California Book Awards

Literary award for Californian authors

The California Book Awards are annual literary awards given to California Writers and Publishers since 1931. The event is sponsored by Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California. [1]The California Book Awards are funded by an endowment from Dr. Martha Heasley Cox,[2] late professor of American Literature at San Jose State University. Medals (gold and silver) and cash prizes are currently awarded in the categories of Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, First Work of Fiction, Californiana (nonfiction relating to California), Juvenile Literature (up to age 10), Young Adult Literature (age 11–16), and Notable Contribution to Publishing.[3] More than 400 books are submitted per year.[4] The winning books are selected by an independent jury.[5]

## History

[edit]

The California Book Awards were created in 1931 by then Commonwealth Club president James A. Johnston, with the goal to foster literature on the West Coast, specifically in California.[6] It began with two gold medals—one for a work of fiction and one for nonfiction. Through the years, several more categories have been added, bringing the total number of awards given each year to 11 throughout the categories of Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Juvenile Literature, Young Adult Literature, First Work of Fiction, Californiana, and Notable Contribution to Publishing. The awards have recognized more than 450 California authors.[7]

## California Book Award winners

[edit]

Year | Title | Author | Genre | Award

|
|
|
|

1931  | Outpost of Empire | Herbert E. Bolton  | Scholarship-History  | Gold
Crowded Year: The Reminiscences of William G. McAdoo | William McAdoo  | Nonfiction-Memoir  | Gold
The Autobiography of Lincoln Steffens | Lincoln Steffens  | Nonfiction-Memoir  | Silver
1932  | Barabbas | Sara Bard Field  | General Literature  | Silver
The Adventures of a Novelist | Gertrude Anderson  | Nonfiction-Memoir  | Gold
Nur Mahal | Harold Lamb | General Literature  | Silver
1933  | The Pursuit of Death: A Study of Shelley’s Poetry | B.P. Kurtz  | Scholarship-Study  | Silver
San Francisco A Pageant | Charles Dobie  | Nonfiction  | Gold
Deep Water: The Autobiography of a Sea Captain | Ernest Pryce Mitchell  | Nonfiction-Memoir  | Silver
1934  | Lord’s Anointed | Ruth Mckee  | General Literature  | Silver
The Saga of the Comstock Lode | Dr. George Lyman  | Scholarship  | Gold
A Child Went Forth: the Autobiography of Dr. Helen Doyle | Dr. Helen Doyle  | Nonfiction-Memoir  | Gold
The Revolutionary Emperor: Joseph II of Austria | Saul Padover  | Scholarship-History  | Silver
1935  | Tortilla Flat | John Steinbeck | General Scholarship  | Silver
Literature and Society | Albert Guerard  | Scholarship  | Gold
San Francisco Tales | Charles Dobie  | Nonfiction  | Gold
Laughter Out of the Ground | Robin Lampson  | General Literature  | Silver
All Giants Wear Yellow Breeches: A Chronicle of Boyhood | Vernon Patterson  | Nonfiction-Memoir  | Silver
1936  | In Dubious Battle | John Steinbeck  | General Literature  | Silver
Rim of Christendom: A Biography of Eusebio Francisco Kino, Pacific Coast Pioneer | Herbert E. Bolton  | Scholarship  | Gold
God and Man’s Destiny: Inquiries into the metaphysical foundations of faith | Hartley Alexander  | Scholarship  | Gold
Snow Covered Wagons: A Pioneer Epic: The Donner Party 1846-1847 | Julia Altrocchi  | Scholarship  | Silver
Ordeal by Hunger: The SStory of the Donner Party | George Stewart  | Scholarship  | Silver
1937  | Pity the Tyrant | Hans Storm  | General Literature  | Silver
Men of Mathematics | Dr. E.T. Bell  | Scholarship  | Gold
People on the Earth | Edwin Corle  | Scholarship  | Silver
The Early Stuarts:1603 to 1660 | Godfrey Davies  | Scholarship  | Silver
The Education of Hyman Kaplan | Leo Rosten  | General Literature  | Silver
1938  | East of the Giants | George Stewart  | General Literature  | Silver
France Overseas: a Study of Modern Imperialism | Herbert Priestley  | Scholarship  | Gold
Enchanted Vagabonds | Dana Lamb  | Nonfiction-Memoir  | Gold
The Big Four | Oscar Lewis  | Scholarship  | Silver
Gone are the Days | Alexander Powell  | Nonfiction  | Silver
1939  | The Grapes of Wrath | John Steinbeck  | General Literature  | Silver
San Francisco’s Literary Frontier | Franklin Walker  | Scholarship  | Gold
Land Below the Wind | Agnes Keith  | Nonfiction-Memoir  | Gold
Flowering Earth | Donald Peattie  | Scholarship  | Silver
Bright Heritage | Mary Provines  | General Literature  | Silver
The Time of Your Life (play) | William Saroyan  | General Literature  | Silver
Death Loses a Pair of Wings: the Epic of William Gorgas and the Conquest of Yellow Fever | Robin Lampson  | General Literature  | Silver
1940  | Wild Geese Calling | Stewart E. White  | General Literature  | Silver
The Structure of Art | Carl Thurston  | Scholarship  | Gold
A Diplomatic History of the American People | Thomas Bailey  | Scholarship  | Gold
The March of the Barbarians | Harold Lamb  | Scholarship  | Silver
My Name is Aram | Willian Saroyan  | Nonfiction-Memoir  | Silver
Blue Willow | Doris Gates  | Juvenile  | Silver
In What Hour | Kenneth Rexroth  | Poetry  | Silver
1941  | Anybody’s Gold: The Story of California Mining Towns | Joseph Henry Jackson  | General Literature  | Silver
Many Mexicos | Lesley B. Simpson  | Scholarshiup  | Gold
Lord of Alaska: Baranov and the Russian Adventure | Hector Chevigny  | Nonfiction  | Gold
Thackeray | John Dobbs  | Nonfiction-Biography  | Silver
The Morning of America | Frank Klingberg  | Nonfiction  | Silver
When the Living Strive | Richard LaPiere  | Fiction  | Silver
1942  | I Remember Christine | Oscar Lewis  | General Literature  | Silver
HIstory of Historical Writing | James Westfall Thompson  | Scholarship  | Gold
Proud Riders | H.L. Davis  | Poetry  | Gold
The Stranger in Big Sur | Lillian Bos Ross  | Fiction  | Silver
The Man Who Killed the Deer | Frank Waters  | Fiction  | Silver
Long Adventure | Hildegard Hawthorne  | Juvenile  | Silver
1943  | Trio | Dorothy Baker | General Literature  | Silver
Legacy of Nazism | Frank Munk  | Scholarship  | Gold
Brothers Under the Skin | Carey McWilliams  | Nonfiction  | Gold
The Day of Reckoning | Max Radin  | Nonfiction  | Silver
Wide is the Gate | Upton Sinclair  | Fiction  | Silver
Spurs for Antonia | Katherine Eyre  | Juvenile  | Silver
1944  | One Day at Beetle Rock | Sally Carrighar  | General Literature  | Silver
Woodrow Wilson and the Lost Peace | Thomas Bailey  | Scholarship  | Gold
Caesar and Christ: A History of Roman Civilization and of Christianity from Their Beginnings to A.D. 325 | Will Durant | Nonfiction  | Gold
Captain Retread | Donald Hough  | Fiction  | Silver
Forward Observer | Edwin Westrate  | Nonfiction  | Silver
Mystery at Thunderbolt House | Howard Pease  | Juvenile  | Silver
The Phoenix and the Tortoise | Kenneth Rexroth  | Poetry  | Silver
1945  | A Lion in the Streets | Adria Locke | General Literature  | Silver
The Epic of Latin America | John A. Crow  | Scholarship  | Gold
The Brontes: Charlotte and Emily | Laura Hinkley  | Scholarship  | Gold
Minor Heresies, Major Departures: A China Mission Boyhood | John Espey  | Nonfiction  | Gold
High Bonnet | Idwal Jones | Fiction  | Silver
South America Called Them: Explorations of the Great Naturalists | Victor Von Hagen | Nonfiction  | Silver
The Singing Cave | Margaret Leighton  | Juvenile  | Singing
1946  | Western World: A Study of the Forces Shaping our Time | Royce Brier  | General Literature  | Silver
The Big Tree | Mary and Conrad Buff  | Fiction  | Gold
The Christian Heritage in America | George Hedley  | Nonfiction  | Silver
