45th Annual Northern California Book Awards

Celebrating books published by Northern California authors and California literary translators in 2025

Saturday, September 19, 2026 • 2:00 pm PDT

Reception follows

Northern California's vibrant literary scene will celebrate on Saturday, September 19, 2026, 2:00pm, 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. 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.

Northern California reviewers and editors, members of Northern California Book Reviewers, select the awards. Membership is open to eligible Northern California reviewers and editors. All of the nominated books, the NCBR Recommended Reading List, will be acknowledged and celebrated at the ceremony. Jurors' statements by members of the Northern California Book Reviewers will be available in the event program and after the awards here on the NCBA page at Poetryflash.org.


The event is free and open to the public; RSVP at Eventbrite: www.eventbrite.com/e/45th-annual-northern-california-book-awards-tickets-1996920394656. For more information: info@poetryflash.org, (510) 612.3958.

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2026 Awards Program

FRED CODY AWARD FOR LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT & SERVICE

Amy Tan

Amy Tan is the author of novels, short stories, essays, memoir, children’s books, libretto, and film/television adaptations. Her acclaimed works, including The Joy Luck Club, The Kitchen God’s Wife, and The Bonesetter’s Daughter, explore the immigrant experience and family bonds. Born in Oakland to immigrant parents, Tan gives voice to the Chinese American experience and the American story. Her most recent work is The Backyard Bird Chronicles, where she turns her observational eye to nature, through daily entries and sketches. Her honors, including the National Humanities Medal, confirm her legacy as an icon of literary excellence and cultural impact. Amy Tan will accept by video.

NCBA GROUNDBREAKER AWARD

This Unruly Witness: June Jordan’s Legacy, edited by Lauren Muller, Becky Thompson, Dominique C. Hill and Durell M. Callier, Haymarket Books. This award is presented for pioneering and innovative literary work.

NCBA RECOGNITION AWARD

Neeli Cherkovski
The Portrait Gallery Called Existence, City Lights Books
This award recognizes an outstanding literary work outside of NCBA categories.

THE NOMINEES

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 WINNER

All the Words I Can Remember Are Poems, Michelle Peñaloza, Persea Books
Smother, Rachel Richardson, W.W. Norton & Company

FICTION

Moderation, Elaine Castillo, Viking WINNER

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&M University Press

Immemorial, Lauren Markham, Transit Books WINNER

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 WINNER

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 WINNER

Pirowa Padowa, Lee Jenny, translated from Korean by Archana Madhavan, Saturnalia Books
The Word Turned Butterfly/La Palabra Convertió en Mariposa/Le T’aano’ Suunaj Péepenile’: Mayan Poems from Mexico, a trilingual anthology translated from Mayan and Spanish, Alejandro Murguía 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

Translation in Prose

Smoke, Gabriela Alemán, translated from Spanish by Dick Cluster, City Lights Publishers WINNER

A Fictional Inquiry, Daniele Del Giudice, translated from Italian by Anne Milano Appel, New Vessel Press
A Man With No Title, Xavier Le Clerc, translated from French by William Rodarmor, Saqi Books

CHILDREN'S LITERATURE

Younger Readers

The Everything Trail, Meg Fleming, illustrated by Chuck Groenink, Beach Lane Books WINNER

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 & Schuster Books for Young Readers WINNER

The Peach Thief, Linda Joan Smith, Candlewick Press

Young Adult
Trans History: From Ancient Times to the Present Day, a graphic novel, Alex L. Combs, Andrew Eakett, Candlewick Press

Island Creatures, Margarita Engle, Atheneum WINNER

The Lost Queen, Aimee Phan, G.P. Putnam's Sons

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History of the Northern California Book Awards
Since 1981, the Northern California Book Reviewers, a volunteer group of book reviewers and book review editors, have honored the work of Northern California authors. One of the group's founders was Fred Cody, proprietor of the late great independent bookstore in Berkeley. The Fred Cody Award for Lifetime Achievement is presented every year to a member of the literary community. Previous recipients include Rebecca Solnit, Jane Hirshfield, Brenda Hillman, Isabel Allende, Juan Felipe Herrera, Daniel Ellsberg, Sandra M. Gilbert, Jack Hirschman, Judy Grahn, Susan Griffin, Willis Barnstone, Adam Hochschild, Kay Ryan, Michael Pollan, Al Young, Tamim Ansary, Andrew Hoyem, Diane di Prima, Orville Schell, Philip Levine, Ronald Takaki, Francisco X. Alarcón, Carolyn Kizer, Ishmael Reed, Maxine Hong Kingston, Robert Hass, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Malcolm Margolin, Adrienne Rich, Wallace Stegner, Kay Boyle, William Everson, Alice Walker, Gary Snyder, Jessica Mitford, Tillie Olsen, M.F.K. Fisher, Robert Duncan, and Nancy J. Peters.

NCBA Guidelines: poetryflash.org/programs/?p=ncba