Winners will be announced on April 15.
The Reading the West Book Awards shortlist is open to voting by the public for the first time. The titles, many of which have Texas connections and have been reviewed in Lone Star Literary Life, include some of the best in fiction and non-fiction writing, culinary writing, and illustration, whose subject matter is set in the Mountains & Plains Independent Bookseller Association region (Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming) or invokes the spirit of the region.
To vote on this year’s shortlist titles, click here: https://www.mountainsplains.org/vote/. There are six categories: fiction, nonfiction, cookbooks, picture books, middle grade fiction, and young adult fiction. Winners will be announced on April 15.
And the nominees are...
FICTION: Presidio by Randy Kennedy (Atria Books), The Removes by Tatjana Soli (PIcador), The Weight of an Infinite Sky by Carrie La Seur (William Morrow), Where the Dead Sit Talking by Brandon Hobson (Soho Press), Whisky When We're Dry (Viking)
NONFICTION: Atlas of a Lost World by Craig Childs (Pantheon), The Grand Canyon: Between River and Rim by Pete McBride (Rizzoli), Heartland by Sarah Smarsh (Scribner), The Line Becomes a River by Francisco Cantú (Riverhead), Out of the Woods by Julia Corbett (University of Nevada Press)
EATING THE WEST: Bacon, Beans, and Beer by Eliza Cross (Gibbs Smith), Dirty Gourmet by Aimee Trudeau, Emily Nielson, and Mai-Yan Kwan (Skipstone), Sugar High by Nicole Hampton (WestWinds Press)
PICTURE BOOKS: Down by the River by Andrew Weiner, illustrated by April Chu (Abrams), First Laugh–Welcome Baby! by Bo Flood, illustrated by Jonathan Nelson (Charlesbridge), Volcano Dreams by Janet Fox, illustrated by Marla Garnsworthy (Web of Life Children’s Books), We are Grateful: Otsaliheliga by Traci Sorell, illustrated by Frank Lessac (Charlesbridge), What Do You Do with a Voice Like That? by Chris Barton, illustrated by Ekua Holmes (Beach Lane)
MIDDLE GRADE: 24 Hours in Nowhere by Dusti Bowling (Sterling Children’s), The Crossroads by Alexandra Diaz (Simon & Schuster), The Stormrunner by J. C. Cervantes (Rick Riordan/Disney), They Call Me Guero by David Bowles (Cinco Puntos), When a Ghost Talks, Listen by Tim Tingle (Roadrunner Press)
YOUNG ADULT FICTION: Emergency Contact by Mary H. K. Choi (Simon & Schuster), From Twinkle, with Love by Sandhya Menon (Simon Pulse), The Swan Keeper by Milana Marsenich (Open Books), Valley Girls by Sarah Nicole Lemon (Abrams), Zen and Gone by Emily France (Soho Teen)
To vote on the Reading the West shortlist, click here: https://www.mountainsplains.org/vote/.
The mission of the Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association is to support and promote independent booksellers in their region, raise awareness of the value of locally owned businesses in their communities, and celebrate literary culture and an open exchange of ideas as crucial to a free society. They are a non-profit professional association of bookstores, booksellers, authors, and industry professionals. The Association began over fifty years ago in Denver, Colorado and has grown to represent booksellers in Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming.
