Oklahoma Book Awards
2010 Winners | 2009 | Past Winners 1996 -2008
Sponsored by the Oklahoma Center for the Book (OCB) the Oklahoma Book Awards are given each year in fiction, non-fiction, children/young adult, poetry, and design/illustration categories for work written by an Oklahoman or about Oklahoma.
Along with the annual Book Awards, the Center honors an Oklahoman who has contributed to the state's literary heritage by giving the Arrell Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award. The award is named for Norman historian Arrell Gibson, the Center's first president.
2010 Winners -April 2010
Children/Young Adult
Children Winner—Chicken Dance—Tammi Sauer—Sterling Publishing Company, Inc.
Sauer puts forth a delightful story about Marge and Lola, two chickens on a mission. Their quest is to win the barnyard talent contest and two tickets to see Elvis Poultry in concert. Both Marge and Lola must choose a talent that will surpass the other barnyard animals entered in the competition. These are no ordinary animals as children are introduced to moon-jumping cows and water-surfing ducks. Sauer, who claims to have danced with a few chickens during her youth, resides in Edmond, Oklahoma.
Young Adult Winner—Night Fires—George Edward Stanley—Aladdin Imprint
In 1923 after the sudden death of his father, Woodrow Harper moves with his mother to Lawton, Oklahoma, to begin a new life. With the assistance of Senator Crawford, his next-door neighbor, Woodrow begins to move forward and develops a close relationship with the senator. However, he soon discovers that Lawton has many dark secrets and the senator is heavily involved in them. Woodrow must decide whether to fight for what his real father believed in, or remain quiet to the horrible events taking place. Stanley's story covers a painful truth in America's history. He lives in Lawton, Oklahoma.
Design and Illustration
Design Winner—Willard Stone—designed by Carol Haralson—University of Tulsa/Gilcrease Museum
With loving attention to detail, Harralson employs sophisticated layouts, provocative photo crops, and breathtaking double-page spreads to celebrate the work of Cherokee carver Willard Stone. The result is a work that transcends the traditional art book. This is the second title in the Artists of Gilcrease series. Oklahoma native Haralson serves as this series' editor, as well. She is a master book designer, with seven Oklahoma Book Awards to her credit.
Illustration Winner—Where to Sleep—Illustrations by Kandy Radzinski—Sleeping Bear Press
Radzinski's vibrant illustrations have been honored with four Oklahoma Book Awards, for The Twelve Cats of Christmas, S is for Sooner, What Cats Want for Christmas, and What Dogs Want for Christmas. In her latest children's book, also authored by her, a tired little kitten hunts for the perfect place to catch some Z's. The artist lives in Tulsa, with her husband Mark and son Ian, and two dogs, Kirby and Beanie.
Fiction - Confessions of a Former Rock Star—Kirk Bjornsgaard—4RV Publishing
Baby boomers will rejoice in the talented writing of Kirk Bjornsgaard as he tells the story of an Oklahoma small town girl finding her way to Rock Star fame. It's the sixties, the beginning of a new breed of Rock 'n' Roll, and music isn't the only thing that's changing. Sally Moore's life follows the ups and downs of fame and fortune as she jumps on board a fast moving musical and cultural journey. The late Kirk Bjornsgaard was Acquisitions Editor for the University of Oklahoma Press and a musician. He and his wife, Noma Krasney, made their home in Norman, Oklahoma.
photograph of book
Non-Fiction
Thomas Gilcrease—Randy Ramer, Carole Klein, Kimberly Roblin, Eric Singleton, Anne Morand, Gary Moore, and April Miller—University of Tulsa/Gilcrease Museum
The authors chronicle the life and legacy of Thomas Gilcrease. The book addresses Gilcrease's business and travel adventures as well as his family life. However, the book focuses primarily on his vision of developing a world class museum. His dream culminated in the creation of the Gilcrease Museum, home to some of the finest art work in the world. Moreover, the largest collection of art and artwork regarding the American West is housed at the museum. Ramer, Klein, Roblin, and Singleton work at the Gilcrease Museum. Morand works at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. Moore works at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin, Texas. Miller works at the Denver Botanical Gardens in Denver, Colorado.
