California Book Awards

The California Book Awards are annual literary awards given to California Writers and Publishers since 1931. The event is sponsored by Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California. ^[1] The California Book Awards are funded by an endowment from Dr. Martha Heasley Cox, ^[2] late professor of American Literature at San Jose State University. Medals (gold and silver) and cash prizes are currently awarded in the categories of Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, First Work of Fiction, Californiana (nonfiction relating to California), Juvenile Literature (up to age 10), Young Adult Literature (age 11–16), and Notable Contribution to Publishing. ^[3] More than 400 books are submitted per year. ^[4] The winning books are selected by an independent jury. ^[5]

History

The California Book Awards were created in 1931 by then Commonwealth Club president James A. Johnston, with the goal to foster literature on the West Coast, specifically in California. ^[6] It began with two gold medals—one for a work of fiction and one for nonfiction. Through the years, several more categories have been added, bringing the total number of awards given each year to 11 throughout the categories of Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Juvenile Literature, Young Adult Literature, First Work of Fiction, Californiana, and Notable Contribution to Publishing. The awards have recognized more than 450 California authors. ^[7]

California Book Award winners

Year	Title	Author	Genre	Award
1931	Outpost of Empire	Herbert E. Bolton	Scholarship-History	Gold
	Crowded Year: The Reminiscences of William G. McAdoo	William McAdoo	Nonfiction-Memoir	Gold
	The Autobiography of Lincoln Steffens	Lincoln Steffens	Nonfiction-Memoir	Silver
1932	Barabbas	Sara Bard Field	General Literature	Silver
	The Adventures of a Novelist	Gertrude Anderson	Nonfiction-Memoir	Gold
	Nur Mahal	Harold Lamb	General Literature	Silver
1933	The Pursuit of Death: A Study of Shelley’s Poetry	B.P. Kurtz	Scholarship-Study	Silver
	San Francisco A Pageant	Charles Dobie	Nonfiction	Gold
	Deep Water: The Autobiography of a Sea Captain	Ernest Pryce Mitchell	Nonfiction-Memoir	Silver
1934	Lord’s Anointed	Ruth Mckee	General Literature	Silver
	The Saga of the Comstock Lode	Dr. George Lyman	Scholarship	Gold
	A Child Went Forth: the Autobiography of Dr. Helen Doyle	Dr. Helen Doyle	Nonfiction-Memoir	Gold
	The Revolutionary Emperor: Joseph II of Austria	Saul Padover	Scholarship-History	Silver
1935	Tortilla Flat	John Steinbeck	General Scholarship	Silver
	Literature and Society	Albert Guerard	Scholarship	Gold
	San Francisco Tales	Charles Dobie	Nonfiction	Gold
	Laughter Out of the Ground	Robin Lampson	General Literature	Silver
	All Giants Wear Yellow Breeches: A Chronicle of Boyhood	Vernon Patterson	Nonfiction-Memoir	Silver
1936	In Dubious Battle	John Steinbeck	General Literature	Silver
	Rim of Christendom: A Biography of Eusebio Francisco Kino, Pacific Coast Pioneer	Herbert E. Bolton	Scholarship	Gold
	God and Man’s Destiny: Inquiries into the metaphysical foundations of faith	Hartley Alexander	Scholarship	Gold
	Snow Covered Wagons: A Pioneer Epic: The Donner Party 1846-1847	Julia Altrocchi	Scholarship	Silver
	Ordeal by Hunger: The SStory of the Donner Party	George Stewart	Scholarship	Silver
1937	Pity the Tyrant	Hans Storm	General Literature	Silver
	Men of Mathematics	Dr. E.T. Bell	Scholarship	Gold
	People on the Earth	Edwin Corle	Scholarship	Silver
	The Early Stuarts:1603 to 1660	Godfrey Davies	Scholarship	Silver
	The Education of Hyman Kaplan	Leo Rosten	General Literature	Silver
1938	East of the Giants	George Stewart	General Literature	Silver
	France Overseas: a Study of Modern Imperialism	Herbert Priestley	Scholarship	Gold
	Enchanted Vagabonds	Dana Lamb	Nonfiction-Memoir	Gold
	The Big Four	Oscar Lewis	Scholarship	Silver
	Gone are the Days	Alexander Powell	Nonfiction	Silver
1939	The Grapes of Wrath	John Steinbeck	General Literature	Silver
	San Francisco’s Literary Frontier	Franklin Walker	Scholarship	Gold
	Land Below the Wind	Agnes Keith	Nonfiction-Memoir	Gold
	Flowering Earth	Donald Peattie	Scholarship	Silver
	Bright Heritage	Mary Provines	General Literature	Silver
	The Time of Your Life (play)	William Saroyan	General Literature	Silver
	Death Loses a Pair of Wings: the Epic of William Gorgas and the Conquest of Yellow Fever	Robin Lampson	General Literature	Silver
1940	Wild Geese Calling	Stewart E. White	General Literature	Silver
	The Structure of Art	Carl Thurston	Scholarship	Gold
	A Diplomatic History of the American People	Thomas Bailey	Scholarship	Gold
	The March of the Barbarians	Harold Lamb	Scholarship	Silver
	My Name is Aram	Willian Saroyan	Nonfiction-Memoir	Silver
	Blue Willow	Doris Gates	Juvenile	Silver
	In What Hour	Kenneth Rexroth	Poetry	Silver
1941	Anybody’s Gold: The Story of California Mining Towns	Joseph Henry Jackson	General Literature	Silver
	Many Mexicos	Lesley B. Simpson	Scholarshiup	Gold
	Lord of Alaska: Baranov and the Russian Adventure	Hector Chevigny	Nonfiction	Gold
	Thackeray	John Dobbs	Nonfiction-Biography	Silver
	The Morning of America	Frank Klingberg	Nonfiction	Silver
	When the Living Strive	Richard LaPiere	Fiction	Silver
1942	I Remember Christine	Oscar Lewis	General Literature	Silver
	HIstory of Historical Writing	James Westfall Thompson	Scholarship	Gold
	Proud Riders	H.L. Davis	Poetry	Gold
	The Stranger in Big Sur	Lillian Bos Ross	Fiction	Silver
	The Man Who Killed the Deer	Frank Waters	Fiction	Silver
	Long Adventure	Hildegard Hawthorne	Juvenile	Silver
1943	Trio	Dorothy Baker	General Literature	Silver
	Legacy of Nazism	Frank Munk	Scholarship	Gold
	Brothers Under the Skin	Carey McWilliams	Nonfiction	Gold
	The Day of Reckoning	Max Radin	Nonfiction	Silver
	Wide is the Gate	Upton Sinclair	Fiction	Silver
	Spurs for Antonia	Katherine Eyre	Juvenile	Silver
1944	One Day at Beetle Rock	Sally Carrighar	General Literature	Silver
	Woodrow Wilson and the Lost Peace	Thomas Bailey	Scholarship	Gold
	Caesar and Christ: A History of Roman Civilization and of Christianity from Their Beginnings to A.D. 325	Will Durant	Nonfiction	Gold
	Captain Retread	Donald Hough	Fiction	Silver
	Forward Observer	Edwin Westrate	Nonfiction	Silver
