And the Winners Are…
Seattle authors sweep the 2024 Washington State Book Awards
By Sarah Stackhouse September 24, 2024
The wait is over. This year’s standout books have been announced.
Seattle’s Jane Wong took home the Creative Nonfiction/Memoir prize for Meet Me Tonight in Atlantic City, a powerful exploration of her Chinese-American upbringing. In the Fiction category, Seattle author Sonora Jha’s The Laughter won. For General Nonfiction/Biography, Timothy Egan of Seattle won for A Fever in the Heartland, a gripping New York Times Bestseller about the Ku Klux Klan’s attempt to seize power in the U.S. And Washington State Poet Laureate and Lummi tribal member Rena Priest won the Poetry award for I Sing the Salmon Home, an anthology featuring poems from more than 150 Washington poets from across the state.
Other Seattle-based winners include Ben Clanton and Andy Chou Musser for the Picture Book Ploof, Jessixa and Aaron Bagley for their illustrated book Duel, and Margaret Owen for her Young Adult novel Painted Devils.
2024 Washington State Book Awards Winners:
- Creative Nonfiction/Memoir: Meet Me Tonight in Atlantic City by Jane Wong
- Fiction: The Laughter by Sonora Jha
- General Nonfiction/Biography: A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan’s Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them by Timothy Egan
- Poetry: I Sing the Salmon Home: Poems from Washington State, edited by Rena Priest
- Picture Books: Ploof by Ben Clanton and Andy Chou Musser
- Books for Young Readers: Duel by Jessixa Bagley, illustrated by Aaron Bagley
- Young Adult Literature: Painted Devils by Margaret Owen
Winners were selected from a pool of 292 submissions by a panel of judges, which included librarians, authors, and independent booksellers:
Judges for adult titles:
- Jennie Diaz, Seattle Public Library
- Marcus Harrison Green, Publisher, Author, Columnist, Speaker, and Podcaster
- Sarah Jaffa, Kitsap Regional Library
- Valerie McBeth, Northwest Indian College Lummi Library
- Alex Yokom, Browsers Bookshop
Judges for youth titles:
- Lauren Kessel, Teacher-Librarian, Kent Elementary School
- Jane López-Santillana, Librarian, Sno-Isle Libraries
- Avery Mead, Teacher-Librarian, East Valley High School Library
Full details can be found at the Washington Center for the Book. Submissions for the 2025 awards are now open.
Follow Us
A New Year of Influence
Seattle magazine’s Most Influential list kicks off 2026 with leaders across the city.
New year, new issue! As we kick off 2026, Seattle magazine is proud to present this year’s cohort of the Most Influential list, which showcases local leaders in politics, philanthropy, arts, hospitality, and business. Determined, creative, empathetic, humble, and bold are just a few of the words you’ll see describing them—each one has achieved great…
The Queen of the Seattle World’s Fair
With a fur coat and gold Cadillac, Gracie Hansen struck a figure. Her business savvy and whip-smart humor made her a star.
In 1960, a group of well-attired men from the Seattle World’s Fair planning committee gathered in a downtown office. With the fair only two years away, people were starting to pitch their business ideas and on this day, some lady wanted to meet with them to do the same. At the scheduled time, the door…
Cookies From Home
Seattle author Kat Lieu introduces a first-of-its-kind cookbook centered on Asian cookies.
Kat Lieu has built a career out of baking, storytelling, and standing up for what she believes in. A former doctor of physical therapy turned bestselling cookbook author, she’s based in Seattle, is the founder of the online community Subtle Asian Baking and is the author of Modern Asian Baking at Home, a book that…
Photo Essay: The Relief of the Moment
Words and photography by Nick Ward.
Photography tricks my ADHD brain into doing something borderline miraculous: It allows me to focus on exactly one thing at a time. When I press the shutter and hear that lovely little ka-chunk, the inner chatter winks out. I feel oddly connected to the moment by being outside it, observing through the frame instead of…