Work is Love Made Visible: Poetry and Family Photographs—Jeanetta Calhoun Mish—West End Press
Influenced by cherished photographs and treasured memories, Mish's poetry captures the heart of a family and era. Her verses are true to the language of a time, place and people, yet add a poetic dimension to a quintessentially Plains family story. Mish is a native Oklahoman who returned home after twenty years to study for her PhD in American Literature and to grow tomatoes. She is a 2010 Western Heritage Award winner in literature for Work Is Love Made Visible.
Fiction
Winner: Sweeping Up Glass: A Novel
—Carolyn Wall—Poisoned Pen Press
People of the Whale: A Novel
Made in the U.S.A.—Billie Letts—Grand Central Publishing
Trudy's Promise
To Honor the Dead
The Black Hand: A Barker & Llewelyn Novel
Children/Young Adults
Winner
Chosen—P.C. and Kristen Cast—St. Martin’s Press
On a Road in Africa
It Wasn't Much: True Tales of Ten Oklahoma Heroes
The Trial of Standing Bear —Frank Keating—Oklahoma Heritage Association
The Spectacular Now
Poetry
Winner: Two Tables Over—Nathan Brown—Village Books Press
Lessons From An Oklahoma Girlhood—Dorothy Alexander—Village Books Press
Antidotes & Home Remedies—Jim Chastain—Village Books Press
Shots on
Rounding the Human Corners
Non-fiction
Winner: Full Court Quest: The Girls from Fort Shaw Indian School Basketball Champions of the World
Oklahoma: A History
A Letter to America
Only in Oklahoma—Gene Curtis—World Publishing Company
The Road to Monticello: The Life and Mind of Thomas Jefferson
The Chouteaus: First Family of the Fur Trade
Grappling with Demon Rum: The Cultural Struggle over Liquor in Early Oklahoma
In Reckless Hands: Skinner v. Oklahoma and the Near-Triumph of American Eugenics
The Nez Perces in the Indian Territory: Nimiipuu Survival
Hunting the American West: The Pursuit of Big Game for Life, Profit, and Sport from 1800-1900
Design and Illustration
Winner: Placing Memory: A Photographic Exploration of Japanese American Internment (Charles M. Russell Center Series on Art and Photography of the American West)
Juxtapositions: Brunel Faris and the Visual Arts in Oklahoma City—Carl Brune—Full Circle Press
On a Road in Africa
Charles Faudree Interiors
They Know Who They Are: Elders of the Chickasaw Nation
How We Lived: A Pictorial History of the Places Oklahomans Have Called Home
What Dogs Want for Christmas (Holiday Series)
The Trial of Standing Bear
Past Winners Oklahoma Book Awards 1990 - 2008
Fiction
- 1990 • Robert Love Taylor, The Lost Sister
- 1991 • Linda Hogan, Mean Spirit
- 1992 • Robert L. Duncan, The Serpent's Mark
- 1993 • Rilla Askew, Strange Business
- 1994 • Eve Sandstrom, Down Home Heifer Heist
- 1995 • William Bernhardt, Perfect Justice
- 1996 • Billie Letts, Where the Heart Is
- 1997 • Stewart O’Nan, The Names of the Dead
- 1998 • Rilla Askew, The Mercy Seat
- 1999 • Billie Letts, The Honk and Holler Opening Soon
- 2000 • William Bernhardt, Dark Justice
- 2001 • Carolyn Hart, Sugarplum Dead
- 2002 • Douglas Kelley,The Captain’s Wife
- 2003 • Diane Glancy,The Mask Maker: A Novel
- 2004 • M.K. Preston, Song of the Bones
- 2005 • Will Thomas, Some Danger Involved
- 2006 • David Kent, The Black Jack Conspiracy
- 2007 • Sheldon Russell, Dreams to Dust: A Tale of the Oklahoma Land Rush
- 2008 • Rilla Askew, Harpsong back to top
Non-Fiction
- 1990 • Leonard Leff, Hitchcock & Selznick
- 1991 • Carl Albert and Danney Goble, Little Giant
- 1992 • David Morgan, Robert England,and George Humphreys, Oklahoma Politics & Policies: Governing the Sooner State