	Mystery at Thunderbolt House	Howard Pease	Juvenile	Silver
	The Phoenix and the Tortoise	Kenneth Rexroth	Poetry	Silver
1945	A Lion in the Streets	Adria Locke	General Literature	Silver
	The Epic of Latin America	John A. Crow	Scholarship	Gold
	The Brontes: Charlotte and Emily	Laura Hinkley	Scholarship	Gold
	Minor Heresies, Major Departures: A China Mission Boyhood	John Espey	Nonfiction	Gold
	High Bonnet	Idwal Jones	Fiction	Silver
	South America Called Them: Explorations of the Great Naturalists	Victor Von Hagen	Nonfiction	Silver
	The Singing Cave	Margaret Leighton	Juvenile	Singing
1946	Western World: A Study of the Forces Shaping our Time	Royce Brier	General Literature	Silver
	The Big Tree	Mary and Conrad Buff	Fiction	Gold
	The Christian Heritage in America	George Hedley	Nonfiction	Silver
	Theodore Roosevelt and the Progressive Movement	George Mowry	Nonfiction	Silver
	Towards Oregon	E.H. Staffelbach	Juvenile	Silver
	The Faultless Shore	Edward Weismiller	Poetry	Silver
1947	The Trial of Soren Qvisr	Janet Lewis	General Literature	Silver
	The Atlantic Frontier: Colonial American Civilization, 1607-1763	Louis Wright	Scholarship	Gold
	Blood Brother	Elliot Arnold	Fiction	Gold
	The Great Forest	Richard Lillard	Nonfiction	Silver
	A Yanqui in Patagonia	Bailey Willis	NonFiction	Silver
	Sancho of the Long, Long Horns	Allan Bosworth	Juvenile	Silver
	Journey to Victory	Hazel Louise Zimmerman	Poetry	Silver
1948	Woman with a Sword: A Novel based on the Life of Ana Elle Carroll	Hollister Noble	General Literature	Silver
	The Age of the Great Depression: 1929-1941	Dixon Wecter	Scholarship	Gold
	Sky and Forest	C.S. Forestor	Fiction	Gold
	The Big Divide	David Lavender	Nonfiction	Silver
	The Legend of Henry Ford	Keith Sward	Nonfiction	Silver
	The Nine Brides and Granny Hite	Neill C. Wilson	Fiction	Silver
	Seabird	Holling C. Holling	Juvenile	Silver
1949	The Revolt in San Marcos	Robert C. North	Fiction	Silver
	The Universe of GBS	William Irvine	Nonfiction	Gold
	The Journey of Simon Mckeever	Albert Maltz	Fiction	Gold
	To Hell and Back	Audie Murphy	Nonfiction	Silver
	Epicurus, My Master	Max Radin	Fiction	Silver
	At the Palace Gates	Helen Parrish	Juvenile	Silver
	The Beast in His Hunger	Harry Brown	Poetry	SIlver
1950	About Mrs. Leslie	Vina Delmar	Fiction	Silver
	Sea Road to the Indies: An Account of the Voyages and Exploits of the Portuguese Navigators, Together with the Life and Times of Dom Vasco da Gama, Capitao-Mor, Viceroy of India and Count of Vidigueira Indies	Nonfiction	Gold
	Bridal Journey	Dale Van Every	Fiction	Gold
	Educating our Daughters: A Challenge to the Colleges	Lynn White	Nonfiction	Silver
	Fifth Chinese Daughters	Jade Snow Wong	Nonfiction	Silver
	Tomas and the Red Headed Angel	Marion Garthwaite	Juvenile	Silver
	Dominant Seventh	Phillips Kloss	Poetry	Silver
1951	Tracy’s Tiger	William Saroyan	Fiction	Silver
	The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements	Eric Hoffer	Nonfiction	Gold
	Sandra and the Right PRince	Mildred Napier Anderson	Fiction	Gold
	Ark of Empire: San Francisco’s Montgomery Block	Idwal Jones	Nonfiction	Silver
	The Negro and the Communist Party	Wilson Record	Nonfiction	Silver
	No Vacancy	Mary Jane Rolfs	Fiction	Silver
	Old Cronies	Leon Richardson	Poetry	Silver
1952	Winds of Mourning	H.L. Davis	Fiction	Silver
	Boss Ruef’s San Francisco: The Story of the Union Labor Party, Big Business, and the Graft Prosecution	Walton Bean	Nonfiction	Gold
	Cottrell: Samaritan of Science	Frank Cameron	Nonfiction	Gold
	Time’s Traveler	Stanton Coblentz	Fiction	Silver
	Please Excuse Johnny	Florence Mcghee	Nonfiction	Silver
	Wapiti the Elp	Neill C. Wilson	Fiction	Silver
1953	Fahrenheit 451	Ray Bradbury	Fiction	Silver
	It’s Good to be Black	Ruby Goodwin	Nonfiction	Gold
	The High and the Mighty	Ernest Gann	Fiction	Gold
	Yankee Ships: An Informal History of the American Merchant Marine	Reese Wolfe	Nonfiction	Silver
	Roaring River	Bill Brown	Juvenile	Silver
1954	Beyond the Hungry Country	Louise Stinetorf	Fiction	Silver
	Howells and the Age of Realism	Everett Carter	Nonfiction	Gold
	The Nightmare	C.S. Forester	Fiction	Gold
	Beyond the Hundredth Meridian: John Wesley Poiwell and the Second Opening of the West	Wallace Stegner	Nonfiction	Silver
	Glory, God, and Gold	Paul Wellman	Nonfiction	Silver
	Epics of Everest	Leonard Wibberley	Fiction	Silver
1955	The Good Shepherd	C.S. Forester	Fiction	Silver
	Notre-Dame of Paris	Alan Temko	Nonfiction	Gold
	Cities in Revolt: Urban Life in America 1773-1776	Carl Bridenbaugh	Nonfiction	Gold
	Streets of San Francisco	Samuel Dickson	Nonfiction	Silver
	The Genius and the Goddess	Aldous Huxley	Fiction	Silver
	The Big Oak Flat Road	Irene D. Paden	Californiana	Silver
	Westward the Eagle	Frederick Lane	Juvenile	Silver
	Symphony	Delina Margot-Pride	Poetry	Silver
1956	The Long Watch	Elizabeth Linington	Fiction	Silver
	The Nun's Story	Kathryn Hulme	Nonfiction	Gold
	Tales of a Teacher	Beatrice S. Nathan	Nonfiction	Gold
	James Wilson, Founding Father: 1742-1798	Charles Page Smith	Nonfiction	Silver
	Spook the Mustang	Harlan Thompson	Fiction	Silver
	Men of the Western Waters: A second Look at the First Americans	Dale Van Every	Californiana	Silver
1957	The Flower Drum Song	C.Y. Lee	Fiction	Silver
	Elizabethans at Home	Lu Emily Pearson	Nonfiction	Gold
	The Wilderness Brigade	Phyllis Demarest	Fiction	Gold
	Knock and Wait a While	William Weeks	Fiction	Silver
	The Braintree Mission: A Fictional Narrative of London and Boston	Nicholas Wyckoff	Fiction	Silver
	San Francisco Bay	Harold Gilliam	Californiana	Silver
	David and the Phoenix	Edward Ormondroyd	Juvenile	Silver
1958	The Sergeant	Dennis R. Murphys	Fiction	Silver
	Mistress to an Age: A Life of Madame de Stael	J. Christopher Herold	Nonfiction	Gold
	Warlock	Oakley Hall	Fiction	Gold
	Land of Giants: Drive to the Pacific Northwest, 1750-1950	David Lavender	Nonfiction	Silver
	Era of Theodore Roosevelt: 1900-1912	George Mowry	Nonfiction	Silver
	Montgomery and the Portsmouth	Fred B. Rogers	Californiana	Silver
	First Scientist of Alaska: William Healey Dall	Edward A. Herron	Juvenile	Silver
	Magellan	Ann Stanford	Poetry	Silver
1959	The Thirteenth Apostle	Eugene Vale	Fiction	Silver
	Alexander Hamilton: A Portrait in Paradox	John C. Miller	Nonfiction	Gold
