Event Information

45th ANNUAL
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA BOOK AWARDS

Northern California's vibrant literary scene will celebrate on Saturday, September 19, 2026, 2:00pm, at Koret Auditorium, San Francisco Main Library, Civic Center, San Francisco, when the 45th annual Northern California Book Awards will recognize books published in 2025 by Northern California authors and California translators. The NCBAs are presented by the Northern California Book Reviewers, Poetry Flash, and the San Francisco Public Library, with our community partners Women's National Book Association-San Francisco Chapter and Mechanics' Institute Library. The event is free and open to the public.

Winning authors will accept their awards and present remarks on their books. Finalists and honored books will be available for purchase and signing. A reception follows in the San Francisco Main Library's Latino/Hispanic Community Room.

The Fred Cody Award for Lifetime Achievement and Service will be presented for lifetime achievement and distinguished service to the literary community. This year's Fred Cody Award goes to Amy Tan. She is the author of novels, short stories, essays, memoir, children's books, libretto, film/television adaptations, and illustrated nature journals.

The NCBA Recognition Award will be presented to a book or literary project that falls outside of NCBA categories. The NCBA Groundbreaker Award will be presented to a literary figure, work, or project representing pioneering and innovative work in the literary community. The California Translation Awards in Poetry and Prose will honor works of translation by translators based anywhere in California.

The complete list of honorees and finalists will be posted on Poetryflash.org.

The event is free and open to the public; RSVP at Eventbrite.com. RSVPs are appreciated to help us plan for refreshments, but are not required. For more information: info@poetryflash.org, (510) 612.3958.

THE NOMINEES SO FAR, more to come:

POETRY
Mud in Our Mouths, Luiza Flynn-Goodlett, Curbstone Books/Northwestern University Press
Lullaby for the Sixth Extinction, Julia B. Levine, Wolfson Press
Birds at Night, Ibe Liebenberg, Texas Tech University Press
Mothersalt, Mia Ayumi Malhotra, Alice James Books
All the Words I Can Remember Are Poems, Michelle Penaloza, Persea Books
Smother, Rachel Richardson, W.W. Norton and Company

FICTION
Moderation, Elaine Castillo, Viking
The Wayfinder, Adam Johnson, MCD
Awake in the Floating City, Susanna Kwan, Pantheon
The Girls Who Grew Big, Leila Mottley, Knopf
The Antidote, Karen Russell, Knopf

CREATIVE NONFICTION
Entwined: Dispatches from the Intersection of Species, Bridget A. Lyons, Texas A and M University Press
Immemorial, Lauren Markham, Transit Books
Connecting Dots: A Blind Life, Joshua A. Miele, with Wendell Jamieson, Grand Central Publishing
Sing Me a Circle: Love, Loss, and a Home in Time, Samina Najmi, Trio House Press
Coming Up Short: A Memoir of My America, Robert B. Reich, Knopf

GENERAL NONFICTION
A Greek Tragedy: One Day, a Deadly Shipwreck, and the Human Cost of the Refugee Crisis, Jeanne Carstensen, Atria/One Signal Publishers
Water Mirror Echo: Bruce Lee and the Making of Asian America, Jeff Chang, Mariner Books
Empire of Orgasm: Sex, Power, and the Downfall of a Wellness Cult, Ellen Huet, MCD
Autocrats vs. Democrats: China, Russia, America, and the New Global Disorder, Michael McFaul, Mariner Books
The Last Great Dream: How Bohemians Became Hippies and Created the Sixties, Dennis McNally, Da Capo

CALIFORNIA TRANSLATION
Translation in Poetry
Smoke Drifts, Nadia Anjuman, translated from Dari (Afghan Persian) by Diana Arterian and Marina Omar, World Poetry Books
Pirowa Padowa, Lee Jenny, translated from Korean by Archana Madhavan, Saturnalia Books
The Word Turned Butterfly/La Palabra Convertio en Mariposa/Le T'aano' Suunaj Peepenile': Mayan Poems from Mexico, a trilingual anthology translated from Mayan and Spanish, Alejandro Murguia and Pedro Uc Be (editors and translators), Last Edition
Elegies of the Earth: Selected Poems, Ahmad Shamlou, translated from Persian by Niloufar Talebi, World Poetry Books

CHILDREN'S LITERATURE
Younger Readers
The Everything Trail, Meg Fleming, illustrated by Chuck Groenink, Beach Lane Books
Let's Be Bees, Shawn Harris, Neal Porter Books
The Day the Books Disappeared, Joanna Ho, Caroline Kusin Pritchard, illustrated by Dan Santat, Disney Hyperion

Middle Grade
Bunns Rabbit, Alan Barillaro, Candlewick Press
Bird of a Thousand Stories, Kiyash Monsef, Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers
The Peach Thief, Linda Joan Smith, Candlewick Press

Young Adult
Trans History: From Ancient Times to the Present Day, Alex L. Combs and Andrew Eakett, Candlewick Press
Island Creatures, Margarita Engle, Atheneum
The Lost Queen, Aimee Phan, G.P. Putnam's Sons

Time: 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Category: Arts | Books and Literature