- 1993 • Henry Bellmon and Pat Bellmon, The Life and Times of Henry Bellmon; and Daniel Boorstin, The Creators
- 1994 • J. Brent Clark, 3rd Down and Forever
- 1995 • Dennis McAuliffe Jr., The Deaths of Sybil Bolton
- 1996 • William Paul Winchester, A Very Small Farm
- 1997 • Annick Smith, Big Bluestem: A Journey Into the Tall Grass
- 1998 • John Hope Franklin and John Whittington Franklin, Editors; My Life and an Era: The Autobiography of Buck Colbert Franklin
- 1999 • Bob Burke, From Oklahoma to Eternity: The Life of Wiley Post and the Winnie Mae
- 2000 • Michael Wallis, The Real Wild West: The 101 Ranch and the Creation of the American West
- 2001 • David LaVere, Contrary Neighbors: Southern Plains and Removed Indians in Indian Territory
- 2002 • Lydia L. Wyckoff, Editor, Woven Worlds: Basketry from the Clark Field Collection
- 2003 • Michael A. Mares, A Desert Calling: Life in a Forbidding Landscape
- 2004 • Eric R. Pianka and Laurie J. Vitt, Lizards: Windows to the Evolution of Diversity
- 2005 • Ed Cray, Ramblin’ Man: The Life and Times of Woody Guthrie
- 2006 • Timothy Egan, The Worst Hard Time
- 2007 • Charles Robert Goins and Danney Goble, Historical Atlas of Oklahoma, Fourth Edition
- 2008 • Nancy Isenberg, Fallen Founder: The Life of Aaron Burr back to top
Children/Young Adult
- 1990 • Helen Roney Sattler, Tyrannosaurus Rex and Its Kin
- 1991 • Stan Hoig, A Capital for the Nation
- 1992 • Jess and Bonnie Speer, Hillback to Boggy
- 1993 • Anna Myers, Red Dirt Jessie
- 1994 • Diane Hoyt-Goldsmith, Cherokee Summer
- 1995 • Russell G. Davis and Brent Ashabranner, The Choctaw Code
- 1996 • Anna Myers, Graveyard Girl
- 1997 • Barbara Snow Gilbert, Stone Water
- 1998 • S. L. Rottman, Hero
- 1999 • Barbara Snow Gilbert, Broken Chords
- 2000 • Harold Keith, Brief Garland: Ponytails, Basketball, and Nothing But Net
- 2001 • Joyce Carol Thomas,Hush Songs
- 2002 • Molly Levite Griffis,The Rachel Resistance
- 2003 • Darleen Bailey Beard, The Babbs Switch Story
- 2004 • Children—Una Belle Townsend, Grady’s in the Silo • Young Adult—Sharon Darrow, The Painters of Lexieville
- 2005 • Children—Joyce Carol Thomas, The Gospel Cinderella • Young Adult—Molly Levite Griffis, Simon Says
- 2006 • Anna Myers, Assassin
- 2007 • Children—Tim Tingle, Crossing Bok Chitto: A Choctaw Tale of Friendship and Freedom
Young Adult—Tim Tharp, Knights of the Hill Country - 2008 • Children—Devin Scillian, Pappy’s Handkerchief • Young Adult—P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast, Marked: A House of Night Novel back to top
Poetry
- 1990 • William Kistler, The Elizabeth Sequence
- 1992 • Carol Hamilton, Once the Dust
- 1993 • Jim Barnes, The Sawdust War
- 1994 • Carter Revard, An Eagle Nation
- 1995 • Joy Harjo, The Woman Who Fell from the Sky
- 1996 • Francine Leffler Ringold-Johnson, The Trouble with Voices
- 1997 • Renata Treitel, translation of Rosita Copioli’s The Blazing Lights of the Sun
- 1998 • Betty Shipley, Somebody Say Amen
- 1999 • Mark Cox, Thirty-Seven Years from the Stone
- 2000 • N. Scott Momaday, In the Bear’s House
- 2001 • Carolyne Wright,Seasons of Mangoes and Brainfire
- 2002 • Ivy Dempsey, The Scent of Water: New and Selected Poems
- 2003 • Joy Harjo, How We Became Human: New and Selected Poems
- 2004 • Laura Apol, Crossing the Ladder of Sun
- 2005 • Francine Leffler Ringold, Still Dancing
- 2006 • LeAnne Howe, Evidence of Red
- 2007 • Carl Sennhenn, Travels Through Enchanted Woods
- 2008 • Sandra Soli, What Trees Know
Design/Illustration