	Flight from Ashiya	Elliot Arnold	Fiction	Gold
	Thaddeus Stevens: Scourge of the South	Fawn Brodie	Nonfiction	Silver
	End of American Innocence	Henry F. May	Nonfiction	Silver
	The Earth Shook, The Sky Burned : A Photographic Record of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Fire	William Bronson	Californiana	Silver
	This is the Desert: The Story of America's Arid Religion	Phillip Ault	Juvenile	Silver
1960	The War For The Union War Becomes Revolution 1862-1863	Allan Nevins	Nonfiction	Silver
	Chancellor Robert R. Livingston of New York: 1746-1813	George Dangerfield	Nonfiction	Gold
	The Infidels	Chloe Gartner	Fiction	Silver
	A Shooting Star	Wallace Stegner	Fiction	Silver
	Hawaii the Aloha State	Helen Bauer	Juvenile	Silver
1961	The Agony and the Ecstasy	Irving Stone	Fiction	Silver
	Sinclair Lewis: An American Life	Mark Schorer	Nonfiction	Gold
	Mila 18	Leon Uris	Fiction	Gold
	Forth to the Wilderness	Dale Van Every	NonFiction	Silver
	Ishi in Two Worlds: A Biography of the Last Wild Indian in North America	Theodora Kroeber	Californiana	Silver
	The Gray Sea Raiders	Gordon Shirreffs	Juvenile	Silver
	A Ring of Willows	Eric Barker	Poetry	Silver
1962	The Everlasting Fire	Jon Reed Lauritzen	Fiction	Silver
	John Adams	Page Smith	Nonfiction	Gold
	Franz Kafka: Parable and Paradox	Heinz Politzer	Nonfiction	Gold
	Heart of the Wild: Animal Stories of the California Redwood Coast	Chet Schwarzkopf	Fiction	Silver
	Adolph Autro: A Biography	Robert & Mary Stewart	Nonfiction	Silver
	Journey into Darkness: Cabeza de Vaca's Expedition Across North America, 1528-36	John Upton Terrel	Californiana	Silver
	First Woman Ambulance Surgeon: Emily Barringer	Iris Noble	Juvenile	Silver
1963	The House That Tai Ming Built	Virginia Lee	Fiction	Silver
	The Hemlock and the Cross: Humanism, Socrates, and Christ	Geddes MacGregor	Nonfiction	Gold
	A History of Russia	Nicholas Riasanovsky	Nonfiction	Gold
	James Gibbons Huneker: Critic of the Seven Arts	Arnold Schwab	Nonfiction	Silver
	Ah, Julian! A Memoir of Julian Brodetsky	Leonard Wibberley	Nonfiction	Silver
	South From San Francisco - San Mateo County, CA	Frank Stanger	Californiana	Silver
	The Keys and the Candle	Maryhale Woolsey	Juvenile	Silver
1964	Armageddon	Leon Uris	Fiction	Silver
	Andreas Vesalius of Brussels	C.D. O'Malley	Nonfiction	Gold
	Gathering of Zion	Wallace Stegner	Fiction	Silver
	The Man	Irving Wallace	Fiction	Silver
	Sarah and the Senator	Robert Kroninger	Californiana	Silver
	A Spell is Cast	Eleanor Cameron	Juvenile	Silver
	Girl with Ocelot	Julia Altrocchi	Poetry	Silver
1965	Final Challenge: The American Frontier 1804-1845	Dale Van Every	Nonfiction	SIlver
	The Search for Meriwether Lewis: From Tillamook to Grinder's Stand	Richard Dillon	Nonfiction	Gold
	Blue Hen's Chick: A Life in Context	A.B. Guthrie	Nonfiction	Gold
	Oil, Land, and Politics: The California Career of Thomas Robert Bard	W.H. Hutchinson	Nonfiction	Gold
	The Year of the Death	Reuben Merliss	Fiction	Silver
	Cellist	Gregor Piatigorsky	Nonfiction	Silver
	Campion Towers	John Beatty	Juvenile	Silver
	The Selected Poems	Louis Simpson	Poetry	Silver
1966	All the Little Heroes	Herbert Wilner	Fiction	Silver
	The Cave and the Mountain: A Study of EM Forster	Winfred Stone	Nonfiction	Gold
	The Stone Mason of Tor House: The Life and Works of Robinson Jeffers	Melba Bennett	Nonfiction	Gold
	The Crow Flies Crooked	Jack Kisling	Fiction	Silver
	Leonard Pitt Decline of the Californios A Social History of the Spanish-Speaking Californians, 1846-1890	Leonard Pitt	Nonfiction	Silver
	The Ordeal of the Constitution	Robert Rutland	Nonfiction	Silver
	Chancy and the Grand Rascal	Sid Flesischmen	Californiana	Silver
1967	All the Little Live Things	Wallace Stegner	Fiction	Silver
	Robert Lee. A Complete Man: A Portrait	Margaret Sanborn	Nonfiction	Gold
	A Night of Watching	Elliott Arnold	Fiction	Gold
	Fathers	Herbert Gold	Nonfiction	Silver
	The Young Stalin: The Early Years of an Elusive Revolutionary	Edward Ellis Smith	Nonfiction	Silver
	Fool's Gold: The Decline and Fall of Captain John Sutter of California	Richard Dillon	Californiana	Silver
	Silent Ship, Silent Sea	Robb White	Juvenile	Silver
	The Rose of Solitude	Brother Antoninus	Poetry	Silver
1968	Airport	Arthur Hailey	Fiction	Silver
	Heroic Mexico: The Violent Emergence of a Modern Nation	William Weber Johnson	Nonfiction	Gold
	The Sane Positivist: Biography of Edward Thorndike	Geraldine Joncich	Nonfiction	Gold
	The Immigrant Upraised	Andrew Rolle	Nonfiction	Silver
	Everyman's Eden	Ralph Roske	Californiana	Silver
	Quest for Freedom	Paul Rink	Juvenile	Silver
1969	German: Illusions and Dilemmas	Carl Landauer	Nonfiction	Silver
	With Bold Knife and Fork	MFK Fisher	Contribution Publishing	Gold
	Business at Bay: Critics and Heretics of American Business	Irving Michelman	Nonfiction	Silver
	The Great Betrayal	Audrie Girdner	Californiana	Silver
	The Green and Burning Tree	Eleanor Cameron	Juvenile	Silver
	The Cay	Theodore Taylor	Juvenile	Silver
	Short History of the Fur Trade	Andrian Stoutenburg	Poetry	Silver
1970	Interpretations of Life	Will Durant	Nonfiction	Silver
	Asian Ideas of the East and West	Stephen N. Hay	Nonfiction	Gold
	The Rise of Modern China	Immanuel Hsu	Nonfiction	Silver
	Crimson Ramblers of the World, Farewell	Jessamyn West	Fiction	Silver
	The El Dorado Trail	Ferol Egan	Californiana	Silver
	Jonah and the Great Fish	Clyde Bulla	Juvenile	Silver
	Testament for My Students	Kay Boyle	Poetry	Silver
1971	Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman	Ernest Gaines	Nonfiction	Silver
	The Exorcist	William Peter Blatty	Fiction	Gold
	Textile Art in the Church	Marion Ireland	Contribution to Publishing	Silver
	Monarchy in the Emporer's Eyes	Harold L. Kahn	Nonfiction	Silver
	The Indispensable Enemy	Alexander Saxaton	Californiana	Silver
	Annie and the Old One	Miska Miles	Juvenile	Silver
	More Under Saturn	William Dickey	Poetry	Silver
1972	Mao's Way	Edward E. Rice	Nonfiction	Silver
	Contour in Time	Travis Bogard	Nonfiction	Gold
	Sand in a Whirlwind	Ferol Egan	Nonfiction	Silver
	The Pound Era	Hugh Kenner	Nonfiction	Silver
	Monterey: The Presence of the Past	Augusta Fink	Californiana	Silver
	Samurai of Gold Hill	Yoshiko Uchida	Juvenile	Silver
