Connecticut Center for the Book is pleased to announce the finalists for the 2019 Connecticut Book Awards. The awards recognize and honor authors and illustrators who have created the best books in or about our state in the past year.
Between three and five finalists have been selected in each of five categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, and Books for Young Readers (broken into three subcategories: Picture Books, Fiction and Nonfiction). Five judges per category read each entry and reviewed works using rigorous criteria. A total of 113 books were submitted this year. The finalists are listed below.
FINALISTS for 2019 (in alphabetical order by author’s last name)
* Indicates a Spirit of Connecticut Nominee as well.
Nonfiction
The Long Journeys Home – Nick Bellantoni, Newington – Wesleyan University Press
Mark Twain Among the Indians – Kerry Driscoll, West Hartford – University of California Press
Walls: A History of Civilization – David Frye, Hebron – Scribner
Free the Beaches – Andrew Kahrl, Charlottesville, VA – Yale University Press
Poetry
Taking Care of Time – Cortney Davis, Bethel – Wheelbarrow Books
Somerset – Daniel Donaghy, Willington – NYQ Books
Augur – Jonathan Andersen, Storrs – Red Dragonfly Press
Fiction
White Houses – Amy Bloom, Branford – Random House
The General’s Cook – Ramin Ganeshram, Westport – Skyhorse/Arcade
The Astronaut’s Son – Tom Seigel, Weston – Woodhall Press
Tiffany Blues – M. J. Rose, Greenwich – Simon & Schuster
Still Life with Monkey – Katharine Weber, Bethany – Paul Dry Books
Young Readers – Fiction
The History of Jane Doe – Michael Belanger, Storrs – Penguin Random House
The Truth as Told by Mason Buttle – Leslie Connor, Madison – HarperCollins Children’s Books
The Rhino in Right Field – Stacy DeKeyser, Barkhampsted – Simon & Schuster
Lifeboat 12 – Susan Hood, Southport – Simon & Schuster
Young Readers – Nonfiction
Shark Quest: Protecting the Ocean’s Top Predators – Karen Romano Young, Bethel – Lerner Publishing Group
Young Readers – Picture Book
I’m Sad – Michael Black, Author, Redding – Simon & Schuster
Night Train, Night Train – Wendell Minor, Illustrator, Washington – Charlesbridge Publishing
Spirit of Connecticut
Fiction
Still Life with Monkey – Katharine Weber, Bethany – Paul Dry Books
Young Readers
The History of Jane Doe – Michael Belanger, Storrs – Penguin Random House
Nonfiction
Venture Smith – Chandler B. Saint, Torrington – Beecher House Center for the Study of Equal Rights
Connecticut Architecture, Stories of 100 Places – Christopher Wigren, Hamden – Wesleyan University Press
Poetry
None submitted.
