Washington State Book Award winners announced

Winners in the seven categories of the Washington State Book Awards were announced Tuesday. The awards, presented by the Washington Center for the Book, celebrate works by Washington state authors published in 2022. For this year’s awards, 242 books were read and evaluated by a judging panel of librarians, authors and independent booksellers. The awards, formerly called the Governor’s Writers Awards, are now in their 57th year. For more information, see washingtoncenterforthebook.org.

Books for adults

Creative Nonfiction/Memoir: “Red Paint: The Ancestral Autobiography of a Coast Salish Punk” by Sasha taqwšəblu LaPointe of Tacoma (Counterpoint Press). LaPointe discussed her book at a gathering of The Spokesman-Review’s Northwest Passages Book Club in March 2022.

Fiction: “Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century” by Kim Fu of Seattle (Tin House). Fu’s novel is this year’s selection for Spokane Is Reading. She will give two local presentations on Oct. 26, one at the Spokane Valley Library and one at the Central Library .

General Nonfiction/Biography: “The Wok: Recipes and Techniques” by J. Kenji López-Alt of Seattle (W.W. Norton & Company).

Poetry: “We Had Our Reasons: Poems by Ricardo Ruiz and Other Hardworking Mexicans from Eastern Washington” by Ricardo Ruiz of Seattle (Pulley Press | Poetry From Rural America).

Books for youth

Picture Books: “How to Hug a Pufferfish” by Ellie Peterson of Kirkland (Roaring Brook Press).

Books for Young Readers: “Jennifer Chan Is Not Alone” by Tae Keller of Seattle (Random House).

Books for Young Adult Readers: “The Language of Seabirds” by Will Taylor of Seattle (Scholastic Press).