Theodore Roosevelt and the Progressive Movement | George Mowry  | Nonfiction  | Silver
Towards Oregon | E.H. Staffelbach  | Juvenile  | Silver
The Faultless Shore | Edward Weismiller  | Poetry  | Silver
1947  | The Trial of Soren Qvisr | Janet Lewis  | General Literature  | Silver
The Atlantic Frontier: Colonial American Civilization, 1607-1763 | Louis Wright  | Scholarship  | Gold
Blood Brother | Elliot Arnold  | Fiction  | Gold
The Great Forest | Richard Lillard  | Nonfiction  | Silver
A Yanqui in Patagonia | Bailey Willis  | NonFiction  | Silver
Sancho of the Long, Long Horns | Allan Bosworth  | Juvenile  | Silver
Journey to Victory | Hazel Louise Zimmerman  | Poetry  | Silver
1948  | Woman with a Sword: A Novel based on the Life of Ana Elle Carroll | Hollister Noble  | General Literature  | Silver
The Age of the Great Depression: 1929-1941 | Dixon Wecter  | Scholarship  | Gold
Sky and Forest | C.S. Forestor  | Fiction  | Gold
The Big Divide | David Lavender  | Nonfiction  | Silver
The Legend of Henry Ford | Keith Sward  | Nonfiction  | Silver
The Nine Brides and Granny Hite | Neill C. Wilson  | Fiction  | Silver
Seabird | Holling C. Holling | Juvenile  | Silver
1949  | The Revolt in San Marcos | Robert C. North  | Fiction  | Silver
The Universe of GBS | William Irvine  | Nonfiction  | Gold
The Journey of Simon Mckeever | Albert Maltz  | Fiction  | Gold
To Hell and Back | Audie Murphy  | Nonfiction  | Silver
Epicurus, My Master | Max Radin  | Fiction  | Silver
At the Palace Gates | Helen Parrish  | Juvenile  | Silver
The Beast in His Hunger | Harry Brown  | Poetry  | SIlver
1950  | About Mrs. Leslie | Vina Delmar  | Fiction  | Silver
Sea Road to the Indies: An Account of the Voyages and Exploits of the Portuguese Navigators, Together with the Life and Times of Dom Vasco da Gama, Capitao-Mor, Viceroy of India and Count of Vidigueira Indies | Nonfiction  | Gold  |
Bridal Journey | Dale Van Every  | Fiction  | Gold
Educating our Daughters: A Challenge to the Colleges | Lynn White  | Nonfiction  | Silver
Fifth Chinese Daughters | Jade Snow Wong  | Nonfiction  | Silver
Tomas and the Red Headed Angel | Marion Garthwaite  | Juvenile  | Silver
Dominant Seventh | Phillips Kloss  | Poetry  | Silver
1951  | Tracy’s Tiger | William Saroyan  | Fiction  | Silver
The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements | Eric Hoffer | Nonfiction  | Gold
Sandra and the Right PRince | Mildred Napier Anderson  | Fiction  | Gold
Ark of Empire: San Francisco’s Montgomery Block | Idwal Jones  | Nonfiction  | Silver
The Negro and the Communist Party | Wilson Record  | Nonfiction  | Silver
No Vacancy | Mary Jane Rolfs  | Fiction  | Silver
Old Cronies | Leon Richardson  | Poetry  | Silver
1952  | Winds of Mourning | H.L. Davis  | Fiction  | Silver
Boss Ruef’s San Francisco: The Story of the Union Labor Party, Big Business, and the Graft Prosecution | Walton Bean  | Nonfiction  | Gold
Cottrell: Samaritan of Science | Frank Cameron  | Nonfiction  | Gold
Time’s Traveler | Stanton Coblentz  | Fiction  | Silver
Please Excuse Johnny | Florence Mcghee  | Nonfiction  | Silver
Wapiti the Elp | Neill C. Wilson  | Fiction  | Silver
1953  | Fahrenheit 451 | Ray Bradbury | Fiction  | Silver
It’s Good to be Black | Ruby Goodwin  | Nonfiction  | Gold
The High and the Mighty | Ernest Gann  | Fiction  | Gold
Yankee Ships: An Informal History of the American Merchant Marine | Reese Wolfe  | Nonfiction  | Silver
Roaring River | Bill Brown  | Juvenile  | Silver
1954  | Beyond the Hungry Country | Louise Stinetorf  | Fiction  | Silver
Howells and the Age of Realism | Everett Carter  | Nonfiction  | Gold
The Nightmare | C.S. Forester  | Fiction  | Gold
Beyond the Hundredth Meridian: John Wesley Poiwell and the Second Opening of the West | Wallace Stegner  | Nonfiction  | Silver
Glory, God, and Gold | Paul Wellman  | Nonfiction  | Silver
Epics of Everest | Leonard Wibberley  | Fiction  | Silver
1955  | The Good Shepherd | C.S. Forester  | Fiction  | Silver
Notre-Dame of Paris | Alan Temko  | Nonfiction  | Gold
Cities in Revolt: Urban Life in America 1773-1776 | Carl Bridenbaugh  | Nonfiction  | Gold
Streets of San Francisco | Samuel Dickson  | Nonfiction  | Silver
The Genius and the Goddess | Aldous Huxley | Fiction  | Silver
The Big Oak Flat Road | Irene D. Paden | Californiana  | Silver
Westward the Eagle | Frederick Lane  | Juvenile  | Silver
Symphony | Delina Margot-Pride  | Poetry  | Silver
1956  | The Long Watch | Elizabeth Linington  | Fiction  | Silver
The Nun's Story | Kathryn Hulme  | Nonfiction  | Gold
Tales of a Teacher | Beatrice S. Nathan  | Nonfiction  | Gold
James Wilson, Founding Father: 1742-1798 | Charles Page Smith | Nonfiction  | Silver
Spook the Mustang | Harlan Thompson  | Fiction  | Silver
Men of the Western Waters: A second Look at the First Americans | Dale Van Every  | Californiana  | Silver
1957  | The Flower Drum Song | C.Y. Lee | Fiction  | Silver
Elizabethans at Home | Lu Emily Pearson  | Nonfiction  | Gold
The Wilderness Brigade | Phyllis Demarest  | Fiction  | Gold
Knock and Wait a While | William Weeks  | Fiction  | Silver
The Braintree Mission: A Fictional Narrative of London and Boston | Nicholas Wyckoff  | Fiction  | Silver
San Francisco Bay | Harold Gilliam  | Californiana  | Silver
David and the Phoenix | Edward Ormondroyd  | Juvenile  | Silver
1958  | The Sergeant | Dennis R. Murphys  | Fiction  | Silver
Mistress to an Age: A Life of Madame de Stael | J. Christopher Herold | Nonfiction  | Gold
Warlock | Oakley Hall | Fiction  | Gold
Land of Giants: Drive to the Pacific Northwest, 1750-1950 | David Lavender  | Nonfiction  | Silver
Era of Theodore Roosevelt: 1900-1912 | George Mowry  | Nonfiction  | Silver
Montgomery and the Portsmouth | Fred B. Rogers  | Californiana  | Silver
First Scientist of Alaska: William Healey Dall | Edward A. Herron  | Juvenile  | Silver
Magellan | Ann Stanford  | Poetry  | Silver
1959  | The Thirteenth Apostle | Eugene Vale  | Fiction  | Silver
Alexander Hamilton: A Portrait in Paradox | John C. Miller  | Nonfiction  | Gold
Flight from Ashiya | Elliot Arnold  | Fiction  | Gold
Thaddeus Stevens: Scourge of the South | Fawn Brodie | Nonfiction  | Silver
End of American Innocence | Henry F. May  | Nonfiction  | Silver
The Earth Shook, The Sky Burned : A Photographic Record of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Fire | William Bronson  | Californiana  | Silver
This is the Desert: The Story of America's Arid Religion | Phillip Ault  | Juvenile  | Silver
1960  | The War For The Union War Becomes Revolution 1862-1863 | Allan Nevins  | Nonfiction  | Silver
Chancellor Robert R. Livingston of New York: 1746-1813 | George Dangerfield  | Nonfiction  | Gold
The Infidels | Chloe Gartner  | Fiction  | Silver
A Shooting Star | Wallace Stegner | Fiction  | Silver
Hawaii the Aloha State | Helen Bauer  | Juvenile  | Silver
1961  | The Agony and the Ecstasy | Irving Stone | Fiction  | Silver
Sinclair Lewis: An American Life | Mark Schorer  | Nonfiction  | Gold
Mila 18 | Leon Uris  | Fiction  | Gold
Forth to the Wilderness | Dale Van Every  | NonFiction  | Silver
Ishi in Two Worlds: A Biography of the Last Wild Indian in North America | Theodora Kroeber  | Californiana  | Silver
The Gray Sea Raiders | Gordon Shirreffs  | Juvenile  | Silver
A Ring of Willows | Eric Barker  | Poetry  | Silver
1962  | The Everlasting Fire | Jon Reed Lauritzen  | Fiction  | Silver
John Adams | Page Smith  | Nonfiction  | Gold
Franz Kafka: Parable and Paradox | Heinz Politzer  | Nonfiction  | Gold
Heart of the Wild: Animal Stories of the California Redwood Coast | Chet Schwarzkopf  | Fiction  | Silver
Adolph Autro: A Biography | Robert & Mary Stewart  | Nonfiction  | Silver