1973	The Cowboy and the Crossack	Clair Huffaker	Fiction	Silver
	Americans and the California Dream	Kevin Starr	Nonfiction	Gold
	Steinbeck Country	Steve Crouch	Nonfiction	Gold
	Gideon Welles	John Niven	Nonfiction	Silver
	Yours and Mine	Judith Rascoe	Fiction	Silver
	A Sense of Place	Celeste T. Wright	Poetry	Silver
	Chile, Peru & the California Gold Rush of 1849	Jay Monaghan	Californiana	Silver
	Living Together	Edgar Bowers	Poetry	Silver
1974	Love Out of Season	Ella Leffland	Fiction	Silver
	Ascent of Man	Jacob Bronowski	Nonfiction	Gold
	An Everyday History of Somewhere	Ray Raphael	Californiana	Gold
	The Connoisseur	Evan Connell Jr.	Fiction	Silver
	A Time for Titans	Vina Delmar	Fiction	Silver
	Against the Law	Leonard Levy	Fiction	Silver
	The Paper Party	Don Freemand	Juvenile	Silver
1975	The Great Train Robbery	Michael Crichton	Fiction	Silver
	Rape of the Nile	Brian Fagan	Nonfiction	Gold
	Nothing Seemed Impossible	David Lavender	Californiana	Gold
	Coyotes: Last Animals On Earth	Harold E. Thomas	Juvenile	Silver
	Returning Your Call	Leonard Nathan	Poetry	Silver
	Age of Napoleon	Will and Ariel Durant	NonFiction	Silver
	The Opium War	Peter Ward Fay	Nonfiction	Silver
	Romantic Revolutionary	Robert Rosenstone	Nonfiction	Silver
1976	The Spectator Bird	Wallace Stegner	Fiction	Silver
	A New Age Now Begins	Page Smith	Fiction	Silver
	Jack Straw's Castle	Thom Gunn	Poetry	Gold
	Adult Bookstore	Karl Shapiro	Poetry	Silver
	Small Moments	Nancy H. Packer	Fiction	Silver
	Peasants into Frenchmen: The Modernization of Rural France, 1870-1914	Eugen Weber	Nonfiction	Silver
1977	Fremont: Explorer for a Restless Nation	Ferol Egan	Nonfiction	Silver
	The Wanderers	Ingrid Rimland	First Novel	Gold
	Shepherd Watches. Shepherd Sings	Louis Irigaray	Juvenile	Silver
	In Mediterranean Air	Ann Stanford	Poetry	Silver
	Botanical Prints	Henry Evans	Nonfiction	Silver
	Haywire	Brooke Hayward	Fiction	Silver
1978	Germany 1866-1945	Gordon Craig	Nonfiction	Silver
	Max Perkins: Editor of Genius	A. Scott Berg	Nonfiction	Gold
	The Dark Range	David R. Wallace	Californiana	Silver
	A Woman of Independent Means	Elizabeth F. Halley	First Novel	Silver
	North of Danger	Dale Fife	Juvenile	Silver
	Songs for Wanderers	Sheila Moon	Poetry	Silver
	St. Nicholas of Myra, Bari, Manhattan	Charles W. Jones	Nonfiction	Silver
1979	Been in the Storm so Long	Leon Litwack	Nonfiction	Silver
	Years of the French	Thomas Flanagan	First Novel	Gold
	Fool and the Dancing Bear	Pamela Stearns	Juvenile	Silver
	Dear Blood	Leonard Nathan	Poetry	SIlver
	The Morning Star	Kenneth Rexroth	Poetry	Silver
	Urban Crucible: Social Change, Political Consciousness, and the Origins of the American Revolution	Gary B. Nash	Nonfiction	Silver
	Symbols of Eternity: Art of Landscape Painting in China	Michael Sullivan	Nonfiction	Silver
	Sea Glass	Laurence Yepp	Nonfiction	Silver
1980	Impossible Appetites: Nine Stories	James Fetler	Fiction	Silver
	Translating Neruda: Way to Macchu Picchu	John Felstiner	Nonfiction	Gold
	Fight of the Sparrow	Julia Cunningham	Juvenile	Gold
	The Half-A-Moon Inn	Paul Fleischman	Juvenile	Silver
	Imperiled Union: Essays on the Civil War	Kenneth Stampp	Nonfiction	Silver
	Revolutionary People at War: The Continental Army and American Character, 1775-1783	Charles Royster	Nonfiction	Silver
1981	Family: Novel in Form of a Memoir	Herbert Gold	Fiction	Silver
	Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez	Richard Rodriguez	Nonfiction	Gold
	World Rushed in: The California Gold Rush	J.S. Holliday	Californiana	Gold
	A Jar of Dreams	Yoshiko Uchida	Juvenile	Silver
	Poems Old and New, 1918-1978	Janet Lewis	Poetry	Silver
	Pursuit of a Dream	Janet S. Hermann	Nonfiction	Silver
	Will's Boy	Wright Morris	Nonfiction	Silver
1982	Infinite Passion of Expectation: 25 Stories	Gina Berriault	Fiction	Silver
	Glorious Cause: American Revolution	Robert Middlekauff	Nonfiction	Gold
	Winemaking in California	Ruth Teiser	Californiana	Gold
	Story for a Black Night	Clayton Bess	First Novel	Silver
	Spacks Street: New and Selected Poems	Barry Spacks	Poetry	Silver
1983	Gathering of Old Men	Ernest Gaines	Fiction	Silver
	French Gothic Architecture 12th-13th Century	Jean Bony	Nonfiction	Gold
	The First Elizabeth	Carolly Erickson	Nonfiction	Gold
	Klamath Knot	David R. Wallace	Californiana	Silver
	Dear Mr. Henshaw	Beverly Cleary	Juvenile	Silver
	Cry of Kalahari	Delia Owens	Juvenile	Silver
	A Dime to Dance By	Walter Walker	First Novel	Silver
	Collected Poems, 1930-83	Josephine Miles	Poetry	Silver
	Mountains of the Middle Kingdom: Exploring the High Peaks of China and Tibet	Galen Rowell	Contribution to Publishing	Silver
1984	Stones for Ibarra	Harriet Doerr	Fiction	Silver
	The University of California Southeby Book of California	Doris Muscatine	Californiana	Gold
	Monkey Puzzle and Other Poems	Myra C. Livingston	Juvenile	Silver
	Tapping the Source	Kem Nunn	First Fiction	Silver
	Over All the Obscene Boundaries	Lawrence Ferlinghetti	Poetry	Silver
	Above Paris	Robert Cameron	Nonfiction	Silver
	The Hill Towns of Italy	Carole Field	Contribution to Publishing	Silver
	Celebrating Italy	Carole Field	Contribution to Publishing	Silver
1985	Face	Cecile Pineda	Fiction	Silver
	A History of Architecture Settings	Spiro Kostof	Nonfiction	Gold
	Art in San Francisco Bay Area, 1945-1980	Thomas Albright	Californiana	Gold
	Greasy Lake & Other Stories	T. Coraghessan Boyle	Fiction	Silver
	Reasons to Live	Amy Hemple	Fiction	Silver
	The Willow Maiden	Meghan Collins	Juvenile	Silver
	John O'shea, 1876-1956	Walter Nelson-Rees	Notable	Silver
	Early Light	W.S. Di Piero	Poetry	Silver
	The Countess of Forli	Ann Stanford	Poetry	Silver
1986	Birds Landing	Ernest Finney	Fiction	Silver
	France: Fin De Siecle	Eugen Weber	Nonfiction	Gold
	The Golden Gate: A Novel in Verse	Vikram Seth	Californiana	Gold
	Small Business: A Novel	Tom Parker	First Novel	Silver
	The Secret of the Mountain	Esther Linfield	Juvenile	Silver
	Giovanni and Lusanna: Love and Marriage in Renaissance Florence	Gene Brucker	Nonfiction	Silver
	Mountain Light: In Search of the Dynamic Landscape	Galen Rowell	Notable	Silver
	Left Out in the Rain	Gary Snyder	Poetry	Silver
	Sapphics Against Anger and Other Poems	Timothy Steele	Poetry	Silver
1987	World's End: A Novel	T. Coraghessan Boyle	Fiction	Silver
