The Oklahoma Department of Libraries is proud to announce the finalists for the 36th Annual Oklahoma Book Awards! This prestigious award honors outstanding books with an Oklahoma connection, celebrating authors, illustrators, photographers, and book designers whose work enriches our literary landscape.

The 2025 Oklahoma Book Awards banquet will take place on Friday, May 16, 2025, at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. Winners in each category will be announced during this special evening dedicated to recognizing literary excellence in Oklahoma.

It’s a fantastic opportunity to meet the authors and celebrate the incredible literary contributions to our state. Enjoy a book signing, dinner, and a cash bar as we honor the writers who shape Oklahoma’s rich literary landscape. The book signing begins at 6:00 p.m., followed by dinner and the awards ceremony at 7:00 p.m.

Don’t miss out on being part of this unforgettable night. Reserve Your Tickets for the 2025 Oklahoma Book Awards today!

You have two options to reserve your spot:

• Mail in the reservation card.
• Or fill out the online form.

Tickets are limited, so be sure to reserve early! We can’t wait to celebrate with you.

Please reply by April 18 to purchase a sponsorship and by May 9 to make a reservation.

• Shadow of Hope – Molly Crowe (Yorkshire Publishing
• Vampirita and the Angry Mob – Mariana Llanos (Reycraft Books)
• The Little Green Swing – Brenda Maier (Scholastic Press)
• Once in the Blue Moon – Virginia Miller Reeves (Deep Vellum Publishing)
• Find Her – Ginger Reno (Holiday House)
• When We Gather (Ostadahlisiha): A Cherokee Tribal Feast – Andrea L. Rogers (HarperCollins)
• I Am Osage: How Clarence Tinker Became the First Native American Major General – Kim Rogers (HarperCollins)
• Clack, Clack! Smack! A Cherokee Stickball Story – Traci Sorell (Charlesbridge)
• Kindred Spirits Shilombish Ittibachvffa – Leslie Stall Widener (Charlesbridge)

• findings: translations hallazgos: traducciones – cover and book design by Carl Brune; photography by Jeanie Gooden (Peach Can Press)
• Echoes of Light: Images into Writing – photography by Sam Joyner; book and cover design by Carl Brune (Twin Feathers Ink)
• Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States – illustrated by Paul Peart-Smith (Beacon Press)
• Impresarios of the Rodeo Arena: The Story of The Beutler Stock Contracting Legacy – designed by Julie Rushing (Oklahoma Hall of Fame Publishing

• Justice for All – William Bernhardt (Babylon Books)
• At First I Was Afraid – Marty Ludlum (Babylon Books)
• Speaking to the Unseen – Marcia Preston (Roan & Weatherford Publishing Associates)
• Once in the Blue Moon – Virginia Miller Reeves (Deep Vellum Publishing)
• Best Seller – Christina Rost (Scrivenings Press)
• My War, My Child – Bharati Sen (Admission Press)
• The Care and Feeding of Rogues – Lauren Smith (Lauren Smith Publisher)
• The Promise of Unbroken Straw – Ken Steele (Yorkshire Publishing)
• She Has No Tell – William A. Stoskopf (Quakerfield)
• The Secret Keeper of Main Street – Trisha R. Thomas (HarperCollins)
• Death and Glory – Will Thomas (St. Martin’s Publishing Group)
• Springhill – John F. Toles (Sherwood Forest Publishing)

• Rabbit Decolonizes the Forest: Stories from the Euchee Reservation – Gregory H. Bigler (University of Oklahoma Press)
• Mammals of Oklahoma: Second Edition – William Caire, Lynda Samanie Loucks, and Michelle L. Haynie (University of Oklahoma Press)
• Resisting Oklahoma’s Reign of Terror: The Society of Oklahoma Indians and the Fight for Native Rights, 1923-1928 – Joshua Clough (University of Nebraska Press and American Philosophical Society Co-Publishers)
• Riding Like the Wind: The Life of Sanora Babb – Iris Jamahl Dunkle (University of California Press)
• The State of Sequoyah: Indigenous Sovereignty and the Quest for an Indian State – Donald L. Fixico (University of Oklahoma Press)
• The Deaf Girl: A Memoir of Hearing Loss, Hope, and Fighting Against the Odds – Abigail Heringer (Sourcebooks)
• Washita Love Child: The Rise of Indigenous Rock Star Jesse Ed Davis – Douglas K. Miller (W.W. Norton & Company)
• By The Fire We Carry: The Generations-Long Fight for Justice on Native Land – Rebecca Nagle (HarperCollins)
• Last One Walking: The Life of Cherokee Community Leader Charlie Soap – Greg Shaw (University of Oklahoma Press)

• Cauterized – Laura Apol (Michigan State University Press)
• In the House in the Woods – Roseanna Alice Boswell (Cooper Dillon Books)
• The Fires of Heraclitus – Paul Juhasz (Turning Plow Press)
• Until Air Itself Is Tinted – Cullen Whisenhunt (Turning Plow Press)