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On the Shelf

By Paul Guffin

3 min read

2023 Award-winning Books, Authors, Illustrators

Each year authors and illustrators are honored for their work in the literary world, along with the books they create. The awards are many and come from many sources. In the Downieville Library, we keep track of only some of these awards. Here are the ones presented for 2023.

Starting with awards for children’s books:

Caldecott Medal: awarded by the Association for Library Service to Children (a division of the American Library Association) to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children. First presented in 1938.

  • Winner: Doug Salati (illustrator & author), Hot Dog
  • Honor books:
    • Jason Griffin (illustrator) & Jason Reynolds (author), Ain’t Burned All the Bright
    • Michaela Goade (illustrator & author), Berry Song
    • Janelle Washington (illustrator) & Angela Joy (author), Choosing Brave: How Mamie Till-Mobley and Emmet Till Sparked the Civil Rights Movement
    • Christopher Denise (illustrator & author), Knight Owl

Newbery Medal: awarded by the Association for Library Service to Children to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. First presented in 1922.

  • Winner: Amina Luqman-Dawson, Freewater
  • Honor books:
    • Andrea Beatriz Arango, Iveliz Explains It All
    • Christina Soontornvat, The Last Mapmaker
    • Lisa Yee, Maizy Chen’s Last Chance

And now moving on to books for adults:

Booker Prize: (formerly the Man Booker Prize) awarded to what is, in the opinion of the judges, the best sustained work of fiction written in English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland. First presented in 1969.

  • Winner: Prophet Song, by Paul Lynch (Ireland)

International Booker Prize: awarded to a work of fiction, written in a language other than English, then translated into English. First presented in 2005.

  • Winner: Time Shelter, by Georgi Gospodinov & Angela Rodel (Bulgaria)

National Book Awards: awarded by the National Book Foundation for books published by United States publishers located in the U.S., and written by U.S. citizens, or non-citizens who have lived in the U.S. for 10 or more years. Fiction, non-fiction, and poetry prizes first presented in 1950; young people’s prize first presented in 1969.

  • Fiction winner: Blackouts, by Justin Torres
  • Non-fiction winner: The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History, by Ned Blackhawk
  • Poetry winner: from unincorporated territory [åmot], by Craig Santos Perez
  • Young People’s winner: A First Time for Everything, by Dan Santat

Nobel Prize for Literature: awarded by the Swedish Academy (responsible for all Nobel prizes) to a writer for their body of work (not for an individual book). First presented in 1901.

  • Winner: Jon Fosse (Norwegian author whose work consists of plays, novels, poetry, essays, children’s books, and translations)

Pulitzer Prizes: awarded by the Pulitzer Committee for books first published in the United States and made available for purchase by the general public by a United States-based press. Fiction prize first presented in 1918; non-fiction prize first presented in 1962.

  • Fiction winners:
    • Trust, by Hernan Diaz
    • Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver
  • Non-fiction winner: His Name Is George Floyd, by Robert Samuel & Toluse Olorunnipa

As of yet, none of these books grace the shelves of the Downieville Library. But, we are open to receiving them…