Journey into Darkness: Cabeza de Vaca's Expedition Across North America, 1528-36 | John Upton Terrel  | Californiana  | Silver
First Woman Ambulance Surgeon: Emily Barringer | Iris Noble  | Juvenile  | Silver
1963  | The House That Tai Ming Built | Virginia Lee  | Fiction  | Silver
The Hemlock and the Cross: Humanism, Socrates, and Christ | Geddes MacGregor  | Nonfiction  | Gold
A History of Russia | Nicholas Riasanovsky  | Nonfiction  | Gold
James Gibbons Huneker: Critic of the Seven Arts | Arnold Schwab  | Nonfiction  | Silver
Ah, Julian! A Memoir of Julian Brodetsky | Leonard Wibberley | Nonfiction  | Silver
South From San Francisco - San Mateo County, CA | Frank Stanger  | Californiana  | Silver
The Keys and the Candle | Maryhale Woolsey  | Juvenile  | Silver
1964  | Armageddon | Leon Uris  | Fiction  | Silver
Andreas Vesalius of Brussels | C.D. O'Malley  | Nonfiction  | Gold
Gathering of Zion | Wallace Stegner | Fiction  | Silver
The Man | Irving Wallace | Fiction  | Silver
Sarah and the Senator | Robert Kroninger  | Californiana  | Silver
A Spell is Cast | Eleanor Cameron  | Juvenile  | Silver
Girl with Ocelot | Julia Altrocchi  | Poetry  | Silver
1965  | Final Challenge: The American Frontier 1804-1845 | Dale Van Every  | Nonfiction  | SIlver
The Search for Meriwether Lewis: From Tillamook to Grinder's Stand | Richard Dillon  | Nonfiction  | Gold
Blue Hen's Chick: A Life in Context | A.B. Guthrie  | Nonfiction  | Gold
Oil, Land, and Politics: The California Career of Thomas Robert Bard | W.H. Hutchinson  | Nonfiction  | Gold
The Year of the Death | Reuben Merliss  | Fiction  | Silver
Cellist | Gregor Piatigorsky  | Nonfiction  | Silver
Campion Towers | John Beatty  | Juvenile  | Silver
The Selected Poems | Louis Simpson  | Poetry  | Silver
1966  | All the Little Heroes | Herbert Wilner  | Fiction  | Silver
The Cave and the Mountain: A Study of EM Forster | Winfred Stone  | Nonfiction  | Gold
The Stone Mason of Tor House: The Life and Works of Robinson Jeffers | Melba Bennett  | Nonfiction  | Gold
The Crow Flies Crooked | Jack Kisling  | Fiction  | Silver
Leonard Pitt Decline of the Californios A Social History of the Spanish-Speaking Californians, 1846-1890 | Leonard Pitt  | Nonfiction  | Silver
The Ordeal of the Constitution | Robert Rutland  | Nonfiction  | Silver
Chancy and the Grand Rascal | Sid Flesischmen  | Californiana  | Silver
1967  | All the Little Live Things | Wallace Stegner  | Fiction  | Silver
Robert Lee. A Complete Man: A Portrait | Margaret Sanborn  | Nonfiction  | Gold
A Night of Watching | Elliott Arnold  | Fiction  | Gold
Fathers | Herbert Gold  | Nonfiction  | Silver
The Young Stalin: The Early Years of an Elusive Revolutionary | Edward Ellis Smith  | Nonfiction  | Silver
Fool's Gold: The Decline and Fall of Captain John Sutter of California | Richard Dillon  | Californiana  | Silver
Silent Ship, Silent Sea | Robb White  | Juvenile  | Silver
The Rose of Solitude | Brother Antoninus | Poetry  | Silver
1968  | Airport | Arthur Hailey | Fiction  | Silver
Heroic Mexico: The Violent Emergence of a Modern Nation | William Weber Johnson  | Nonfiction  | Gold
The Sane Positivist: Biography of Edward Thorndike | Geraldine Joncich  | Nonfiction  | Gold
The Immigrant Upraised | Andrew Rolle  | Nonfiction  | Silver
Everyman's Eden | Ralph Roske  | Californiana  | Silver
Quest for Freedom | Paul Rink  | Juvenile  | Silver
1969  | German: Illusions and Dilemmas | Carl Landauer  | Nonfiction  | Silver
With Bold Knife and Fork | MFK Fisher  | Contribution Publishing  | Gold
Business at Bay: Critics and Heretics of American Business | Irving Michelman  | Nonfiction  | Silver
The Great Betrayal | Audrie Girdner  | Californiana  | Silver
The Green and Burning Tree | Eleanor Cameron  | Juvenile  | Silver
The Cay | Theodore Taylor  | Juvenile  | Silver
Short History of the Fur Trade | Andrian Stoutenburg  | Poetry  | Silver
1970  | Interpretations of Life | Will Durant  | Nonfiction  | Silver
Asian Ideas of the East and West | Stephen N. Hay  | Nonfiction  | Gold
The Rise of Modern China | Immanuel Hsu  | Nonfiction  | Silver
Crimson Ramblers of the World, Farewell | Jessamyn West  | Fiction  | Silver
The El Dorado Trail | Ferol Egan  | Californiana  | Silver
Jonah and the Great Fish | Clyde Bulla  | Juvenile  | Silver
Testament for My Students | Kay Boyle  | Poetry  | Silver
1971  | Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman | Ernest Gaines  | Nonfiction  | Silver
The Exorcist | William Peter Blatty | Fiction  | Gold
Textile Art in the Church | Marion Ireland  | Contribution to Publishing  | Silver
Monarchy in the Emporer's Eyes | Harold L. Kahn  | Nonfiction  | Silver
The Indispensable Enemy | Alexander Saxaton  | Californiana  | Silver
Annie and the Old One | Miska Miles  | Juvenile  | Silver
More Under Saturn | William Dickey  | Poetry  | Silver
1972  | Mao's Way | Edward E. Rice  | Nonfiction  | Silver
Contour in Time | Travis Bogard  | Nonfiction  | Gold
Sand in a Whirlwind | Ferol Egan  | Nonfiction  | Silver
The Pound Era | Hugh Kenner  | Nonfiction  | Silver
Monterey: The Presence of the Past | Augusta Fink  | Californiana  | Silver
Samurai of Gold Hill | Yoshiko Uchida  | Juvenile  | Silver
1973  | The Cowboy and the Crossack | Clair Huffaker  | Fiction  | Silver
Americans and the California Dream | Kevin Starr  | Nonfiction  | Gold
Steinbeck Country | Steve Crouch  | Nonfiction  | Gold
Gideon Welles | John Niven  | Nonfiction  | Silver
Yours and Mine | Judith Rascoe  | Fiction  | Silver
A Sense of Place | Celeste T. Wright  | Poetry  | Silver
Chile, Peru & the California Gold Rush of 1849 | Jay Monaghan  | Californiana  | Silver
Living Together | Edgar Bowers  | Poetry  | Silver
1974  | Love Out of Season | Ella Leffland  | Fiction  | Silver
Ascent of Man | Jacob Bronowski  | Nonfiction  | Gold
An Everyday History of Somewhere | Ray Raphael  | Californiana  | Gold
The Connoisseur | Evan Connell Jr.  | Fiction  | Silver
A Time for Titans | Vina Delmar  | Fiction  | Silver
Against the Law | Leonard Levy  | Fiction  | Silver
The Paper Party | Don Freemand  | Juvenile  | Silver
1975  | The Great Train Robbery | Michael Crichton | Fiction  | Silver
Rape of the Nile | Brian Fagan  | Nonfiction  | Gold
Nothing Seemed Impossible | David Lavender  | Californiana  | Gold
Coyotes: Last Animals On Earth | Harold E. Thomas  | Juvenile  | Silver
Returning Your Call | Leonard Nathan  | Poetry  | Silver
Age of Napoleon | Will and Ariel Durant  | NonFiction  | Silver
The Opium War | Peter Ward Fay | Nonfiction  | Silver
Romantic Revolutionary | Robert Rosenstone  | Nonfiction  | Silver
1976  | The Spectator Bird | Wallace Stegner  | Fiction  | Silver
A New Age Now Begins | Page Smith  | Fiction  | Silver
Jack Straw's Castle | Thom Gunn  | Poetry  | Gold
Adult Bookstore | Karl Shapiro  | Poetry  | Silver
Small Moments | Nancy H. Packer  | Fiction  | Silver
Peasants into Frenchmen: The Modernization of Rural France, 1870-1914 | Eugen Weber  | Nonfiction  | Silver
1977  | Fremont: Explorer for a Restless Nation | Ferol Egan  | Nonfiction  | Silver
The Wanderers | Ingrid Rimland  | First Novel  | Gold
Shepherd Watches. Shepherd Sings | Louis Irigaray  | Juvenile  | Silver
In Mediterranean Air | Ann Stanford  | Poetry  | Silver
Botanical Prints | Henry Evans  | Nonfiction  | Silver
Haywire | Brooke Hayward  | Fiction  | Silver
1978  | Germany 1866-1945 | Gordon Craig  | Nonfiction  | Silver
Max Perkins: Editor of Genius | A. Scott Berg  | Nonfiction  | Gold
The Dark Range | David R. Wallace  | Californiana  | Silver
A Woman of Independent Means | Elizabeth F. Halley  | First Novel  | Silver
North of Danger | Dale Fife  | Juvenile  | Silver
Songs for Wanderers | Sheila Moon  | Poetry  | Silver
