2026 Washington State Book Award Winners Announced!

2026 Washington State Book Award Winners Announced!

The Washington Center for the Book (an affiliate of the Library of Congress Center for the Book administered by Washington State Library) has selected winners in seven categories for the 2026 Washington State Book Awards (WSBA) for outstanding books published by Washington authors in 2025. This is the 60th year of the program, formerly called the Governor’s Writers Awards. We…

2026 Washington State Book Award Finalists Announced!

2026 Washington State Book Award Finalists Announced!

The Washington Center for the Book (an affiliate of the Library of Congress Center for the Book administered by Washington State Library) has selected 41 finalists in seven categories for the 2026 Washington State Book Awards (WSBA) for outstanding books published by Washington authors in 2025. This is the 60th year of the program, formerly called the Governor’s Writers Awards.…

Two Washington authors chosen to represent the state at the 2026 National Book Festival

Two Washington authors chosen to represent the state at the 2026 National Book Festival

Tae Kellers’ When Tomorrow Burns and Rena Priest‘s Positively Uncivilized are representing Washington state at the 2026 National Book Festival! The Washington Center for Book, a program of the Office of the Secretary of State and the Washington State Library, has selected one youth book and one adult book by Washington authors to represent the state at the 2026 National Book Festival: When…

The 11th Annual Washington State Zine Contest Results!

The 11th Annual Washington State Zine Contest Results!

Congratulations to the winners of the 11th Annual Washington State Zine Contest! Links to digitized copies of the zines will be added to the main Zine Contest page when they are available.  2026 WINNERS: Pre-4th Grade Two Stray Cats by Mika Chang (Redmond) Grades 4-6 Seasons Turning & Time Falling by Norah Armstrong (Sequim) Grades 7-9 C. Inanis: Studies of…

2026 Summer Book Bingo – for adults! #BookBingoNW2026

2026 Summer Book Bingo – for adults! #BookBingoNW2026

Washington State Adult Summer Reading Book Bingo 2026 is here! Libraries and bookstores of Washington, please feel free to download, print, and distribute these Book Bingo forms to your community members! We’ve seen some libraries in Washington do a drawing for prizes at the end of the summer; we’ve also heard from readers who are excited to bring back some…

WA Do I Read Next? #WLA2026 in Yakima

WA Do I Read Next? #WLA2026 in Yakima

At the recent Washington Library Association conference in Yakima, we coordinated our annual “WA Do I Read Next?” panel featuring library folks and authors talking about recent books by Washington authors that they have read and loved. This year’s panel included Newbery and Pura Belpré winning author Donna Barba Higuera, Washington State Book Award winning author Sasha taqʷšəblu LaPointe, Julie Graham…

Meet our 2026 WSBA Judges!

Meet our 2026 WSBA Judges!

Meet our 2026 Washington State Book Award (WSBA) Judges! We are thrilled to introduce our wonderful panel of 2026 Washington State Book Award judges who are currently deep into reading and reviewing hundreds of books (published in 2025) from authors across the state. Our judging panels are made up of librarians, library workers, and authors. We are so thankful for…

Check out our episode – PBS Books’ Reading Road Trip – Washington!

Check out our episode – PBS Books’ Reading Road Trip – Washington!

We were so proud to be involved with this episode celebrating a few of our state’s incredible authors past and present. We’d like to give endless thanks to the incredible Washington authors who took part in this episode: Frank Abe, Donna Barba Higuera, Timothy Egan, Sasha taqʷšəblu LaPointe, Nancy Pearl, and Jess Walter. 

2025 Washington State Book Award Finalists Announced!

2025 Washington State Book Award Finalists Announced!

The Washington Center for the Book (an affiliate of the Library of Congress Center for the Book administered by Washington State Library) has selected 42 finalists in seven categories for the 2025 Washington State Book Awards (WSBA) for outstanding books published by Washington authors in 2024. This is the 59th year of the program, formerly called the Governor’s Writers Awards.…