We are delighted to announce the 2022 Connecticut Book Awards finalists!

The 2022 Connecticut Book Awards recognize the best books of 2021 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.

FINALISTS for 2022 (in alphabetical order by author’s last name)

Nonfiction

Seeing Ghosts | Kat Chow | Washington, DC+ | Grand Central Publishing
Broke in America | Joanne Goldblum/Colleen Shaddox | Branford | BenBella Books
Squirrel Hill | Mark Oppenheimer | New Haven | Penguin Random House
Correctional  | Ravi Shankar | Providence, RI* | University of Wisconsin Press
PIGLET, The Unexpected Story of a Deaf Blind Pink Puppy and His Family | Melissa Shapiro | Westport | Simon & Schuster

Poetry

Taking Her Back | Cristina Baptista | Newington | Atmosphere Press
The Glass Globe | Margaret Gibson | Preston | LSU Press
A Cluster of Noisy Planets | Charles Rafferty | Sandy Hook | BOA Editions
Songs for Solo Voice | James Whitley | Waterbury | Red Mountain Press

Fiction

The Family Plot | Megan Collins | Manchester | Simon & Schuster/Atria
Justine | Forsyth Harmon | Accord, NY | Tin House
Goliath | Tochi Onyebuchi | New Haven | Tor
9 Lupine Road | Eric Lehman | Hamden | Owl House Books/Homebound Publications
Book of Form and Emptiness | Ruth Ozeki | Northampton, MA+ | Viking

Young Readers

Picture Books – Fiction

Soul Food Sunday | Winsome Hudson-Bing | Ledyard | Abrams Books
Three Pockets Full | Cindy Rodriguez | Plainville | Cardinal Rule Press

Picture Books – Nonfiction

Bei Bei Goes Home: A Panda Story | Cheryl Bardoe | Wallingford | Candlewick Press
Walrus Song | Janet Lawler | Farmington | Candlewick Press

Middle Grade – Nonfiction

Fairy Tale Science | Sarah Albee | Watertown | Author | Odd Dot
Robo-Motion: Robots That Move Like Animals | Linda Zajac | Author | Vernon | Lerner Publishing Group

Middle Grade – Fiction

View From Pagoda Hill | Michaela MacColl | Westport | Calkins Creek/Astra Books for Young Readers
The Flyers | Beth Turley | Waterford | Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing
To Tell You the Truth | Beth Vrabel | Canton | Simon & Schuster

Fiction – Young Adult

The Secret Life of Kitty Granger | G. D. Falksen | Hamden | Lerner Publishing Group
Mercury Boys | Chandra Prasad | Woodbridge | Soho Teen

Note: * = Set in Connecticut + = author born in Connecticut

2021 Spirit of Connecticut Finalist

All Girls | Emily Layden | Albany, NY | St. Martin’s Press