Mass Book Awards
The Massachusetts Book Awards recognize significant works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, translated literature, graphic novel/memoir, and children’s/young adult literature written, illustrated, or translated by current Commonwealth residents. An annual “notable contribution to publishing” award recognizes the work of Massachusetts-based presses. Submissions open each fall and close in mid-December.
The 2024 Awards
The 24th Annual Massachusetts Book Awards were announced on September 4, 2024. Learn more about this year’s honorees at Bookshop.org. Nominations are now being accepted for the next cycle through December 15, 2024.
Fiction Award
Kantika: A Novel by Elizabeth Graver (Metropolitan Books)
Fiction Honors
The Light of Seven Days by River Adams (Delphinium Books)
Shark Heart: A Love Story by Emily Habeck (Simon & Schuster / Marysue Rucci Books)
Fiction Longlist
Rouge: A Novel by Mona Awad (Simon & Schuster / Marysue Rucci Books)
Relentless Melt by Jeremy P. Bushnell (Melville House)
The Last Beekeeper by Julie Carrick Dalton (Macmillan Publishers)
Scorched Grace by Margot Douaihy (Zando / Gillian Flynn Books)
The Archivists by Daphne Kalotay (Northwestern University Press)
Like the Appearance of Horses by Andrew Krivak (Bellevue Literary Press)
Muckross Abbey and Other Stories by Sabina Murray (Grove Atlantic)
Night Angels by Weina Dai Randel (Lake Union Publishing)
We Have Always Been Who We Are by Sofia T. Romero (Blackstone Publishing)
Nonfiction Award
Winter Solstice by Nina MacLaughlin (Black Sparrow Press)
Nonfiction Honors
Everyday Something Has Tried to Kill Me and Has Failed by Kim McLarin (lg Publishing)
Into the Amazon by Larry Rohter (W.W. Norton)
Nonfiction Longlist
He/She/They by Schuyler Bailar (Hachette Go)
Spoken Word: A Cultural History by Joshua Bennett (Vintage)
How Infrastructure Works: Inside the Systems That Shape Our World by Deb Chachra (Riverhead Books)
Necessary Trouble: Growing Up at Midcentury by Drew Gilpin Faust (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
An Unruled Body by Ani Gjika (Restless Books)
The Country of the Blind: A Memoir at the End of Sight by Andrew Leland (Penguin Press)
What’s Gotten Into You by Dan Levitt (HarperCollins)
Chomsky & Me by Bev Boisseau Stohl (OR Books)
Master Slave Husband Wife by Ilyon Woo (37 Ink / Simon & Schuster)
Translated Literature Award
My Language Is a Jealous Lover by Adrián N. Bravi, translated by Victoria Offredi Poletto and Giovanna Bellesia-Contuzzi (Rutgers University Press)
Poetry Award
Fierce Elegy by Peter Gizzi (Wesleyan University Press)
Poetry Honors
Navigating the Reach by Mary Buchinger (Salmon Poetry)
Ordinary Entanglement by Melissa Dickey (Cleveland State University Poetry Center)
Poetry Longlist
Gravity and Center by Henri Cole (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
The Diaspora Sonnets by Oliver de la Paz (W.W. Norton)
Shadow Act by Daniel Brock Johnson (McSweeney’s Publishing)
The Observable Universe by Hannah Larrabee (Lily Poetry Review)
Ghost :: Seeds by Sebastian Merrill (Texas Review Press)
Love is a Shore by Hilary Sallick (Lily Poetry Review)
American Scapegoat by Enzo Silon Surin (Black Lawrence Press)
This Far North by Jason Tandon (Black Lawrence Press)
The Mansions by Daniel Tobin (Four Way Books)
Middle Grade / Young Adult Award
The Fall of Whit Rivera by Crystal Maldonado (Holiday House)
Middle Grade / Young Adult Honors
The Remarkable Rescue at Milkweed Meadow by Elaine Dimopoulos (Charlesbridge)
I Am Not Alone by Francisco X. Stork (Scholastic)
Middle Grade / Young Adult Longlist
All You Have to Do by Autumn Allen (Kokila / Penguin Young Readers)
Spin by Rebecca Caprara (Atheneum Books for Young Readers)
Pedro & Daniel by Federico Erebia (Levine Querido)
The Song of Us by Kate Fussner (Katherine Tegen Books / HarperCollins)
A Work in Progress by Jarrett Lerner (Aladdin / Simon & Schuster)
Chinese Menu by Grace Lin (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
Squished by Megan Wagner Lloyd and Michelle Mee Nutter (Scholastic)
The Moonlit Vine by Elizabeth Santiago (Lee & Low Books)
Ghosts, Toast, and Other Hazards by Susan Tan (Roaring Book Press / Macmillan)
Picture Book / Early Reader Award
Once Upon a Book by Grace Lin and Kate Messner (Little, Brown Books For Young Readers)
Picture Book / Early Reader Honors
Night Owl Night by Susan Edwards Richmond. Maribel Lechuga, illus. (Charlesbridge Publishing)
Mole Is Not Alone by Maya Tatsukawa (Henry Holt and Company)
Picture Book / Early Reader Must-Reads
When Things Aren’t Going Right, Go Left by Marc Colagiovanni and Peter H. Reynolds (Scholastic)
If the Rivers Run Free by Andrea Debbink. Nicole Wong, illus. (Sleeping Bear Press)
A Very Cranky Book by Angela DiTerlizzi and Tony DiTerlizzi (Quill Tree Books / HarperCollins)
Summer Is for Cousins by Rajani LaRocca. Abhi Alwar, illus. (Abrams Books)
Homeland by Hannah Moushabeck. Reem Madooh, illus. (Chronicle Books)
Everything Possible by Fred Small. Alison Brown, illus. (Nosy Crow)
Yoshi’s Big Swim by Mary Wagley Copp. Kaja Kajfež, illus. (Capstone Editions)
Food for the Future by Mia Wenjen. Robert Sae-Heng, illus. (Barefoot Books)
Nana and Me by Jane Yolen. Sejung Kim, illus. (Bushel & Peck Books)
Judges in the 24th Annual Awards
Chris Boucher (Boston College); Keri Bradeen (Somerville Public Library); Hannah Brooks-Motl (Amherst College Press); James Fraser (Grolier Poetry Bookstore, Cambridge); Regina Galasso (UMass Amherst Translation Center); Natane Halasz (Harold F. Johnson Library, Hampshire College); Jill Kenny (Chelmsford Public Library); Marita Klements (Lynnfield Public Library); Sarah Klock (Andover Bookstore); Francie Lin (Boston Globe); Izzy Malvezzi (Agawam Public Library); Kate Martineau (Montague Central Library); Maria Rios (Du Bois Library, UMass Amherst); Debra Rivera (Little Bee Bookshop, Ayer); Sarah Smith (Author, Brookline); staff and consultants of Massachusetts Center for the Book.