- 1990 • David E. Hunt, The Lithographs of Charles Banks Wilson
- 1991 • Carol Haralson, Cleora's Kitchens
- 1992 • Joe Williams, Woolaroc
- 1993 • Design—Carol Haralson, Will Rogers: Courtship and Correspondence
Illustration—Kandy Radzinski, The Twelve Cats of Christmas - 1994 • Deloss McGraw, Fish Story
- 1995 • Mike Wimmer, All the Places to Love
- 1996 • Kim Doner, Green Snake Ceremony
- 1997 • Carol Haralson and Harvey Payne, Big Bluestem: A Journey into the Tall Grass
- 1998 • Carol Haralson, Visions and Voices: Native American Painting from the Philbrook Museum of Art
- 1999 • David Fitzgerald, Bison: Monarch of the Plains
- 2000 • Carol Haralson, Glory Days of Summer: The History of Baseball in Oklahoma
- 2001 • Lane Smith, The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip
- 2002 • Carl Brune, Woven Worlds: Basketry from the Clark Field Collection
- 2003 • Murv Jacob, The Great Ball Game of the Birds and Animals
- 2004 • Design—Scott Horton and Jim Argo, Family Album: A Centennial Pictorial of the Oklahoma Publishing Company
Illustration—Kandy Radzinski, S is for Sooner - 2005 • Carol Haralson, A History of the Oklahoma Governor’s Mansion
- 2006 • Design—Carol Haralson, Home: Native People in the Southwest
Illustration—Jon Goodell, Mother, Mother, I Want Another - 2007 • Design—Carl Brune, OKC: Second Time Around
Illustration—Jeanne Rorex Bridges, Crossing Bok Chitto: A Choctaw Tale of Friendship and Freedom - 2008 • Carl Brune, Oklahoma: A Portrait of America
Illustration—Kandy Radzinski, What Cats Want for Christmas
Arrell Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award
- 1990 • Daniel Boorstin—Librarian of Congress Emeritus—native of Tulsa
- 1991 • Tony Hillerman—award winning mystery writer—native of Sacred Heart
- 1992 • Savoie Lottinville—Director of the University of Oklahoma Press for 30 years
- 1993 • Harold Keith—Newbery Award winning children's author—Norman
- 1994 • N. Scott Momaday—Pulitzer Prize winning Kiowa author—native of Lawton
- 1995 • R.A. Lafferty—Hugo Award winning author—Tulsa
- 1996 • John Hope Franklin—historian—native of Rentiesville
- 1997 • S.E. Hinton—author of young adult novels—Tulsa
- 1998 • Jack Bickham—novelist, teacher and journalist—Norman
- 1999 • Michael Wallis—historian and biographer—Tulsa
- 2000 • Bill Wallace—writer of novels for young people—Chickasha
- 2001 • Joyce Carol Thomas—children and adult fiction author, and playwright—native of Ponca City
- 2002 • World Literature Today—The University of Oklahoma, Norman
- 2003 • Joy Harjo—poet and member of the Muscogee Nation—native of Tulsa
- 2004 • Carolyn Hart—award-winning mystery writer—Oklahoma City
- 2005 • C.J. Cherryh—Hugo Award winning author—Oklahoma City
- 2006 • Bob Burke—award-winning historian—Oklahoma City
- 2007 • Clifton Taulbert—award-winning author—Tulsa
- 2008 • David Dary—award-winning author—Norman
Ralph Ellison Award
- 1995 • Ralph Ellison—National Book Award winner—Oklahoma City
- 1997 • Angie Debo—“First Lady of Oklahoma History”—Marshall
- 1999 • Melvin Tolson—poet, journalist, and dramatist—Langston
- 2000 • Jim Thompson—novelist and screenwriter—Anadarko
- 2002 • John Berryman—poet, biographer, and editor—McAlester
- 2004 • Lynn Riggs—playwright and screenwriter—Claremore
- 2005 • Woody Guthrie—author, illustrator, and songwriter—Okemah
- 2006 • John Joseph Mathews—Osage novelist and historian—Pawhuska
- 2007 • Muriel Wright—acclaimed Oklahoma historian—Oklahoma City
- 2008 • Danney Glenn Goble—acclaimed Oklahoma historian—Oklahoma City