The finalists have been selected for the 35th Annual Oklahoma Book Awards. Winners in each category will be announced at the ceremony and banquet on Saturday, May 11, 2024. The event will take place at the Oklahoma History Center, located at 800 Nazih Zuhdi Drive in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Books are recognized each year for outstanding work in fiction, non-fiction, children and young adult, poetry, and the design, illustration, and photography combined category. To be eligible for consideration, books must be written by an Oklahoman, about the state, or have an Oklahoma theme. This year, the Oklahoma Center for the Book received 179 entries with 28 chosen as finalists.

Join us in celebrating Oklahoma authors and books by attending the awards ceremony and banquet. This is a great opportunity to meet the authors, purchase their books, and get them signed while supporting Oklahoma's literary heritage. Tickets are $75 to $100 per person. A table for eight is available for purchase at a discounted rate of $550. Dinner is provided with each ticket.

Please send the RSVP card to:

Oklahoma Center for the Book
200 NE 18th Street
Oklahoma City, OK 73105

Or email the filled-out Reservation Card to Connie.Armstrong@libraries.ok.gov. Tickets are held at the door. 

For more information, call 405-522-3383.

The Florentine Poet
cover and jacket design by Carl Brune
interior design by William Bernhardt
illustrated by Brian Call
Babylon Books

Someday, Somewhere: Photographs & Poems
photography by David Jennings
Wipf and Stock Publishers

Chikasha Chahta Okla'at Wihat Tanó̲wattook (The Migration Story of the Chickasaw and Choctaw People)
designed by Jackson Davis
illustrated by Lauren John
White Dog Press

Otis W. Leader: The Ideal American Doughboy
designed by Jackson Davis
Chickasaw Press

Gwen Didn’t Care
illustrated by Alex K. Wallace
WF Publications

Tulsa City-County Library: A Legacy of Innovation, Integration, Inspiration 1992-2021
designed by Carl Brune
Babylon Press

Dark Ride
by Lou Berney
HarperCollins

Listen
by Sheldon Russell
Cynren Press

The Radcliffe Ladies’ Reading Club
by Julia Bryan Thomas
Sourcebooks

Heart of the Nile
by Will Thomas
Macmillan Publishers

Stealing
by Margaret Verble
HarperCollins

This Indian Kid: A Native American Memoir
by Eddie Chuculate
Scholastic Inc.

Corn Dance: Inspired First American Cuisine
by Lorretta Barrett Oden with Beth Dooley
University of Oklahoma Press

Leon Russell: The Master of Space and Time’s Journey Through Rock & Roll History
by Bill Janovitz
Hachette Book Group

A Promise Kept: The Muscogee (Creek) Nation and McGirt v. Oklahoma
by Robert J. Miller and Robbie Ethridge
University of Oklahoma Press

Otis W. Leader: The Ideal American Doughboy
by Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer
Chickasaw Press

Urban Homelands: Writing the Native City from Oklahoma
by Lindsey Claire Smith
University of Nebraska Press

Oklahoma Freedmen of the Five Tribes
by Angela Y. Walton-Raji
The History Press

Come Before Winter
by Ken Hada
Turning Plow Press

Sand: At the Mercy of Wind
by Karen Kay Knauss
Peach Tree Press

Tallchief
by Elise Paschen
Magic City Books Press

Vivia: The Legend of Vivia Thomas
by Linda Neal Reising
Kelsay Books