The Vermont Book Awards: A Celebration of Vermont Writers

The Vermont Book Awards are annual prizes for outstanding literature by Vermont authors, presented by Vermont Humanities and the Vermont Department of Libraries. Every year prizes are awarded for books written by Vermont authors and published in the previous calendar year in four categories: Poetry, Fiction, Creative nonfiction, and Children’s literature.

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Join us for this community gathering of writers and readers, honoring books published by Vermont writers in 2024. A dessert reception with cash bar will be followed by a brief program revealing the four winning authors, and announcing Vermont Humanities' next Vermont Reads pick.

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Bill McKibben will deliver this year's keynote speech!

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Join us in the beautiful, historic chapel in College Hall, at 36 College Street in Montpelier.

2024 Vermont Book Awards Finalists

Creative nonfiction

• William Homestead for Not Till We Are Lost: Thoreau, Education, and Climate Crisis
• Lucy Ives for An Image of My Name Enters America
• Adrie Kusserow for The Trauma Mantras: A Memoir in Prose Poems
• Ethan Tapper How to Love a Forest: The Bittersweet Work of Tending a Changing World

Fiction

• M.T. Anderson for Nicked
• Maria Hummel for Goldenseal
• Carolyn Kuebler for Liquid, Fragile, Perishable
• GennaRose Nethercott for Fifty Beasts to Break Your Heart

Poetry

• Julia C. Alter for Some Dark Familiar
• Kellam Ayres for In the Cathedral of My Undoing
• Margaret Draft for Nowhere Was a Lake
• Alison Prine for Loss and Its Antonym

Children’s literature

• Emma Hunsinger for How it All Ends (Middle grade graphic novel)
• Kekla Magoon for The Secret Library (Middle grade novel)
• Tanya Lee Stone for Remembering Rosalind Franklin (Picture book)

Disability Services

Vermont Humanities strives to provide accommodations whenever possible. All event locations are ADA accessible. To request a specific accommodation or a reduced price ticket contact Miciah Bay Gault at mbaygault@vermonthumanities.org by April 18.

Hosts and Sponsors

The Vermont Book Awards are presented by Vermont Humanities and the Vermont Department of Libraries, with support from the following Vermont businesses, organization, and individuals:

Phoenix Books (lead sponsor)

Susan Z. Ritz

Greenway Institute

Hugh Coyle and Maynard Yost

The Vermont Arts Council

The Audiobook Experience (at Voice Over Vermont)

Norwich Bookstore

Vermont Book Shop

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Keynote speaker Bill McKibben is an educator, environmentalist, and the author of more than 20 book. He helped founded 350.org, the first global grassroots climate campaign, and recently launched Third Act, which organizes people over the age of 60 for action on climate and justice.