	Chaucer: His Life, His Works, His World	Donald R. Howard	Nonfiction	Gold
	Bitter Melon: Stories from the Last Rural Chinese Town in America	Jeff Gillenkirk	Californiana	Gold
	Nell's Quilt	Susan Terris	Juvenile	Silver
	And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic	Randy Shilts	Nonfiction	Silver
	Voyage of Discovery: Captain Crook and the Exploration of the Pacific	Lynne Withey	Nonfiction	Silver
	Dryland: Desert of North America	Phillip Hyde	Notable	Silver
	Unremembered Country Poems	Susan Griffin	First Novel	Silver
	Imagining Argentina	Lawrence Thornton	First Novel	Silver
1988	Picasso's Guernica, hist	Herschel Chipp	Nonfiction	Silver
	Julia Morgan, Architect	Sara Boutelle	Californiana	Gold
	Step into the Night	Joan Ryder	Juvenile	Silver
	Of Gravity and Angels	Jane Hirshfield	Poetry	Silver
	Collected Poems, 1931-83	Czeslaw Milosz	Poetry	Silver
	What is it then Between Us?: Stories	Ehud Havazelet	Unclassified	Silver
	The Way to the Western Sea: Lewis & Clark Across the Continent	David Lavender	NonFiction	Silver
	Green Architecture & The Agrarian Garden	Barbara S. Solomon	NonFiction	Silver
1989	The Joy Luck Club	Amy Tan	Fiction	Silver
	Strangers From a Different Shore	Ronald Takaki	NonFiction	Gold
	Denial of Disaster: The Untold Story and Photographs of the San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of 1906	Gladys S. Hansen	Californiana	Gold
	Human Wishes	Robert Hass	Poetry	Silver
	Fortress	Brenda Hillman	Poetry	Silver
	Dead Languages	David Shields	Poetry	Silver
1990	Even Now	Michelle Latiolais	Fiction	Silver
	Sacred Mountains of the World	Edwin Bernbaum	Nonfiction	Gold
	Bay Area Figurative Art 1950-65	Caroline A. Jones	Californiana	Gold
	Limbo River	Rick Hillis	Fiction	Silver
	The Fabulous Fifty	Morton Grosser	Juvenile	Silver
	Babushka's Doll	Patricia Polacco	Juvenile	Silver
	The Knight, Death, and the Devil	Ella Leffland	Nonfiction	Silver
	America in 1857: Nation on the Brink	Kenneth Stampp	Nonfiction	Silver
	O California	Steven Vincent	Notable Contribution to Publishing	Silver
1991	Mariette in Ecstasy	Ron Hansen	Fiction	Silver
	Anne Sexton: A Biography	Diane Middlebrook	Nonfiction	Gold
	Farming on the Edge: Saving Family Farms in Marin County, California	John Hart	Californiana	Gold
	Tradition and Innovation: A Basket History of the Indians of the Yosemite-Mono Lake Area	Yosemite Association	Californiana	Silver
	Jayhawker	Patricia Beatty	Juvenile	Silver
	Fly Away Home	Eve Bunting	Juvenile	Silver
	Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women	Susan Faludi	Nonfiction	Silver
	Sarah Canary	Karen Fowler	Novel	Silver
	What Work Is	Philip Levine	Poetry	Silver
	Provinces: Poems 1987-91	Czeslaw Milosz	Poetry	Silver
1992	When Nietzsche Wept	Irvin Yalom	Fiction	Gold
	Triumph and Tragedy: A History of the Mexican People	Ramon Eduardo Ruiz	Nonfiction	Gold
	Josiah Royce: From Grass Valley to Harvard	Robert V. Hine	Californiana	Gold
	Red Square	Martin Cruz Smith	Fiction	Silver
	Cantora	Sylvia Lopez-Medina	First Novel	Silver
	Earthquake at Dawn	Kristiana Gregory	Juvenile	Silver
	A Bowl of Mischief	Kristiana Gregory	Juvenile	Silver
	Chicken Sunday	Patricia Polacco	Juvenile	Silver
	Days of Obligation: An Argument with my Mexican Father	Richard Rodriguez	Nonfiction	Silver
	Napoleon	Proctor Jones	Notable Contribution to Publishing	Silver
1993	Opera in America: A Cultural History	John Dizikes	Nonfiction	Gold
	The Great Central Valley	Robert Dawson, Gerald Haslam, Stephen Johnson	Californiana	Silver
	Tuscaloosa	W. Glasgow Philips	First Novel	Silver
	Bull Run	Paul Fleischman	Juvenile	Silver
	Grandfather's Journey	Allen Say	Juvenile	Silver
	Dragon's Gate	Laurence Yepp	Juvenile	Silver
	No Way to Build a Ballpark and Other Irreverent Essays in Architecture	Allan Temko	Nonfiction	Silver
	The Arts and Crafts Movement in California: Living the Good Life	Kenneth Trapp	Notable Contribution to Publishing	Silver
	Lost Body	Terry Ehret	Poetry	Silver
1994	The Palace Thief	Ethan Canin	Fiction	Silver
	The Unseen Peninsula	Robert Buelteman, Robert McDonald	Californiana	Gold
	The Zoo Where You're Fed to God	Michael Ventura	Fiction	Silver
	Smoky Night	Eve Bunting	Juvenile	Silver
	Catherine, Called Birdy	Karen Cushman	Juvenile	Silver
	Smoky Night	David Diaz	Juvenile	Silver
	The Odyssey of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade: Americans in the Spanish Civil War	Peter Carroll	Nonfiction	Silver
	School Girls	Peggy Orenstein	Nonfiction	Silver
	Two Eagles/Dos Aguiles	Tupper Blake, Peter Steinhart	Notable Contribution to Publishing	Silver
	The Philosopher's Club	Kim Addonizio	Poetry	Silver
	The October Palace	Jane Hirshfield	Poetry	Silver
1995	Naming the Spirits	Lawrence Thornton	Fiction	Silver
	Jackson Street and other Soldier Stories	John Miller	First Work	Gold
	Reckless Driver	Lisa Vice	First Work	Silver
	A Time for Dancing	Davida Hurwin	Juvenile	Silver
	The Faithful Friend	Robert San Souci	Juvenile	Silver
	Canto Familiar	Gary Soto	Juvenile	Silver
	Possible Lives	Mike Rose	Nonfiction	Silver
	Poles Apart	Galen Rowell	Nonfiction	Silver
	Lights & Mysteries	Thomas Centolella	Poetry	Silver
	Red Sauce, Whiskey & Snow	August Kleinzahler	Poetry	Silver
1996	Women in Their Beds	Gina Berriault	Fiction	Silver
	Holy Land	D.J. Waldie	Nonfiction	Gold
	Storm Over Mono	John Hart	Californiana	Gold
	Flights in the Heavenlies	Ernest J. Finney	Fiction	Silver
	Sacred Dust	David Hill	First Fiction	Silver
	A Girl Named Disaster	Nancy Farmer	Juvenile	Silver
	Minty	Alan Schroeder	Juvenile	Silver
	Lisa Meitner	Ruth Sime	Nonfiction	Silver
	Sun Under Wood	Robert Hass	Poetry	Silver
	Harping On	Carolyn Kizer	Poetry	Silver
1997	Le Divorce	Diane Johnson	Fiction	Gold
	Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies	Jared Diamond	Nonfiction	Gold
	Creek Walk and Other Stories	Miles Giles	Fiction	Silver
	Circumnavigation	Steve Lattimore	First Fiction	Silver
	Snakes: The Evolution of Mystery in Nature	Harry W. Greene	Notable Contribution to Publishing	Silver
	A Far Rockaway of the Heart	Lawerence Ferhinghetti	Poetry	Silver
	Glen Gould: The Ecstasy and Tragedy of Genius	Peter Oswald	Nonfiction	Silver
	The Dream Endures: California Enters the 1940s	Kevin Starr	Californiana	Silver
	The Hired Hand: An African-American Folktale	Robert San Souci	Juvenile	Silver