St. Nicholas of Myra, Bari, Manhattan | Charles W. Jones  | Nonfiction  | Silver
1979  | Been in the Storm so Long | Leon Litwack  | Nonfiction  | Silver
Years of the French | Thomas Flanagan  | First Novel  | Gold
Fool and the Dancing Bear | Pamela Stearns  | Juvenile  | Silver
Dear Blood | Leonard Nathan  | Poetry  | SIlver
The Morning Star | Kenneth Rexroth  | Poetry  | Silver
Urban Crucible: Social Change, Political Consciousness, and the Origins of the American Revolution | Gary B. Nash  | Nonfiction  | Silver
Symbols of Eternity: Art of Landscape Painting in China | Michael Sullivan  | Nonfiction  | Silver
Sea Glass | Laurence Yepp | Nonfiction  | Silver
1980  | Impossible Appetites: Nine Stories | James Fetler  | Fiction  | Silver
Translating Neruda: Way to Macchu Picchu | John Felstiner  | Nonfiction  | Gold
Fight of the Sparrow | Julia Cunningham  | Juvenile  | Gold
The Half-A-Moon Inn | Paul Fleischman  | Juvenile  | Silver
Imperiled Union: Essays on the Civil War | Kenneth Stampp  | Nonfiction  | Silver
Revolutionary People at War: The Continental Army and American Character, 1775-1783 | Charles Royster  | Nonfiction  | Silver
1981  | Family: Novel in Form of a Memoir | Herbert Gold  | Fiction  | Silver
Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez | Richard Rodriguez  | Nonfiction  | Gold
World Rushed in: The California Gold Rush | J.S. Holliday  | Californiana  | Gold
A Jar of Dreams | Yoshiko Uchida  | Juvenile  | Silver
Poems Old and New, 1918-1978 | Janet Lewis  | Poetry  | Silver
Pursuit of a Dream | Janet S. Hermann  | Nonfiction  | Silver
Will's Boy | Wright Morris  | Nonfiction  | Silver
1982  | Infinite Passion of Expectation: 25 Stories | Gina Berriault  | Fiction  | Silver
Glorious Cause: American Revolution | Robert Middlekauff  | Nonfiction  | Gold
Winemaking in California | Ruth Teiser  | Californiana  | Gold
Story for a Black Night | Clayton Bess  | First Novel  | Silver
Spacks Street: New and Selected Poems | Barry Spacks  | Poetry  | Silver
1983  | Gathering of Old Men | Ernest Gaines  | Fiction  | Silver
French Gothic Architecture 12th-13th Century | Jean Bony  | Nonfiction  | Gold
The First Elizabeth | Carolly Erickson  | Nonfiction  | Gold
Klamath Knot | David R. Wallace  | Californiana  | Silver
Dear Mr. Henshaw | Beverly Cleary  | Juvenile  | Silver
Cry of Kalahari | Delia Owens  | Juvenile  | Silver
A Dime to Dance By | Walter Walker  | First Novel  | Silver
Collected Poems, 1930-83 | Josephine Miles  | Poetry  | Silver
Mountains of the Middle Kingdom: Exploring the High Peaks of China and Tibet | Galen Rowell  | Contribution to Publishing  | Silver
1984  | Stones for Ibarra | Harriet Doerr  | Fiction  | Silver
The University of California Southeby Book of California | Doris Muscatine  | Californiana  | Gold
Monkey Puzzle and Other Poems | Myra C. Livingston  | Juvenile  | Silver
Tapping the Source | Kem Nunn  | First Fiction  | Silver
Over All the Obscene Boundaries | Lawrence Ferlinghetti  | Poetry  | Silver
Above Paris | Robert Cameron  | Nonfiction  | Silver
The Hill Towns of Italy | Carole Field  | Contribution to Publishing  | Silver
Celebrating Italy | Carole Field  | Contribution to Publishing  | Silver
1985  | Face | Cecile Pineda  | Fiction  | Silver
A History of Architecture Settings | Spiro Kostof  | Nonfiction  | Gold
Art in San Francisco Bay Area, 1945-1980 | Thomas Albright  | Californiana  | Gold
Greasy Lake & Other Stories | T. Coraghessan Boyle  | Fiction  | Silver
Reasons to Live | Amy Hemple  | Fiction  | Silver
The Willow Maiden | Meghan Collins  | Juvenile  | Silver
John O'shea, 1876-1956 | Walter Nelson-Rees  | Notable  | Silver
Early Light | W.S. Di Piero  | Poetry  | Silver
The Countess of Forli | Ann Stanford  | Poetry  | Silver
1986  | Birds Landing | Ernest Finney  | Fiction  | Silver
France: Fin De Siecle | Eugen Weber  | Nonfiction  | Gold
The Golden Gate: A Novel in Verse | Vikram Seth | Californiana  | Gold
Small Business: A Novel | Tom Parker  | First Novel  | Silver
The Secret of the Mountain | Esther Linfield  | Juvenile  | Silver
Giovanni and Lusanna: Love and Marriage in Renaissance Florence | Gene Brucker  | Nonfiction  | Silver
Mountain Light: In Search of the Dynamic Landscape | Galen Rowell  | Notable  | Silver
Left Out in the Rain | Gary Snyder  | Poetry  | Silver
Sapphics Against Anger and Other Poems | Timothy Steele  | Poetry  | Silver
1987  | World's End: A Novel | T. Coraghessan Boyle  | Fiction  | Silver
Chaucer: His Life, His Works, His World | Donald R. Howard  | Nonfiction  | Gold
Bitter Melon: Stories from the Last Rural Chinese Town in America | Jeff Gillenkirk  | Californiana  | Gold
Nell's Quilt | Susan Terris  | Juvenile  | Silver
And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic | Randy Shilts | Nonfiction  | Silver
Voyage of Discovery: Captain Crook and the Exploration of the Pacific | Lynne Withey  | Nonfiction  | Silver
Dryland: Desert of North America | Phillip Hyde  | Notable  | Silver
Unremembered Country Poems | Susan Griffin  | First Novel  | Silver
Imagining Argentina | Lawrence Thornton  | First Novel  | Silver
1988  | Picasso's Guernica, hist | Herschel Chipp  | Nonfiction  | Silver
Julia Morgan, Architect | Sara Boutelle  | Californiana  | Gold
Step into the Night | Joan Ryder  | Juvenile  | Silver
Of Gravity and Angels | Jane Hirshfield  | Poetry  | Silver
Collected Poems, 1931-83 | Czeslaw Milosz  | Poetry  | Silver
What is it then Between Us?: Stories | Ehud Havazelet  | Unclassified  | Silver
The Way to the Western Sea: Lewis & Clark Across the Continent | David Lavender  | NonFiction  | Silver
Green Architecture & The Agrarian Garden | Barbara S. Solomon  | NonFiction  | Silver
1989  | The Joy Luck Club | Amy Tan | Fiction  | Silver
Strangers From a Different Shore | Ronald Takaki  | NonFiction  | Gold
Denial of Disaster: The Untold Story and Photographs of the San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of 1906 | Gladys S. Hansen  | Californiana  | Gold
Human Wishes | Robert Hass  | Poetry  | Silver
Fortress | Brenda Hillman  | Poetry  | Silver
Dead Languages | David Shields  | Poetry  | Silver
1990  | Even Now | Michelle Latiolais  | Fiction  | Silver
Sacred Mountains of the World | Edwin Bernbaum  | Nonfiction  | Gold
Bay Area Figurative Art 1950-65 | Caroline A. Jones  | Californiana  | Gold
Limbo River | Rick Hillis  | Fiction  | Silver
The Fabulous Fifty | Morton Grosser  | Juvenile  | Silver
Babushka's Doll | Patricia Polacco  | Juvenile  | Silver
The Knight, Death, and the Devil | Ella Leffland  | Nonfiction  | Silver
America in 1857: Nation on the Brink | Kenneth Stampp  | Nonfiction  | Silver
O California | Steven Vincent  | Notable Contribution to Publishing  | Silver
1991  | Mariette in Ecstasy | Ron Hansen  | Fiction  | Silver
Anne Sexton: A Biography | Diane Middlebrook  | Nonfiction  | Gold
Farming on the Edge: Saving Family Farms in Marin County, California | John Hart  | Californiana  | Gold
Tradition and Innovation: A Basket History of the Indians of the Yosemite-Mono Lake Area | Yosemite Association  | Californiana  | Silver
Jayhawker | Patricia Beatty  | Juvenile  | Silver
Fly Away Home | Eve Bunting  | Juvenile  | Silver
Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women | Susan Faludi  | Nonfiction  | Silver
Sarah Canary | Karen Fowler  | Novel  | Silver
What Work Is | Philip Levine  | Poetry  | Silver
Provinces: Poems 1987-91 | Czeslaw Milosz  | Poetry  | Silver
1992  | When Nietzsche Wept | Irvin Yalom | Fiction  | Gold
Triumph and Tragedy: A History of the Mexican People | Ramon Eduardo Ruiz  | Nonfiction  | Gold
Josiah Royce: From Grass Valley to Harvard | Robert V. Hine  | Californiana  | Gold
