We are delighted to announce the 2021 Connecticut Book Awards finalists! Finally!

The 2021 Connecticut Book Awards recognize the best books of 2020 either about Connecticut or by authors and illustrators from Connecticut. Categories include: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, and Books for Young Readers.

Awards also include the Bruce Fraser “Spirit of Connecticut” Award. This special award is in memory of longtime Connecticut Humanities director Bruce Fraser and celebrates Connecticut’s sense of place. Winners of all award categories will be announced at the event.

The Connecticut Center for the Book is also happy to report a new partnership with the Connecticut Literary Festival. This partnership will expand programming opportunities and allow for expansion of creative and culturally relevant writing outside of just prose and poetry. We are thrilled to be able to join with the Connecticut Literary Festival to expand the scope of the literary arts community in the state.

FINALISTS for 2021 (in alphabetical order by author’s last name)

Nonfiction

Mill Town | Kerri Arsenault | Roxbury | MacMillan Press
God’s Shadow – Alan Mikhail | New Haven | W. W. Norton and Company
The Alchemy of Us | Ainissa Ramirez | New Haven | The MIT Press
American Rebels  | Nina Sankovitch | Westport | St. Martin’s Press
No Way but to Fight: George Foreman and the Business of Boxing | Andrew R. M. Smith | Woodstock | University of Texas Press

Poetry

I Hear Their Voices Singing | Cortney Davis | Bethel | Antrim House
Eleanor | Gray Jacobik | Deep River | CavenKerry Press
My Husband Would | Benjamin S. Grossberg | West Hartford | University of Tampa Press
Maps for Jackie | Jason Labbe | Bethany | BlazeVox
Edges & Fray: on language, presence, and (invisible) animal architectures | Danielle Vogel | Chester | Wesleyan University Press

Fiction

Spindle City | Jotham Burrello | Ashford | Blackstone Publishing
Riot Baby | Tochi Onyebuchi | New Haven | Tor Books
Musical Chairs | Amy Poeppel | Kent | Simon & Schuster
Father Guards the Sheep | Sari Rosenblatt | Middletown | University of Iowa Press

Young Readers

Fiction

Cleo Porter and the Body Electric | Jake Burt | Hamden | Macmillan, Feiwel and Friends
Class Act | Jerry Craft | Norwalk | HarperCollins Children’s Books
Dress Coded | Carrie Firestone | Avon| Putnam/Penquin
From the Desk of Zoe Washington | Janae Marks | Fairfield | Katherine Tegen Books
The Last Tree Town | Beth Turley | Waterford | Simon & Schuster

Nonfiction

Accidental Archaeologists | Sarah Albee | Watertown | Scholastic
Albert Hopper, Science Hero | John Himmelman | Killingworth | Henry Holt Books for Young Readers

Picture Books

Let’s Dance! | Valerie Bolling | Author | Stamford | Boyds Mills & Kane
Kindergarten Hat | Janet Lawler | Author | Farmington | Little Bee Books
The All-Together Quilt | Lizzy Rockwell | Author and Illustrator | Bridgeport | Alfred A. Knopf
Hazel and Twig: The Lost Egg | Brenna Burns Yu | New Haven | Candlewick Press

2021 Spirit of Connecticut Finalists

Nonfiction

Hartford Seen | Pablo Delano | West Hartford | Wesleyan University Press
Paved Roads & Public Money | Richard Deluca | Cheshire | Wesleyan University Press
The History of Steep Rock Association | Carol Bergren Santoleri | New Preston | Steep Rock Association
Creating Connecticut: Critical Moments that Shaped a Great State | Walter Woodward | Columbia | Globe Pequot Press

Fiction

The Sea Glass Murders | Timothy Cole | Greenwich | Pace Press

Young Readers

Lois’s Story: A Young Girls’ Inspiration Helps to Stop Hate and Fear | Ed Edelson | Southbury | Amazon

Poetry

Coming Through | Rennie McQuilkin | Bloomfield | Antrim House