1998	King Leopold's Ghost	Adam Hochschild	Nonfiction	Gold
	All on Fire	Henry Mayer	Nonfiction	Silver
	Hunger	Samantha Chang	First Fiction	Silver
	Harvest Son: Planting Roots in American Soil	David Mas Masumoto	Californiana	Silver
	I Rode a Horse of Milk White Jade	Diane Lee Wilson	Juvenile	Silver
	Mrs. Dumpty	Chana Bloch	Poetry	Silver
	Lost Lake	Mark Slouka	Fiction	Silver
	Sitting Ducks	Michael Bedeard	Juvenile	Silver
	Goodnight, Nebraska	Tom McNeal	Fiction	Silver
	The Art of the Lathe	B.H. Fairchild	Poetry	Silver
1999	Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945	David Kennedy	NonFiction	Gold
	Oxygen Man	Steve Yarbrough	First Fiction	Gold
	The Artist of the Missing	Paul LaFarge	First Fiction	Silver
	Leaving Pico	Frank Gaspar	Fiction	Silver
	Rush for Riches: Gold Fever and the Making of California	J.S. Holliday	Californiana	Silver
	The Mercy	Philip Levine	Poetry	Silver
	The Potato Eaters	Leonard Nathan	Poetry	Silver
	Salvation at Stake: Christian Martyrdom in Early Modern Europe	Brad Gregory	NonFiction	Silver
	Crooked	Laura & Tom McNeal	First Fiction	Silver
	Little Bo	Julie Andrews Edward	Young Adult	Silver
2000	The Amazing Adventures of Kavaliar and Clay	Michael Chabon	Fiction	Gold
	Our Vietnam	A.J. Langguth	Nonfiction	Gold
	Selected Poems	Fanny Howe	Poetry	Gold
	California Calls You	KD & Gary Kurutz	Publishing	Silver
	Rope Burns	F.X. Toole	First Fiction	Silver
	At the Sign of the Star	Katharine Sturtevant	Young Adult	Silver
	The Ice Harvest	Scott Phillips	First Fiction	Silver
	The Royal Family	William T. Vollmann	Fiction	Silver
	The Literature of California Volume 1: Native American Beginnings to 1945	Jack Hicks	Californiana	Silver
	Jubal's Wish	Don & Audrey Wood	Juvenile	Silver
2001	Highwire Moon	Susan Straight	Fiction	Gold
	American Colonies	Alan Taylor	Nonfiction	Gold
	New and Collected Poems 1931-2001	Czeslaw Milosz	Poetry	Gold
	Haussman, or The Distinction	Paul LaFarge	Fiction	Silver
	Edgewater Angels	Sandro Meallot	First Fiction	Silver
	Cool, Calm & Collected: Poems 1960-2001	Carolyn Kizer	Poetry	Silver
	Notes from a Liar & Her Dog	Gennifer Choldenko	Young Adult	Silver
	Capturing Light: Masterpieces of California Photography, 1850-2000	Drew Heath Johnson	Californiana	Silver
	Splendide Californie! Selections by French Artists of California History 1786-1900	Claudine Chalmers	Notable Contribution to Publishing	Silver
2002	The Miracle	John L'Heureux	Fiction	Gold
	Brown: The Last Discovery of America	Richard Rodriguez	Nonfiction	Gold
	Early Occult Memory Systems of the Lower Midwest	B.H. Fairchild	Poetry	Gold
	The Last Good Chance	Tom Barbash	First Fiction	Silver
	The Lovely Bones	Alice Sebold	First Fiction	Silver
	American Law in the 20th Century	Lawerance Friedman	Nonfiction	Silver
	Writing Los Angeles: A Literary Anthology	David Ulin	Californiana	Silver
	This Land was Made for You and Me: Woody Guthrie	Elizabeth Patridge	Young Adult	Silver
	When Marian Sang: The True Recital of Marion Anderson	Brian Selznick, Pam Munoz	Juvenile	Silver
	High Sierra of California	Gary Snyder	Notable Contribution to Publishing	Silver
2003	Evidence of Things Unseen	Marianne Wiggins	Fiction	Gold
	River of Shadows: Eadweard Muybridge and the Technological Wild West	Rebecca Solnit	Nonfiction	Gold
	The Strange Hours Travelers Keep	August Kleinzahler	Poetry	Gold
	Old School	Tobias Wolff	Fiction	Silver
	Parasites like Us	Adam Johnson	Fiction	Silver
	Drinking Coffee Elsewhere	ZZ Packer	First Fiction	Silver
	American Expressionism: Art and Social Change	Bram Dijkstra	Nonfiction	Silver
	The City of Ember	Jeanne DuPrau	Young Adult	Silver
	Just a Minute: A Trickster Tale and Counting Book	Yuyi Morales	Juvenile	Silver
	The King of California	Rick Wartzman, Mark Arax	Californiana	Silver
	Rising Up and Rising Down	William Vollmann	Notable Contribution to Publishing	Silver
	Where I Was From	Joan Didion	Special Acknowledgement	Silver
2004	The Confessions of Max Tivoli	Andrew Sean Greer	Fiction	Gold
	Sorrow of Empire	Chalmers Johnson	Nonfiction	Gold
	School Among the Ruins	Adrienne Rich	Poetry	Gold
	Every Night is Ladies' Night	Michael Jamie-Becerra	First Fiction	Silver
	Graceland	Chris Abani	Fiction	Silver
	Happy Baby	Stephen Elliott	Fiction	Silver
	Worth	A. LaFaye	Young Adult	Silver
	Beasts of Field: California Migrant Farm Workers 1865-1913	Richard Steven Street	Californiana	Silver
	Walt Whitman: Words for America	Barbara Kerley	Juvenile	Silver
2005	Europe Central	William T. Vollmann	Fiction	Gold
	Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire Slaves	Adam Hochschild	Nonfiction	Gold
	Niagara River	Kay Ryan	Poetry	Gold
	A Thousand Years of Good Prayer	Yiyun Li	First Fiction	Silver
	Snow Flower and the Secret Fan	Lisa See	Fiction	Silver
	Nice Big American Baby	Judy Budnitz	Fiction	Silver
	Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed	Jared Diamond	Nonfiction	Silver
	Cloud Chamber	Joyce Maynard	Young Adult	Silver
	Terrific	John Agee	Juvenile	Silver
	The Great San Francisco Earthquake and Firestorms of 1906: How San Francisco Nearly Destroyed Itself	Philip Fradkin	Californiana	Silver
2006	The Wizard of the Crow	Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o	Fiction	Gold
	The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals	Michael Pollan	Nonfiction	Gold
	New and Collected Poems, 1964-2006	Ishmael Reed	Poetry	Gold
	Artificial Light	James Greer	First Fiction	Silver
	Talk, Talk	T.C. Boyle	Fiction	Silver
	Landed	Milly Lee	Juvenile	Silver
	A True and Faithful Narrative	Katherine Sturtevant	Young Adult	Silver
	Odyssey to Reunite with His Mother	Sonia Nazario	Nonfiction	Silver
2007	Chinese Apples	W.S. Di Piero	Poetry	Gold
	Ralph Ellison: A Biography	Arnold Rampersad	Nonfiction	Gold
	What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America	David Walker Howe	Nonfiction	Silver
	The Yiddish Policeman's Union	Michael Chabon	Fiction	Gold
	A Thousand Splendid Suns	Khaled Hosseini	Fiction	Silver
	Sons & Other Flammable Objects	Porochista Khakpour	First Fiction	Silver
	Reinventing Los Angeles	Robert Gottlieb	Californiana	Silver
	Thirteen Reasons Why	Jay Asher	Young Adult	Silver
	Revolution is Not a Dinner Party	Yin Chang Compestine	Young Adult	Silver
