“This is a writers’ city,” Kwame Alexander said Monday night, while hosting Literary Arts’ 37th annual Oregon Book Awards. “Anis, you got it good here, man,” he called out to Oregon’s poet laureate, Anis Mojgani, who was in the crowd at Portland Center Stage at the Armory. 

Alexander is the author of some 40 books and the recipient of more than a few awards, including an Emmy and a Newbery Medal. He was quick to share that he’s also “lost” plenty of awards—from spelling bees to major literary prizes. Still, he argued that awards, especially awards for writers, supply crucial validation, despite often requiring a tremendous amount of patience. “It tells us that our writing makes sense,” he said.

“If you paddle in milk long enough, it turns to cream,” said Ellen Waterston, sharing an aphorism from her father while accepting the night’s legacy award, for her work in Central Oregon’s literary community.

A concise 60-minute ceremony followed, announcing winners of the seven categories, which were selected by a panel of out-of-state judges. 

Waka T. Brown, sharing her own spelling bee misadventures, took home the middle grade and young adult literature award for her latest book, The Very Unfortunate Wish of Melony Yoshimura. Brown (whose track record seems to have improved since grade school) won this same award last year for Dream, Annie, Dream. 

Erica Berry’s Wolfish, a memoiristic account of Oregon’s history with endangered wolves that dives deep into lupine folklore, won the award for creative nonfiction. Another book concerned with local natural history, Josephine Woolington’s Where We Call Home: Lands, Seas, and Skies of the Pacific Northwest, won in the general nonfiction category. Woolington mentioned that she’d assembled its proposal as part of a class at Literary Arts, and, further bolstering local ties, published it with Portland State University’s Ooligan Press.

Nora Ericson’s Too Early won the award for children’s literature. She remarked that it was inspired by her early-rising toddler, who’s now 12 years old. “Publishing is sometimes slow,” she joked, naming the theme of the night.  

The prestigious Ken Kesey Award for Fiction went to Patrick deWitt, for his latest novel, The Librarianist, though he wasn’t around to accept it. “He French-exited,” an audience member quipped, referencing the title of deWitt's 2018 novel. Judging from the spirit of this event, he will get another chance to take the stage down the road.