Red Square | Martin Cruz Smith  | Fiction  | Silver
Cantora | Sylvia Lopez-Medina  | First Novel  | Silver
Earthquake at Dawn | Kristiana Gregory  | Juvenile  | Silver
A Bowl of Mischief | Kristiana Gregory  | Juvenile  | Silver
Chicken Sunday | Patricia Polacco | Juvenile  | Silver
Days of Obligation: An Argument with my Mexican Father | Richard Rodriguez  | Nonfiction  | Silver
Napoleon | Proctor Jones  | Notable Contribution to Publishing  | Silver
1993  | Opera in America: A Cultural History | John Dizikes  | Nonfiction  | Gold
The Great Central Valley | Robert Dawson, Gerald Haslam, Stephen Johnson  | Californiana  | Silver
Tuscaloosa | W. Glasgow Philips  | First Novel  | Silver
Bull Run | Paul Fleischman  | Juvenile  | Silver
Grandfather's Journey | Allen Say  | Juvenile  | Silver
Dragon's Gate | Laurence Yepp  | Juvenile  | Silver
No Way to Build a Ballpark and Other Irreverent Essays in Architecture | Allan Temko  | Nonfiction  | Silver
The Arts and Crafts Movement in California: Living the Good Life | Kenneth Trapp  | Notable Contribution to Publishing  | Silver
Lost Body | Terry Ehret  | Poetry  | Silver
1994  | The Palace Thief | Ethan Canin  | Fiction  | Silver
The Unseen Peninsula | Robert Buelteman, Robert McDonald  | Californiana  | Gold
The Zoo Where You're Fed to God | Michael Ventura  | Fiction  | Silver
Smoky Night | Eve Bunting  | Juvenile  | Silver
Catherine, Called Birdy | Karen Cushman  | Juvenile  | Silver
Smoky Night | David Diaz  | Juvenile  | Silver
The Odyssey of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade: Americans in the Spanish Civil War | Peter Carroll  | Nonfiction  | Silver
School Girls | Peggy Orenstein  | Nonfiction  | Silver
Two Eagles/Dos Aguiles | Tupper Blake, Peter Steinhart  | Notable Contribution to Publishing  | Silver
The Philosopher's Club | Kim Addonizio  | Poetry  | Silver
The October Palace | Jane Hirshfield  | Poetry  | Silver
1995  | Naming the Spirits | Lawrence Thornton  | Fiction  | Silver
Jackson Street and other Soldier Stories | John Miller  | First Work  | Gold
Reckless Driver | Lisa Vice  | First Work  | Silver
A Time for Dancing | Davida Hurwin  | Juvenile  | Silver
The Faithful Friend | Robert San Souci  | Juvenile  | Silver
Canto Familiar | Gary Soto  | Juvenile  | Silver
Possible Lives | Mike Rose  | Nonfiction  | Silver
Poles Apart | Galen Rowell  | Nonfiction  | Silver
Lights & Mysteries | Thomas Centolella  | Poetry  | Silver
Red Sauce, Whiskey & Snow | August Kleinzahler  | Poetry  | Silver
1996  | Women in Their Beds | Gina Berriault  | Fiction  | Silver
Holy Land | D.J. Waldie  | Nonfiction  | Gold
Storm Over Mono | John Hart  | Californiana  | Gold
Flights in the Heavenlies | Ernest J. Finney  | Fiction  | Silver
Sacred Dust | David Hill  | First Fiction  | Silver
A Girl Named Disaster | Nancy Farmer  | Juvenile  | Silver
Minty | Alan Schroeder  | Juvenile  | Silver
Lisa Meitner | Ruth Sime  | Nonfiction  | Silver
Sun Under Wood | Robert Hass  | Poetry  | Silver
Harping On | Carolyn Kizer  | Poetry  | Silver
1997  | Le Divorce | Diane Johnson  | Fiction  | Gold
Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies | Jared Diamond  | Nonfiction  | Gold
Creek Walk and Other Stories | Miles Giles  | Fiction  | Silver
Circumnavigation | Steve Lattimore  | First Fiction  | Silver
Snakes: The Evolution of Mystery in Nature | Harry W. Greene  | Notable Contribution to Publishing  | Silver
A Far Rockaway of the Heart | Lawerence Ferhinghetti  | Poetry  | Silver
Glen Gould: The Ecstasy and Tragedy of Genius | Peter Oswald  | Nonfiction  | Silver
The Dream Endures: California Enters the 1940s | Kevin Starr  | Californiana  | Silver
The Hired Hand: An African-American Folktale | Robert San Souci  | Juvenile  | Silver
1998  | King Leopold's Ghost | Adam Hochschild  | Nonfiction  | Gold
All on Fire | Henry Mayer  | Nonfiction  | Silver
Hunger | Samantha Chang  | First Fiction  | Silver
Harvest Son: Planting Roots in American Soil | David Mas Masumoto  | Californiana  | Silver
I Rode a Horse of Milk White Jade | Diane Lee Wilson  | Juvenile  | Silver
Mrs. Dumpty | Chana Bloch  | Poetry  | Silver
Lost Lake | Mark Slouka  | Fiction  | Silver
Sitting Ducks | Michael Bedeard  | Juvenile  | Silver
Goodnight, Nebraska | Tom McNeal  | Fiction  | Silver
The Art of the Lathe | B.H. Fairchild  | Poetry  | Silver
1999  | Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945 | David Kennedy  | NonFiction  | Gold
Oxygen Man | Steve Yarbrough  | First Fiction  | Gold
The Artist of the Missing | Paul LaFarge  | First Fiction  | Silver
Leaving Pico | Frank Gaspar  | Fiction  | Silver
Rush for Riches: Gold Fever and the Making of California | J.S. Holliday  | Californiana  | Silver
The Mercy | Philip Levine  | Poetry  | Silver
The Potato Eaters | Leonard Nathan  | Poetry  | Silver
Salvation at Stake: Christian Martyrdom in Early Modern Europe | Brad Gregory  | NonFiction  | Silver
Crooked | Laura & Tom McNeal  | First Fiction  | Silver
Little Bo | Julie Andrews Edward  | Young Adult  | Silver
2000  | The Amazing Adventures of Kavaliar and Clay | Michael Chabon  | Fiction  | Gold
Our Vietnam | A.J. Langguth  | Nonfiction  | Gold
Selected Poems | Fanny Howe  | Poetry  | Gold
California Calls You | KD & Gary Kurutz  | Publishing  | Silver
Rope Burns | F.X. Toole  | First Fiction  | Silver
At the Sign of the Star | Katharine Sturtevant  | Young Adult  | Silver
The Ice Harvest | Scott Phillips | First Fiction  | Silver
The Royal Family | William T. Vollmann | Fiction  | Silver
The Literature of California Volume 1: Native American Beginnings to 1945 | Jack Hicks  | Californiana  | Silver
Jubal's Wish | Don & Audrey Wood  | Juvenile  | Silver
2001  | Highwire Moon | Susan Straight  | Fiction  | Gold
American Colonies | Alan Taylor  | Nonfiction  | Gold
New and Collected Poems 1931-2001 | Czeslaw Milosz  | Poetry  | Gold
Haussman, or The Distinction | Paul LaFarge  | Fiction  | Silver
Edgewater Angels | Sandro Meallot  | First Fiction  | Silver
Cool, Calm & Collected: Poems 1960-2001 | Carolyn Kizer  | Poetry  | Silver
Notes from a Liar & Her Dog | Gennifer Choldenko  | Young Adult  | Silver
Capturing Light: Masterpieces of California Photography, 1850-2000 | Drew Heath Johnson  | Californiana  | Silver
Splendide Californie! Selections by French Artists of California History 1786-1900 | Claudine Chalmers  | Notable Contribution to Publishing  | Silver
2002  | The Miracle | John L'Heureux  | Fiction  | Gold
Brown: The Last Discovery of America | Richard Rodriguez  | Nonfiction  | Gold
Early Occult Memory Systems of the Lower Midwest | B.H. Fairchild  | Poetry  | Gold
The Last Good Chance | Tom Barbash | First Fiction  | Silver
The Lovely Bones | Alice Sebold  | First Fiction  | Silver
American Law in the 20th Century | Lawerance Friedman  | Nonfiction  | Silver
Writing Los Angeles: A Literary Anthology | David Ulin  | Californiana  | Silver
This Land was Made for You and Me: Woody Guthrie | Elizabeth Patridge  | Young Adult  | Silver
When Marian Sang: The True Recital of Marion Anderson | Brian Selznick, Pam Munoz  | Juvenile  | Silver
High Sierra of California | Gary Snyder  | Notable Contribution to Publishing  | Silver
2003  | Evidence of Things Unseen | Marianne Wiggins  | Fiction  | Gold
River of Shadows: Eadweard Muybridge and the Technological Wild West | Rebecca Solnit  | Nonfiction  | Gold
The Strange Hours Travelers Keep | August Kleinzahler  | Poetry  | Gold
Old School | Tobias Wolff  | Fiction  | Silver
Parasites like Us | Adam Johnson  | Fiction  | Silver
Drinking Coffee Elsewhere | ZZ Packer  | First Fiction  | Silver
American Expressionism: Art and Social Change | Bram Dijkstra  | Nonfiction  | Silver