	Impressions of the East	Deborah Rudolph	Contribution to Publishing	Silver
	The Book of Psalms Translated	Robert Alter	Special Recognition
2008	Sleeping it Off in Rapid City: Poems, New & Selected	August Kleinzahler	Poetry	Gold
	Practice	Dan Bellm	Poetry	Silver
	The End of the Jews	Adam Mansbach	Fiction	Gold
	Telex From Cuba	Rachel Kushner	First Fiction	Gold
	The Legend of a Suicide	David Vann	First Fiction	Silver
	Hallelujah Junction: Composing an American Life	John Adams	NonFiction	Gold
	Mustang: The Saga of the Wild Horse in the American West	Deanne Stillman	NonFiction	Silver
	The Los Angeles Plaza: Sacred and Contested Space	William David Estrada	Californiana	Gold
	White Sands, Red Menace	Ellen Klages	Young Adult	Gold
	We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball	Kadir Nelson	Juvenile	Gold
	Asian American Art: A History, 1850-1970	Stanford University Press	Notable Contribution to Publishing	Gold
2009	Chronic	D.A. Powell	Poetry	Gold
	A Paradise Built in Hell	Rebecca Solnit	NonFiction	Gold
	Imperial	William T. Vollmann	NonFiction	Silver
	Leaving India	Minal Hajratwala	NonFiction	Silver
	The Bigness of the World	Lori Ostlund	First Fiction	Gold
	The Vagrants	Yiyun Li	Fiction	Gold
	Both Ways is the Only Way I Want it	Maile Meloy	Fiction	Silver
	Lucky Breaks	Susan Patron	Juvenile	Gold
	Flygirl	Sherri Smith	Young Adult	Gold
	The Zohar Pritzker Edition, Volume Five	Stanford University Press	Notable Contribution to Publishing	Gold
	Wherever There's A Fight	Elaine Ellinson, Stan Yogi	Californiana	Gold
2010	Mortal Geography	Alexandra Teague	Poetry	Gold
	Suck on the Marrow	Camille T. Dungy	Poetry	Silver
	Charlie Chan	Yunte Huang	Nonfiction	Gold
	The Harvard Psychedelic Club	Don Lattin	Nonfiction	Silver
	The Lost Books of the Odyssey: A Novel	Zachary Mason	First Fiction	Gold
	I Hotel	Karen Tei Yamashita	Fiction	Gold
	Model Home	Eric Puchner	Fiction	Silver
	Grandma's Gloves	Cecil Castellucci	Juvenile	Gold
	The Things a Brother Knows	Dana Reinhardt	Young Adult	Gold
	Autobiography of Mark Twain Volume 1	University of California Press Berkeley and Los Angeles	Notable Contribution to Publishing	Gold
	A State of Change: Forgotten Landscapes of California	Laura Cunningham	Californiana	Gold
2011	Ascension	Giovanni Singleton	Poetry	Gold
	Chasing Aphrodite: The Hunt for Looted Antiquities at the World's Richest Museum	Jason Felch, Ralph Frammolino	Nonfiction	Gold
	The Ecstasy of Influence: Nonfiction, Etc.	Jonathan Lethem	Nonfiction	Silver
	Turn of Mind	Alice LaPlante	First Fiction	Gold
	The Barbarian Nurseries	Héctor Tobar	Fiction	Gold
	Love and Shame and Love	Peter Orner	Fiction	Gold
	One Day and One Amazing Morning on Orange Street	Jonanne Rocklin	Juvenile	Gold
	The Apothecary	Maile Meloy	Young Adult	Gold
	Ten Years that Shook the City: San Francisco 1968-1978	City Lights Publishers	Notable Contribution to Publishing	Gold
	Chuckwalla Land: The Riddle of California's Desert	David Rains Wallace	Californiana	Gold
2012	The Orphan Master's Son	Adam Johnson	Fiction	Gold
	A Partial History of Lost Causes	Jennifer DuBois	First Fiction	Gold
	Masha'allah and Other Stories	Mariah K Young	First Fiction	Silver
	God's Hotel: A Doctor, A Hospital, and A Pilgrimage to the Heart of Medicine	Victoria Sweet	Nonfiction	Gold
	The Lady in Gold: The Extraordinary Tale of Gustav Klimt's Masterpiece, Portrait of Adele-Bloch Bauer	Anne-Marie O'Connor	Nonfiction	Silver
	Sea and Fog	Etel Adnan	Poetry	Gold
	The One and Only Ivan	Katherine Applegate	Juvenile	Gold
	Valley of Shadows and Dreams	Ken and Melanie Light	Notable Contribution to Publishing	Gold
	Second Chance Summer	Morgan Matson	Young Adult	Gold
	A Soldier's Secret: The Incredible True Story of Sarah Edmonds, A Civil War Hero	Marissa Moss	Young Adult	Silver
	Sunshine Was Never Enough	John Laslett	Californiana	Gold
2013	We Are Completely Beside Ourselves	Karen Fowler	Fiction	Gold
	A Constellation of Vital Phenomena	Anthony Marra	First Fiction	Gold
	Command and Control	Eric Schlosser	Nonfiction	Gold
	Seasonal Works with Letter on Fire	Brenda Hillman	Poetry	Gold
	Barbed Wire Baseball	Marissa Moss	Juvenile	Gold
	Far Far Away	Tom McNeal	Young Adult	Gold
	Scrape the Willow Until it Sings	Debora Valoma	Contribution to Publishing	Gold
	Chief: The Quest for Justice in California	Ronald M. George	Californiana	Gold
	Farewell Fred Voodoo: A Letter From Haiti	Amy Wilentz	Nonfiction	Silver
	The Boss (McSweeney's Poetry Series)	Victoria Chang	Poetry	Silver
2014	An Unnecessary Woman	Rabih Alameddine	Fiction	Gold
	Waiting for the Electricity	Christina Nichol	First Fiction	Gold
	The Crusades of Cesar Chavez	Miriam Pawel	Nonfiction	Gold
	The Feel Trio	Fred Moten	Poetry	Gold
	The Fourteenth Goldfish	Jennifer L. Holm	Juvenile	Gold
	Gabi, A Girl in Pieces	Isabel Quintero	Young Adult	Gold
	The Heyday of Malcolm Margolin	Kim Bancroft	Contribution to Publishing	Gold
	San Francisco's Jewel City	Laura A. Ackley	Californiana	Gold
	Orfeo	Richard Powers	Fiction	Silver
	The Un-Americans	Molly Antopol	First Fiction	Silver
	Deep Down Dark	Hector Tobar	Nonfiction	Silver
2015	A Manual for Cleaning Women	Lucia Berlin	Fiction	Gold
	Elevation: 6,040	Ernest J. Finney	Fiction	Silver
	The Sympathizer	Viet Thanh Nguyen	First Fiction	Gold
	Ghettoside	Jill Leovy	Nonfiction	Gold
	NeuroTribes	Steve Silberman	Nonfiction	Silver
	George	Alex Gino	Juvenile	Gold
	Challenger Deep	Neal Shusterman	Young Adult	Gold
	The Alex Crow	Andrew Smith	Young Adult	Silver
	Cancer Angel	Beth Murray	Poetry	Gold
	California's Wild Edge	Tom Killion	Californiana	Gold
	Collected Letters of Robinson Jeffers	James Karman, Stanford University Press	Contribution to Publishing	Gold [8]
2016	Moonglow	Michael Chabon	Fiction	Gold
	Dog Years	Melissa Yancy	First Fiction	Gold
	The Other Slavery	Andres Resende	Nonfiction	Gold
	Cloud and Wallfish	Anne Nesbet	Juvenile	Gold
	The Sun is Also a Star	Nicola Yoon	Young Adult	Gold
	Restless Continent	Aja Couchois Duncan	Poetry	Gold
	An American Genocide	Benjamin Madley	Californiana	Gold
	Ecosystems of California	Mooney and Zavaleta, Yale University Press	Contribution to Publishing	Gold
	The Portable Veblen	Elizabeth McKenzie	Fiction	Silver
	Engineering Eden	Jordan Fisher Smith	NonFiction	Silver
	Buck Studies	Douglas Kearney	Poetry	Silver
