The Vermont Book Awards, created in 2015, are annual prizes for outstanding literature by Vermont authors. They are awarded through a partnership between Vermont Humanities and the Vermont Department of Libraries.
NEW: Vermont Book Awards Celebration: Saturday, May 3, 2025 | Join Us!
Our thanks to those who nominated great books published by Vermonters in 2024! The winners will be revealed at the Vermont Book Awards celebration, featuring desserts and a cash bar, on the evening of Saturday, May 3rd. The event will take place in the chapel at historic College Hall on the Greenway Institute campus in Montpelier. Please join us for this very special community gathering of writers and readers.
Download & display the Awards celebration flyer
More About the Event:
We’re thrilled to welcome Bill McKibben as this year’s keynote speaker. Bill is an educator, environmentalist, and author of more than 20 books. He helped found 350.org, the first global grassroots climate campaign, and recently launched Third Act, which mobilizes people over the age of 60 for climate and justice action. His 1989 book, The End of Nature, is considered the first book for a general audience about climate change and has been translated into 24 languages. His work appears regularly in periodicals from The New Yorker to Rolling Stone. He serves as the Schumann Distinguished Scholar in Environmental Studies at Middlebury College and is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is a recipient of the Gandhi Peace Prize and holds honorary degrees from 20 colleges and universities.
To make the evening even more festive, we will unveil the art objects specially commissioned as this year’s physical awards, created by Vermont artist, metalworker, and master jeweler Nikki Ibey.
Additionally, Vermont Humanities will highlight their new 2025 Vermont Reads pick, The Light Pirate, by Lily Brooks-Dalton, and toast the current Vermont Reads author, the incomparable Ken Cadow, author of Gather.
The highlight of the evening honors the finalists and unveils the four Vermont Book Award winners. Nominated books are read by a team of judges looking for literary excellence as they pick finalists and then choose winners in each of four categories: children’s literature, creative nonfiction, fiction, and poetry.
Congratulations to the 2024 Vermont Book Award Finalists:
Children's Literature
How It All Ends, Emma Hunsinger
The Secret Library, Kekla Magoon
Remembering Rosalind Franklin, Tanya Lee Stone
Creative Nonfiction
Not Till We Are Lost: Thoreau, Education, and Climate Crisis, William Homestead
An Image of My Name Enters America, Lucy Ives
The Trauma Mantras: A Memoir in Prose Poems, Adrie Kusserow
How to Love a Forest: The Bittersweet Work of Tending a Changing World, Ethan Tapper
Fiction
Nicked, M. T. Anderson
Goldenseal, Maria Hummel
Liquid, Fragile, Perishable, Carolyn Kuebler
Fifty Beasts To Break Your Heart: And Other Stories, GennaRose Nethercott
Poetry
Some Dark Familiar, Julia Alter
In the Cathedral of My Undoing, Kellam Ayres
Nowhere Was a Lake, Margaret Draft
Loss and its Antonym, Alison Prine
Listen or read more about the 2024 Vermont Book Award finalists:
- From Seven Days: Vermont Book Awards Announces Finalists for the State's Most Prestigious Literary Honors
- From Vermont Public: Here are the 2024 Vermont Book Awards finalists
The Vermont Book Awards are presented by Vermont Humanities and the Department, with support from:
Phoenix Books - Lead Underwriter
Susan Z. Ritz
Greenway Institute
Vermont Arts Council
Vermont Book Shop - Award Sponsor (Fiction)
The Audiobook Experience at Voice Over Vermont - Award Sponsor (Creative Nonfiction)
The Norwich Bookstore - Award Sponsor (Poetry)
Nominations for books published in 2025 will open in Summer 2025. To be eligible, the author must live in Vermont more than half the year. Self-published books are not eligible. For more information about the nomination process or the Awards, please visit the Vermont Humanities Vermont Book Award page.
2023 Vermont Book Awards Celebration | 5/4/24
Vermont Book Award winners were revealed at a celebration the evening of Saturday, May 4, 2024, at Vermont College of Fine Arts in Montpelier. Vermont authors, librarians, and friends of literature gathered for this special dessert and cocktail reception featuring the announcement of the 2023 winners in poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and children’s literature. The 2023 Awards were supported by a partnership between Vermont Humanities, Vermont Department of Libraries, and Vermont College of Fine Arts with additional support from Phoenix Books and the Vermont Arts Council.