The City of Ember | Jeanne DuPrau  | Young Adult  | Silver
Just a Minute: A Trickster Tale and Counting Book | Yuyi Morales  | Juvenile  | Silver
The King of California | Rick Wartzman, Mark Arax  | Californiana  | Silver
Rising Up and Rising Down | William Vollmann  | Notable Contribution to Publishing  | Silver
Where I Was From | Joan Didion | Special Acknowledgement  | Silver
2004  | The Confessions of Max Tivoli | Andrew Sean Greer | Fiction  | Gold
Sorrow of Empire | Chalmers Johnson  | Nonfiction  | Gold
School Among the Ruins | Adrienne Rich  | Poetry  | Gold
Every Night is Ladies' Night | Michael Jamie-Becerra  | First Fiction  | Silver
Graceland | Chris Abani  | Fiction  | Silver
Happy Baby | Stephen Elliott  | Fiction  | Silver
Worth | A. LaFaye  | Young Adult  | Silver
Beasts of Field: California Migrant Farm Workers 1865-1913 | Richard Steven Street  | Californiana  | Silver
Walt Whitman: Words for America | Barbara Kerley  | Juvenile  | Silver
2005  | Europe Central | William T. Vollmann  | Fiction  | Gold
Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire Slaves | Adam Hochschild  | Nonfiction  | Gold
Niagara River | Kay Ryan  | Poetry  | Gold
A Thousand Years of Good Prayer | Yiyun Li  | First Fiction  | Silver
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan | Lisa See | Fiction  | Silver
Nice Big American Baby | Judy Budnitz  | Fiction  | Silver
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed | Jared Diamond  | Nonfiction  | Silver
Cloud Chamber | Joyce Maynard  | Young Adult  | Silver
Terrific | John Agee  | Juvenile  | Silver
The Great San Francisco Earthquake and Firestorms of 1906: How San Francisco Nearly Destroyed Itself | Philip Fradkin  | Californiana  | Silver
2006  | The Wizard of the Crow | Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o | Fiction  | Gold
The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals | Michael Pollan  | Nonfiction  | Gold
New and Collected Poems, 1964-2006 | Ishmael Reed | Poetry  | Gold
Artificial Light | James Greer  | First Fiction  | Silver
Talk, Talk | T.C. Boyle  | Fiction  | Silver
Landed | Milly Lee  | Juvenile  | Silver
A True and Faithful Narrative | Katherine Sturtevant  | Young Adult  | Silver
Odyssey to Reunite with His Mother | Sonia Nazario  | Nonfiction  | Silver
2007  | Chinese Apples | W.S. Di Piero  | Poetry  | Gold
Ralph Ellison: A Biography | Arnold Rampersad | Nonfiction  | Gold
What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America | David Walker Howe  | Nonfiction  | Silver
The Yiddish Policeman's Union | Michael Chabon  | Fiction  | Gold
A Thousand Splendid Suns | Khaled Hosseini | Fiction  | Silver
Sons & Other Flammable Objects | Porochista Khakpour  | First Fiction  | Silver
Reinventing Los Angeles | Robert Gottlieb  | Californiana  | Silver
Thirteen Reasons Why | Jay Asher | Young Adult  | Silver
Revolution is Not a Dinner Party | Yin Chang Compestine  | Young Adult  | Silver
Impressions of the East | Deborah Rudolph  | Contribution to Publishing  | Silver
The Book of Psalms Translated | Robert Alter  | Special Recognition  |
2008  | Sleeping it Off in Rapid City: Poems, New & Selected | August Kleinzahler  | Poetry  | Gold
Practice | Dan Bellm  | Poetry  | Silver
The End of the Jews | Adam Mansbach | Fiction  | Gold
Telex From Cuba | Rachel Kushner  | First Fiction  | Gold
The Legend of a Suicide | David Vann  | First Fiction  | Silver
Hallelujah Junction: Composing an American Life | John Adams  | NonFiction  | Gold
Mustang: The Saga of the Wild Horse in the American West | Deanne Stillman  | NonFiction  | Silver
The Los Angeles Plaza: Sacred and Contested Space | William David Estrada  | Californiana  | Gold
White Sands, Red Menace | Ellen Klages  | Young Adult  | Gold
We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball | Kadir Nelson  | Juvenile  | Gold
Asian American Art: A History, 1850-1970 | Stanford University Press  | Notable Contribution to Publishing  | Gold
2009  | Chronic | D.A. Powell  | Poetry  | Gold
A Paradise Built in Hell | Rebecca Solnit  | NonFiction  | Gold
Imperial | William T. Vollmann | NonFiction  | Silver
Leaving India | Minal Hajratwala  | NonFiction  | Silver
The Bigness of the World | Lori Ostlund  | First Fiction  | Gold
The Vagrants | Yiyun Li  | Fiction  | Gold
Both Ways is the Only Way I Want it | Maile Meloy  | Fiction  | Silver
Lucky Breaks | Susan Patron  | Juvenile  | Gold
Flygirl | Sherri Smith  | Young Adult  | Gold
The Zohar Pritzker Edition, Volume Five | Stanford University Press  | Notable Contribution to Publishing  | Gold
Wherever There's A Fight | Elaine Ellinson, Stan Yogi  | Californiana  | Gold
2010  | Mortal Geography | Alexandra Teague  | Poetry  | Gold
Suck on the Marrow | Camille T. Dungy  | Poetry  | Silver
Charlie Chan | Yunte Huang  | Nonfiction  | Gold
The Harvard Psychedelic Club | Don Lattin  | Nonfiction  | Silver
The Lost Books of the Odyssey: A Novel | Zachary Mason | First Fiction  | Gold
I Hotel | Karen Tei Yamashita  | Fiction  | Gold
Model Home | Eric Puchner  | Fiction  | Silver
Grandma's Gloves | Cecil Castellucci  | Juvenile  | Gold
The Things a Brother Knows | Dana Reinhardt  | Young Adult  | Gold
Autobiography of Mark Twain Volume 1 | University of California Press Berkeley and Los Angeles  | Notable Contribution to Publishing  | Gold
A State of Change: Forgotten Landscapes of California | Laura Cunningham  | Californiana  | Gold
2011  | Ascension | Giovanni Singleton  | Poetry  | Gold
Chasing Aphrodite: The Hunt for Looted Antiquities at the World's Richest Museum | Jason Felch, Ralph Frammolino  | Nonfiction  | Gold
The Ecstasy of Influence: Nonfiction, Etc. | Jonathan Lethem | Nonfiction  | Silver
Turn of Mind | Alice LaPlante  | First Fiction  | Gold
The Barbarian Nurseries | Héctor Tobar  | Fiction  | Gold
Love and Shame and Love | Peter Orner  | Fiction  | Gold
One Day and One Amazing Morning on Orange Street | Jonanne Rocklin  | Juvenile  | Gold
The Apothecary | Maile Meloy  | Young Adult  | Gold
Ten Years that Shook the City: San Francisco 1968-1978 | City Lights Publishers | Notable Contribution to Publishing  | Gold
Chuckwalla Land: The Riddle of California's Desert | David Rains Wallace  | Californiana  | Gold
2012  | The Orphan Master's Son | Adam Johnson | Fiction  | Gold
A Partial History of Lost Causes | Jennifer DuBois  | First Fiction  | Gold
Masha'allah and Other Stories | Mariah K Young  | First Fiction  | Silver
God's Hotel: A Doctor, A Hospital, and A Pilgrimage to the Heart of Medicine | Victoria Sweet  | Nonfiction  | Gold
The Lady in Gold: The Extraordinary Tale of Gustav Klimt's Masterpiece, Portrait of Adele-Bloch Bauer | Anne-Marie O'Connor  | Nonfiction  | Silver
Sea and Fog | Etel Adnan | Poetry  | Gold
The One and Only Ivan | Katherine Applegate | Juvenile  | Gold
Valley of Shadows and Dreams | Ken and Melanie Light  | Notable Contribution to Publishing  | Gold
Second Chance Summer | Morgan Matson  | Young Adult  | Gold
A Soldier's Secret: The Incredible True Story of Sarah Edmonds, A Civil War Hero | Marissa Moss  | Young Adult  | Silver
Sunshine Was Never Enough | John Laslett  | Californiana  | Gold
2013  | We Are Completely Beside Ourselves | Karen Fowler | Fiction  | Gold
A Constellation of Vital Phenomena | Anthony Marra  | First Fiction  | Gold
Command and Control | Eric Schlosser | Nonfiction  | Gold
Seasonal Works with Letter on Fire | Brenda Hillman  | Poetry  | Gold
Barbed Wire Baseball | Marissa Moss  | Juvenile  | Gold
Far Far Away | Tom McNeal  | Young Adult  | Gold
Scrape the Willow Until it Sings | Debora Valoma  | Contribution to Publishing  | Gold
Chief: The Quest for Justice in California | Ronald M. George  | Californiana  | Gold