2017	The Age of Perpetual Light	Josh Weil	Fiction	Gold
	So Much Blue	Percival Everett	Fiction	Silver
	Goodbye, Vitamin	Rachel Khong	First Fiction	Gold
	The Color of Law	Richard Rothstein	NonFiction	Gold
	The Far Away Brothers	Lauren Markham	NonFiction	Silver
	Maya Lin: Thinking With Her Hands	Susan Goldman Rubin	Juvenile	Gold
	The 57 Bus	Dashka Slater	Young Adult	Gold
	Heaven is All Goodbyes	Tongo Eisen-Martin	Poetry	Gold
	The Modoc War	Robert Aquinas McNally	Californiana	Gold
	The California Field Atlas	Obi Kaufmann	Contribution to Publishing	Gold
2018	The Mars Room	Rachel Kushner	Fiction	Gold
	Winter Kept Us Warm	Anne Raeff	Fiction	Silver
	There There	Tommy Orange	First Fiction	Gold
	Fruit of the Drunken Tree	Ingrid Rojas Contreras	First Fiction	Silver
	The Library Book	Susan Orlean	NonFiction	Gold
	American Prison	Shane Bauer	NonFiction	Silver
	The Language of Spells	Garret Weyr	Juvenile	Gold
	Picture Us in the Light	Kelly Loy Gilbert	Young Adult	Gold
	Total Recall	Samantha Giles	Poetry	Gold
	The Browns of California	Miriam Pawel	Californiana	Gold
	Carleton Watkins	Tyler Green	Contribution to Publishing	Gold
2019	Your House Will Pay	Steph Cha	Fiction	Gold
	Home Remedies	Xuan Wang	First Fiction	Gold
	The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee	David Treuer	Nonfiction	Gold
	A Place to Belong	Cynthia Kadohata	Juvenile	Gold
	Frankly in Love	David Yoon	Young Adult	Gold
	Magical Negro	Morgan Parker	Poetry	Gold
	Last of Her Name	Mimi Lok	First Fiction	Silver
	Know My Name	Chanel Miller	Nonfiction	Silver
	Jazz Funeral for Uncle Tom	Harmony Holiday	Poetry	Silver
	The Dreamt Land	Mark Arax	Californiana	Gold
	Jim Marshall: Show Me the Picture	Amelia Davis	Contribution to Publishing	Gold
2021	A Registry of My Passage Upon the Earth	Daniel Mason	Fiction	Gold
	Interior Chinatown	Charles Yu	Fiction	Silver
	How Much of These is God	C Pam Zhang	First Fiction	Gold
	South to Freedom	Alice L. Baumgartner	Nonfiction	Gold
	Golden Gates	Conor Dougherty	Nonfiction	Silver
	Efrén Divided	Ernesto Cisneros	Juvenile	Gold
	Private Lessons	Cynthia Salaysay	Young Adult	Gold
	The Black Kids	Christina Hammonds Reed	Young Adult	Silver
	Quiet Orient Riot	Nathalie Khankan	Poetry	Gold
	California Exposures	Richard & Jesse White	Californiana	Gold
	A Natural History of the Anza-Borrego Region	Marie Simovich	Contribution to Publishing	Gold
2022	The Archer	Shruti Swamy	Fiction	Gold
	The Committed	Viet Thanh Nguyen	Fiction	Silver
	Skinship	Yoon Choi	First Fiction	Gold
	City of a Thousand Gates	Rebecca Sacks	First Fiction	Silver
	Paraside	Lizzie Johnson	Nonfiction	Gold
	Light on Fire	Gabrielle Selz	Nonfiction	Silver
	Refractive Africa	Will Alexander	Poetry	Gold
	Home is Not a Country	Safia Elhillo	Young Adult	Gold
	Wishes	Muron Thi Van	Juvenile	Gold
	Everything Now	Rosecrans Baldwin	Californiana	Gold
	A Rebel's Outcry	Jeffrey Gee Chin	Contribution to Publishing	Gold
2023	Heartbroke	Chelsea Bieker	Fiction	Gold
	Nightcrawling	Leila Mottley	First Fiction	Gold
	The Red Arrow	William Brewer	First Fiction	Silver
	American Midnight	Adam Hochschild	Nonfiction	Gold
	Bad Mexicans	Kelly Lylte Hernandez	Nonfiction	Silver
	The Man Who Could Move Clouds	Ingrid Rojas Contreras	Nonfiction	Silver
	Time Regime	Jhani Randhawa	Poetry	Gold
	Ophelia After All	Racquel Marie	Young Adult	Gold
	Seen and Unseen	Elizabeth Partridge	Juvenile	Gold
	The High Sierra	Kim Stanley Robinson	Californiana	Gold
	The Klamath Mountains	Michael Kauffman	Contribution to Publishing	Gold
2024	Accountable: The True Story of a Racist Social Media Account and the Teenagers Whose Lives It Changed	Dashka Slater	Young Adult	Gold
	The Blood Years	Elana K. Arnold	Young Adult	Silver
	All-Night Pharmacy	Ruth Madievsky	First Fiction	Gold
	Blackouts	Justin Torres	Fiction	Gold
	Orphan Bachelors	Fae Myenne Ng	Nonfiction	Gold
	California Against the Sea: Visions for Our Vanishing Coastline	Rosanna Xia	Californiana	Gold
	Mass for Shut-Ins (Volume 177) (Yale Series of Younger Poets)	Mary-Alice Daniels	Poetry	Gold
	The Honey Jar: An Armenian's Escape to Freedom	Joan Schoettler	Juvenile	Gold
	KAOS Theory: The Afrokosmic Ark of Ben Caldwell	Robeson Taj Frazier	Contribution to Publishing	Gold
2025	James	Percival Everett	Fiction	Gold
	Creation Lake	Rachel Kushner	Fiction	Silver
	Your Presence is Mandatory	Sasha Vasilyuk	First Fiction	Gold
	Frostbite: How Refrigeration Changed Our Food, Our Planet, and Ourselves	Nicola Twilley	Nonfiction	Gold
	Twelve Trees: The Deep Roots of Our Future	Daniel Lewis	Nonfiction	Silver
	Theophanies	Sarah Ghazal Ali	Poetry	Gold
	Ward Toward	Cindy Juyoung Ok	Poetry	Silver
	Everything We Never Had	Randy Ribay	Young Adult	Gold
	A Map for Falasteen: A Palestinian Child's Search for Home	Maysa Odeh and Aliaa Betawi	Juvenile	Gold
	A Machine to Move Ocean and Earth	James Tejani	Californiana	Gold
	Terminal Island: Lost Communities on America's Edge	Geraldine Knatz and Naomi Hirahara, Angel City Press	Contribution to Publishing	Gold

Controversy

The California Book awards sparked controversy after awarding John Steinbeck his third Gold Medal for The Grapes of Wrath , which triggered a series of protests throughout the state. ^[9] The Club was criticized for acknowledging a book that portrayed California in a poor light. It didn't take long, however, for The Grapes of Wrath to become an American classic. ^[10]

References

1. "About the Awards". www.commonwealthclub.org. Retrieved 2025-04-24.
2. "Founder of John Steinbeck Center Dies in San Francisco | Steinbeck Now". www.steinbecknow.com. Retrieved 2025-04-24.
3. "About the Awards". www.commonwealthclub.org. Retrieved 2025-04-24.
4. "120th Birthday Facts". www.commonwealthclub.org. Retrieved 2025-04-24.
5. "California Book Awards". www.commonwealthclub.org. Retrieved 2025-04-24.
6. "About the Awards". www.commonwealthclub.org. Retrieved 2025-04-24.
7. "About the Awards". www.commonwealthclub.org. Retrieved 2025-04-24.
8. "Past Winners". www.commonwealthclub.org. Retrieved 2025-04-24.
9. Gershon, Livia (2022-03-27). "Banning The Grapes of Wrath in 1939 California". JSTOR Daily. Retrieved 2025-04-24.
10. "About the Awards". www.commonwealthclub.org. Retrieved 2025-04-24.

External links

• California Book Awards Website