOD CHILD is in the semifinals of the Geneva International Science in Fiction screenplay competition. 

Laura Conner Kestner was a Selah Award finalist in the Western category for A TEXAS SECRET. 

Jodi Thomas’s Ransom Creek series is slated for the Netflix lineup. Netflix head of drama, Jinny Howe, describes the series as “Virgin River meets Yellowstone.”  

Western Writers of America 2023 Spur Awards Finalists: 

Jennifer Coleman—CHILI TIME, Y’ALL! HOW TEXAS FOUND ITS STATE CUISINE, Juvenile Nonfiction 

Butch Denny—THE WONDER STONE: AND OTHER STORIES ABOUT AN EARLY AFRICAN SETTLEMENT IN CENTRAL TEXAS: MARCH 1845-NOVEMBER 1864, Traditional Novel 

Steve Kelton—THE UNLIKELY LAWMAN, Original Mass-Market Paperback Novel 

Chuck Parsons and Thomas C Bicknell—KING FISHER: THE SHORT LIFE AND ELUSIVE LEGEND OF A TEXAS DESPERADO, Biography 

W.K. Stratton— “A Sacred Refuge: The Comanche Medicine Mounds Are a Rare Vestige of the Mighty Tribe That Once Controlled Texas”, Short Nonfiction