Literary Arts just released the finalists for the 26th annual Oregon Book Awards, which honors the best work by our state’s finest writers in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, and young readers literature. The winners will be announced at the 26th Oregon Book Awards ceremony on April 8, hosted by the novelist and co-founder of Tin House, Elissa Schappell. 

Oregon Book Awards Ceremony
Gerding Theater at the Armory
April 8 at 7:30 pm 

Brian Doyle's the big winner, with books contending in both the fiction category and children's lit (overall, the prolific writer has been nominated for seven Oregon Book Awards in four different categories). Of course, the memoirs by Cheryl Strayed and Storm Large, the two most visible national releases to come out of Portland this year (at least, the two to receive the ultimate seal of approval: Oprah's), are going to have to duke it out (a fight we can't wait to see). But oddly missing is Peter Zuckerman's Buried in the Sky, about a climbing disaster on K2, which has been racking up awards around the country (turns out his non-Oregonian co-author sank his eligibility).  

And the nominees are:

Readers' Choice Award 
To vote for your favorite book, visit the Oregonian’s website beginning Wednesday, January 9. [Voting is now closed].

Ken Kesey Award for Fiction
Judge: Myla Goldberg

• Brian Doyle of Portland, Bin Laden's Bald Spot (Red Hen Press)
• Ismet Prcic of Portland, Shards (Grove/Atlantic) — Read our profile of Ismet Prcic.
• Carter Sickels of Portland, The Evening Hour (Bloomsbury)
• Alexis Smith of Portland, Glaciers (Tin House Books)
• Leni Zumas of Portland, The Listeners (Tin House Books) — Read our review of The Listeners.

Sarah Winnemucca Award for Creative Nonfiction
Judge: Luis Rodriguez

• Kerry Cohen of Portland, Seeing Ezra (Seal Press)
• Storm Large of Portland, Crazy Enough (Free Press) — Read our review of Crazy Enough.
• Aria Minu-Sepehr of Corvallis, We Heard the Heavens Then (Free Press)
• Cheryl Strayed of Portland, Wild (Knopf) — Read our review of Wild.
• Ceiridwen Terrill of Portland, Part Wild (Scribner)

Frances Fuller Victor Award for General Nonfiction
Judge: Jennifer Michael Hecht

• Nicholas Buccola of McMinnville, The Political Thought of Frederick Douglass: In Pursuit of American Liberty (NYU Press)
• Kerry Cohen of Portland, Dirty Little Secrets: Breaking the Silence on Teenage Girls and Promiscuity (Sourcebooks)
• Scott Farris of Portland, Almost President (Lyons Press)
• Steven Green of Salem, The Bible, the School, and the Constitution (Oxford University Press)
• Kent Hartman of Portland, The Wrecking Crew (St. Martin's Press)

Angus L. Bowmer Award for Drama
Judge: Lydia Diamond 

• Susan Mach of Portland, A Noble Failure — Read our profile of Susan Mach.
• Steve Patterson of Portland, Immaterial Matters
• Andrea Stolowitz of Portland, Antarktikos
• Rich Rubin of Portland, Costa Rehab
• C.S. Whitcomb of Wilsonville, Lear's Follies

Eloise Jarvis Mcgraw Award for Children's Literature
Judge: Margarita Engle

• Heather Vogel Frederick of Portland, Once Upon a Toad (Simon & Schuster)
• Deborah Hopkinson of West Linn, Annie and Helen (Random House Children's Books)
• Graham Salisbury of Lake Oswego, Calvin Coconut: Man Trip (Random House Children's Books)
• Allen Say of Portland, Drawing From Memory (Scholastic Press)
• J.H. Shapiro of Portland, Magic Trash: A Story of Tyree Guyton and His Art (Charlesbridge)

Leslie Bradshaw Award for Young Adult Literature
Judge: Margarita Engle

• Brian Doyle of Portland, Cat's Foot (Corby Books)
• Katie Kacvinsky of Corvallis, First Comes Love (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
• Ruth Tenzer Feldman of Portland, Blue Thread (Ooligan Press) — Read our review of Blue Thread.

2013 Oregon Literary Fellowship Recipients   
The following writers and publishers received 2013 Oregon Literary Fellowships for $2500.   

• Fiction: Gina Ochsner of Keizer, The Leslie Bradshaw Fellowship
• Fiction: Samuel Snoek-Brown of Portland, The Walt Morey Fellowship
• Literary Nonfiction: Myrlin Hermes of Portland, The Friends of the Lake Oswego Library William Stafford Fellowship — Read our review of Hermes' 2009 book The Lunatic, The Lover, and the Poet.
• Literary Nonfiction: Catherine Ryan Gregory of Eugene, The Women Writers Fellowship
• Poetry: Andrea Hollander of Portland, The C. Hamilton Bailey Fellowship
• Poetry: Jessa Heath of Eugene, The Oregon Poetry Community Fellowship
• Drama: Eva Suter of Portland
• Young Readers Literature: Patricia Bailey of Klamath Falls, The Edna L. Holmes Fellowship in Young Readers Literature
• Publishers: Bedouin Books of Portland   
• Publishers: Tavern Books of Portland