2019 Finalists
The following books were selected as finalists in the thirtieth Annual Oklahoma Book Award Competition. The books are listed in alphabetical order according to the last name of the lead author/illustrator/designer/photographer.
CHILDREN/YOUNG ADULT
Friends Stick Together
by Hannah E. Harrison
Penguin Random House
Afterimage
by Naomi Hughes
Page Street Publishing
The Little Red Fort
by Brenda Maier
Scholastic Press
Legends of the Lost Causes
by Brad McLelland and Louis Sylvester
Henry Holt and Company
We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga ᎣᏣᎵᎮᎵᎦ
by Traci Sorell
Charlesbridge Publishing
Skeleton Tree
by Kim Ventrella
Scholastic Press
DESIGN/ILLUSTRATION
Little Loksi
illustrated by Eli Corbin
White Dog Press
A Chickasaw Historical Atlas
designed by Gentry Fisher
Chickasaw Press
Friends Stick Together
illustrated by Hannah E. Harrison
Penguin Random House
Love Can Be
book design by Christopher Lee, cover design by Steven Walker, cover photography by Joel Sartore, and illustrations by J.J. Ritchey
Kirkpatrick Foundation
Centering Modernism: J.Jay McVicker and Postwar American Art
cover design by Tony Roberts and interior design by Tony Roberts and Cleo Vastardis
University of Oklahoma Press
Visions of the Tallgrass
photography by Harvey Payne and book design by Julie Rushing
University of Oklahoma Press
Will Rogers: Our American Legend
illustrated by Mike Wimmer
Oklahoma Hall of Fame Publishing
FICTION
November Road
by Lou Berney
William Morrow/Harper Collins
Forty Dead Men
by Donis Casey
Poisoned Pen Press
The Horned Owl
by Lu Clifton
Two Shadows Books
Undercurrents
by Mary Anna Evans
Poisoned Pen Press
Betrayal at the Buffalo Ranch
by Sara Sue Hoklotubbe
University of Arizona Press
Flying Jenny
by Theasa Tuohy
Akashic Books
Death of a Rainmaker
by Laurie Loewenstein
Akashic Books
NON-FICTION
Boom Town
by Sam Anderson
Crown
The Next American City
by Mick Cornett
G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Finding Pax: One Woman’s Journey for the Love of Her Wooden Boat
by Kaci Cronkhite
Adlard Coles, Bloomsbury Publishing
Bobby BlueJacket: The Tribe, The Joint, The Tulsa Underworld
by Michael P. Daley
First to Knock Publisher
Alfalfa Bill: A Life in Politics
by Robert L. Dorman
University of Oklahoma Press
Drawing Fire: A Pawnee, Artist, and Thunderbird in World War II
by Brummett Echohawk with Mark R. Ellenbarger
University Press of Kansas
1889: The Boomer Movement, The Land Run, and Early Oklahoma City
by Michael J. Hightower
University of Oklahoma Press
Prairie Power: Student Activism, Counterculture, and Backlash in Okahoma 1962-1972
by Sarah Eppler Janda
University of Oklahoma Press
Ned Christie: The Creation of an Outlaw and Cherokee Hero
by Devon A. Mihesuah
University of Oklahoma Press
POETRY
Nothing but the Blood
by Laura Apol
Michigan State University Press
The Shadow Cast
by Julane Borth
Julane Borth Publisher
Not a Prodigal
by Sharon Edge Martin
Village Books Press
Dark Sister
by Linda Rodriguez
Mammoth Publications
Red Riding Hood’s Sister
by Sarah Webb
Purple Flag Press
The Last Blue Sky
by Ron Wallace
TJMF Publishing
The event is sponsored each year by the Oklahoma Center for the Book in the Oklahoma Department of Libraries, a state affiliate of the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, and the Friends of the Oklahoma Center for the Book. The awards recognize books written the previous year by Oklahomans or about Oklahoma.
See more about the Oklahoma Book Awards: 2018 Book Awards and finalists.
Also view the list of all previous Oklahoma Book Award winners and special recognitions.