2023 Vermont Book Award Winners:
- for Children's Literature: Dan Nott for Hidden Systems: Water, Electricity, the Internet, and the Secrets Behind the Systems We Use Every Day
- for Creative Non-Fiction: Mary Ruefle for The Book
- for Fiction: Sandra Simonds for Assia
- for Poetry: Vievee Francis for The Shared World
2023 Vermont Book Award Finalists:
Creative Nonfiction
- Brad Kessler for Deep North: Stories of Somali Resettlement in Vermont
- Mary Ruefle for The Book
- Jeff Sharlet for The Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War
Fiction
- J. Vanessa Lyon for Lush Lives
- Genevieve Plunkett for In the Lobby of the Dream Hotel
- Sandra Simonds for Assia
Poetry
- Michael Dumanis for Creature
- Vievee Francis for The Shared World
- Leslie Sainz for Have You Been Long Enough at Table
- Ellen Bryant Voigt for Collected Poems
Children’s Literature
- Kekla Magoon for The Minus-One Club (young adult novel)
- M.T. Anderson for Elf Dog and Owl Head (middle grade novel)
- Kenneth M. Cadow for Gather (young adult novel)
- Dan Nott for Hidden Systems: Water, Electricity, the Internet, and the Secrets Behind the Systems We Use Every Day (graphic literature)
2022 Vermont Book Awards Celebration | 5/6/23
On Saturday, May 6, 2023, the Vermont College of Fine Arts (VCFA), Vermont Humanities, and Vermont Department of Libraries hosted the 2022 Vermont Book Award celebration. About 120 Vermont authors, book sellers, librarians, and friends of literature attended the dessert reception at VCFA’s Alumnx Hall.
“In a country that suffers from loneliness, books are often life affirming companions,” Leslie Ward, president of Vermont College of Fine Arts, said in her welcoming remarks at the event. “We gather tonight to celebrate the writers of our great state because we owe them our deepest gratitude for the work they do and the gifts they offer to us. And because community is what sustains writers.”
The previous year’s Vermont Book Award winners Alison Bechdel, Melanie Finn, Shanta Lee Gander, and M.T. Anderson announced the winners. A panel of judges composed of writers, readers, editors, librarians and booksellers of Vermont chose the winners from among 14 finalists.
2022 Vermont Book Award Winners:
- for Children's Literature: Zoë Tilley Poster for The Night Wild
- for Creative Non-Fiction: Kathryn Davis for Aurelia Aurelia
- for Fiction: Caren Beilin for Revenge of the Scapegoat
- for Poetry: Bianca Stone for What Is Otherwise Infinite
2022 Vermont Book Award Finalists:
Creative Nonfiction
· Nancy Marie Brown for Looking for the Hidden Folk: How Iceland's Elves Can Save the Earth
· Kathryn Davis for Aurelia, Aurélia
· Peter Orner for Still No Word from You: Notes in the Margin
Fiction
· Caren Beilin for Revenge of the Scapegoat
· Ann Dávila Cardinal for The Storyteller’s Death
· Louise Glück for Marigold and Rose
· Erin Stalcup for Keen
Poetry
· Rage Hezekiah for Yearn
· Carol Potter for What Happens Next Is Anyone's Guess
· Bianca Stone for What Is Otherwise Infinite
Children’s Literature
· Margot Harrison for We Made it All Up (young adult)
· Jo Knowles for Meant to Be (middle grade)
· Zoë Tilley Poster for The Night Wild (picture book)
· Leda Schubert for Firsts and Lasts: The Changing Seasons (picture book)
Vermont Book Awards FAQ
- What are the Vermont Book Awards?
Established in 2015 by Vermont College of Fine Arts, the Vermont Book Awards are literary prizes honoring work of outstanding literary merit by Vermont authors and celebrating the long tradition of literature in the state.
- What books are eligible?
In order to be eligible for the award, a book must be written by a Vermont writer and published between January 1 and December 31 of the year prior to the award (books published in 2024 will be considered for this year's award.) A “Vermont writer” is a writer who lives in Vermont for at least half the year. Self-published books are not eligible for the Book Award, nor are books written by staff of the Vermont Department of Libraries, and Vermont Humanities. Anthologies containing work written by multiple authors are also not eligible.
- Who nominates books?
A committee of librarians and independent booksellers of Vermont nominates books in four categories: Creative Nonfiction, Fiction, Poetry, and Children's Literature. Graphic literature should also be entered into the appropriate category; for example, a graphic memoir should be entered as Creative Nonfiction.
- Who are the judges?
Each year, the Vermont Book Awards leadership team selects a panel of judges made up of Vermont writers, teachers, librarians, and passionate supporters of literature in Vermont. Staff, members, and trustees of leadership team organizations are not included in this independent panel of judges.
- How are the finalists and the winner chosen?
A committee of librarians and independent booksellers of Vermont nominates books in four categories: Creative Nonfiction, Fiction, Poetry, and Children's Literature.
- What does the award entail?
The Winners of the Vermont Book Award receive a prize of $1,000. The winners are announced at a celebration hosted by Vermont Humanities in the spring.
- Where can a list of previous year's finalists and winners be found?
Explore Vermont Humanities' list of all Vermont Book Award finalists and winners.
Contacts
- For more information about the nomination process or the Awards, visit the Vermont Humanities Vermont Book Award page.
- For media inquiries, specific questions, etc, please contact Miciah Bay Gault, Vermont Book Awards Director and Development Officer at Vermont Humanities.
Updated 03/18/25