Farewell Fred Voodoo: A Letter From Haiti | Amy Wilentz  | Nonfiction  | Silver
The Boss (McSweeney's Poetry Series) | Victoria Chang  | Poetry  | Silver
2014  | An Unnecessary Woman | Rabih Alameddine | Fiction  | Gold
Waiting for the Electricity | Christina Nichol  | First Fiction  | Gold
The Crusades of Cesar Chavez | Miriam Pawel  | Nonfiction  | Gold
The Feel Trio | Fred Moten  | Poetry  | Gold
The Fourteenth Goldfish | Jennifer L. Holm  | Juvenile  | Gold
Gabi, A Girl in Pieces | Isabel Quintero  | Young Adult  | Gold
The Heyday of Malcolm Margolin | Kim Bancroft  | Contribution to Publishing  | Gold
San Francisco's Jewel City | Laura A. Ackley  | Californiana  | Gold
Orfeo | Richard Powers  | Fiction  | Silver
The Un-Americans | Molly Antopol  | First Fiction  | Silver
Deep Down Dark | Hector Tobar  | Nonfiction  | Silver
2015  | A Manual for Cleaning Women | Lucia Berlin | Fiction  | Gold
Elevation: 6,040 | Ernest J. Finney  | Fiction  | Silver
The Sympathizer | Viet Thanh Nguyen | First Fiction  | Gold
Ghettoside | Jill Leovy | Nonfiction  | Gold
NeuroTribes | Steve Silberman | Nonfiction  | Silver
George | Alex Gino  | Juvenile  | Gold
Challenger Deep | Neal Shusterman | Young Adult  | Gold
The Alex Crow | Andrew Smith  | Young Adult  | Silver
Cancer Angel | Beth Murray  | Poetry  | Gold
California's Wild Edge | Tom Killion  | Californiana  | Gold
Collected Letters of Robinson Jeffers | James Karman, Stanford University Press  | Contribution to Publishing  | Gold[8]
2016  | Moonglow | Michael Chabon | Fiction  | Gold
Dog Years | Melissa Yancy  | First Fiction  | Gold
The Other Slavery | Andres Resende | Nonfiction  | Gold
Cloud and Wallfish | Anne Nesbet  | Juvenile  | Gold
The Sun is Also a Star | Nicola Yoon | Young Adult  | Gold
Restless Continent | Aja Couchois Duncan  | Poetry  | Gold
An American Genocide | Benjamin Madley  | Californiana  | Gold
Ecosystems of California | Mooney and Zavaleta, Yale University Press  | Contribution to Publishing  | Gold
The Portable Veblen | Elizabeth McKenzie  | Fiction  | Silver
Engineering Eden | Jordan Fisher Smith  | NonFiction  | Silver
Buck Studies | Douglas Kearney  | Poetry  | Silver
2017  | The Age of Perpetual Light | Josh Weil  | Fiction  | Gold
So Much Blue | Percival Everett | Fiction  | Silver
Goodbye, Vitamin | Rachel Khong | First Fiction  | Gold
The Color of Law | Richard Rothstein | NonFiction  | Gold
The Far Away Brothers | Lauren Markham | NonFiction  | Silver
Maya Lin: Thinking With Her Hands | Susan Goldman Rubin  | Juvenile  | Gold
The 57 Bus | Dashka Slater  | Young Adult  | Gold
Heaven is All Goodbyes | Tongo Eisen-Martin  | Poetry  | Gold
The Modoc War | Robert Aquinas McNally  | Californiana  | Gold
The California Field Atlas | Obi Kaufmann | Contribution to Publishing  | Gold
2018  | The Mars Room | Rachel Kushner | Fiction  | Gold
Winter Kept Us Warm | Anne Raeff  | Fiction  | Silver
There There | Tommy Orange  | First Fiction  | Gold
Fruit of the Drunken Tree | Ingrid Rojas Contreras  | First Fiction  | Silver
The Library Book | Susan Orlean | NonFiction  | Gold
American Prison | Shane Bauer  | NonFiction  | Silver
The Language of Spells | Garret Weyr  | Juvenile  | Gold
Picture Us in the Light | Kelly Loy Gilbert  | Young Adult  | Gold
Total Recall | Samantha Giles  | Poetry  | Gold
The Browns of California | Miriam Pawel  | Californiana  | Gold
Carleton Watkins | Tyler Green  | Contribution to Publishing  | Gold
2019  | Your House Will Pay | Steph Cha  | Fiction  | Gold
Home Remedies | Xuan Wang  | First Fiction  | Gold
The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee | David Treuer  | Nonfiction  | Gold
A Place to Belong | Cynthia Kadohata  | Juvenile  | Gold
Frankly in Love | David Yoon  | Young Adult  | Gold
Magical Negro | Morgan Parker | Poetry  | Gold
Last of Her Name | Mimi Lok  | First Fiction  | Silver
Know My Name | Chanel Miller | Nonfiction  | Silver
Jazz Funeral for Uncle Tom | Harmony Holiday  | Poetry  | Silver
The Dreamt Land | Mark Arax  | Californiana  | Gold
Jim Marshall: Show Me the Picture | Amelia Davis  | Contribution to Publishing  | Gold
2021  | A Registry of My Passage Upon the Earth | Daniel Mason  | Fiction  | Gold
Interior Chinatown | Charles Yu  | Fiction  | Silver
How Much of These is God | C Pam Zhang  | First Fiction  | Gold
South to Freedom | Alice L. Baumgartner  | Nonfiction  | Gold
Golden Gates | Conor Dougherty  | Nonfiction  | Silver
Efrén Divided | Ernesto Cisneros  | Juvenile  | Gold
Private Lessons | Cynthia Salaysay  | Young Adult  | Gold
The Black Kids | Christina Hammonds Reed  | Young Adult  | Silver
Quiet Orient Riot | Nathalie Khankan  | Poetry  | Gold
California Exposures | Richard & Jesse White  | Californiana  | Gold
A Natural History of the Anza-Borrego Region | Marie Simovich  | Contribution to Publishing  | Gold
2022  | The Archer | Shruti Swamy  | Fiction  | Gold
The Committed | Viet Thanh Nguyen | Fiction  | Silver
Skinship | Yoon Choi  | First Fiction  | Gold
City of a Thousand Gates | Rebecca Sacks  | First Fiction  | Silver
Paraside | Lizzie Johnson  | Nonfiction  | Gold
Light on Fire | Gabrielle Selz  | Nonfiction  | Silver
Refractive Africa | Will Alexander  | Poetry  | Gold
Home is Not a Country | Safia Elhillo  | Young Adult  | Gold
Wishes | Muron Thi Van  | Juvenile  | Gold
Everything Now | Rosecrans Baldwin  | Californiana  | Gold
A Rebel's Outcry | Jeffrey Gee Chin  | Contribution to Publishing  | Gold
2023  | Heartbroke | Chelsea Bieker  | Fiction  | Gold
Nightcrawling | Leila Mottley  | First Fiction  | Gold
The Red Arrow | William Brewer  | First Fiction  | Silver
American Midnight | Adam Hochschild | Nonfiction  | Gold
Bad Mexicans | Kelly Lylte Hernandez  | Nonfiction  | Silver
The Man Who Could Move Clouds | Ingrid Rojas Contreras  | Nonfiction  | Silver
Time Regime | Jhani Randhawa  | Poetry  | Gold
Ophelia After All | Racquel Marie  | Young Adult  | Gold
Seen and Unseen | Elizabeth Partridge  | Juvenile  | Gold
The High Sierra | Kim Stanley Robinson | Californiana  | Gold
The Klamath Mountains | Michael Kauffman  | Contribution to Publishing  | Gold
2024  | Accountable: The True Story of a Racist Social Media Account and the Teenagers Whose Lives It Changed | Dashka Slater  | Young Adult  | Gold
The Blood Years | Elana K. Arnold  | Young Adult  | Silver
All-Night Pharmacy | Ruth Madievsky  | First Fiction  | Gold
Blackouts | Justin Torres | Fiction  | Gold
Orphan Bachelors | Fae Myenne Ng  | Nonfiction  | Gold
California Against the Sea: Visions for Our Vanishing Coastline | Rosanna Xia  | Californiana  | Gold
Mass for Shut-Ins (Volume 177) (Yale Series of Younger Poets) | Mary-Alice Daniels  | Poetry  | Gold
The Honey Jar: An Armenian's Escape to Freedom | Joan Schoettler  | Juvenile  | Gold
KAOS Theory: The Afrokosmic Ark of Ben Caldwell | Robeson Taj Frazier  | Contribution to Publishing  | Gold
2025  | James | Percival Everett | Fiction  | Gold
Creation Lake | Rachel Kushner | Fiction  | Silver
Your Presence is Mandatory | Sasha Vasilyuk  | First Fiction  | Gold
Frostbite: How Refrigeration Changed Our Food, Our Planet, and Ourselves | Nicola Twilley  | Nonfiction  | Gold
Twelve Trees: The Deep Roots of Our Future | Daniel Lewis  | Nonfiction  | Silver
Theophanies | Sarah Ghazal Ali  | Poetry  | Gold
Ward Toward | Cindy Juyoung Ok | Poetry  | Silver
Everything We Never Had | Randy Ribay  | Young Adult  | Gold
A Map for Falasteen: A Palestinian Child's Search for Home | Maysa Odeh and Aliaa Betawi  | Juvenile  | Gold
A Machine to Move Ocean and Earth | James Tejani  | Californiana  | Gold
Terminal Island: Lost Communities on America's Edge | Geraldine Knatz and Naomi Hirahara, Angel City Press  | Contribution to Publishing  | Gold

