CLEVELAND, Ohio – Prizes for the 2025 Ohio Book Awards will be issued next month.
A ceremony honoring the winners in the Ohioana Library’s competition will be Wednesday, Oct. 15, at the statehouse in Columbus.
The awards honor Ohio authors in the following categories:
• Fiction
• Nonfiction
• Poetry
• Juvenile Literature
• Middle Grade
• Young Adult Literature
• About Ohio or an Ohioan (which may include books by non-Ohio authors)
• Readers’ Choice
The Ohioana Book Awards, renamed in 2024 as the “Ohio Book Awards, Presented by Ohioana Library,” are one of the nation’s oldest state literary prizes. The awards were established in 1942.
Screeners helped pare the list of more than 300 books to five or six, Ohioana Library Executive Director Kimberlee Kiehl said in a press release.
All of the books were published in 2024.
2025 winners
About Ohio or an Ohioan: Keith O’Brien, “Charlie Hustle: The Rise and Fall of Pete Rose, and the Last Glory Days of Baseball,” Pantheon.
Fiction: Christopher Bollen, “Havoc,” Harper.
Juvenile: Loren Long, “The Yellow Bus,” Roaring Brook Press.
Middle grade: Andrea Wang, “Summer at Squee,” Kokila.
Nonfiction: Timothy Snyder, “On Freedom,” Crown.
Poetry: Yalie Saweda Kamara, “Besaydoo: Poems,” Milkweed Editions.
Young adult: Mindy McGinnis, “Under This Red Rock,” Katherine Tegen Books.
Readers’ choice: Amanda Flower, “To Slip the Bonds of Earth” a Katharine Wright mystery, Kensington.
At the event, Ohioana will present Claudia Owusu the Walter Rumsey Marvin Grant for her essay, “Swim.” The Marvin Grant – named for Ohioana’s second director and endowed by his family – is a competitive prize for Ohio writers 30 or younger who have not yet published a book. The award has helped launch careers of numerous writers, according to the Ohioana Library.
Ohioana Library, established in 1929, aims to collect, preserve and celebrate Ohio literature and other creative endeavors. The library is at 274 E. First Ave., Columbus.
Here are past winners of the Ohioana Book Awards.
If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