## Controversy

[edit]

The California Book awards sparked controversy after awarding John Steinbeck his third Gold Medal for The Grapes of Wrath, which triggered a series of protests throughout the state.[9] The Club was criticized for acknowledging a book that portrayed California in a poor light. It didn't take long, however, for The Grapes of Wrath to become an American classic.[10]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "About the Awards". www.commonwealthclub.org. Retrieved 2025-04-24.
2. ^ "Founder of John Steinbeck Center Dies in San Francisco | Steinbeck Now". www.steinbecknow.com. Retrieved 2025-04-24.
3. ^ "About the Awards". www.commonwealthclub.org. Retrieved 2025-04-24.
4. ^ "120th Birthday Facts". www.commonwealthclub.org. Retrieved 2025-04-24.
5. ^ "California Book Awards". www.commonwealthclub.org. Retrieved 2025-04-24.
6. ^ "About the Awards". www.commonwealthclub.org. Retrieved 2025-04-24.
7. ^ "About the Awards". www.commonwealthclub.org. Retrieved 2025-04-24.
8. ^ "Past Winners". www.commonwealthclub.org. Retrieved 2025-04-24.
9. ^ Gershon, Livia (2022-03-27). "Banning The Grapes of Wrath in 1939 California". JSTOR Daily. Retrieved 2025-04-24.
10. ^ "About the Awards". www.commonwealthclub.org. Retrieved 2025-04-24.

## External links

[edit]

* California Book Awards Website