Announcing the 2024 Southern Book Prize Finalists
#southernbookprize #SBP24
Celebrating 25 Years of Great Taste in Southern Literature!
The Southern Book Prize celebrates its 25th anniversary with the announcement of the 2024 Southern Book Prize finalists, selected by Southern independent booksellers and representing bookseller favorites from 2023 that are Southern in nature—either about the South or by a Southern writer. Since its inception in 1999, the Southern Book Prize (formerly the SIBA Book Award) has stood as a testament to the love of indie booksellers for great storytelling.
All books nominated for the Southern Book Prize have been submitted by bookseller members of the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA) and have received enthusiastic reviews from Southern booksellers. The 18 finalists, six in each category, received the highest number of nominations and rave reviews, making these books a collection of the most beloved “handsells” of the year in fiction, nonfiction, and children’s/young adult literature.
The finalists make up the 2024 Southern Book Prize ballot. Voting is open now and will run through February 1, 2024. All readers who love Southern literature and Southern independent bookstores can vote for their favorites:
The 2024 Southern Book Prize Ballot
See the 2024 Southern Book Prize Finalists
SIBA launched the Southern Book Prize public ballot in 2019 to encourage stores to engage their customers in the important question of what books deserve to be called “the best Southern book of the year.” Participating bookstores promote the ballot to their customers, and submitted ballots are entered into a raffle to win a set of the finalist titles. Winners in each category will be chosen by popular vote. Southern Book Prize winners will be announced on February 14, Valentine’s Day.
The Finalists:
Fiction
All the Sinners Bleed by S. A. Cosby [Flatiron Books]
How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix [Berkley]
Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward [Scribner]
Starling House by Alix E. Harrow [Tor Books]
Tom Lake by Ann Patchett [Harper]
The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff [Riverhead Books]
Nonfiction
Above Ground by Clint Smith [Little, Brown and Company]
The Comfort of Crows by Margaret Renkl [Spiegel & Grau]
Happily by Sabrina Orah Mark [Random House]
Kiss Me in the Coral Lounge by Helen Ellis [Doubleday]
This Isn’t Going to End Well by Daniel Wallace [Algonquin Books]
We Are Too Many by Hannah Pittard [Henry Holt and Co.]
Children’s & YA
Begin Again by Emma Lord [Wednesday Books]
Blood Debts by Terry J. Benton-Walker [Tor Teen]
Chaos Theory by Nic Stone [Crown Books for Young Readers]
Okra Stew by Natalie Daise [Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)]
When Sea Becomes Sky by Gillian McDunn [Bloomsbury Children’s Books]
Where are the Aliens by Stacy McAnulty, Nicole Miles (Illus.) [Little Brown Books for Young Readers]
See Past Southern Book Prize Winners
See Past Southern Book Prize Finalists
For more information, visit the home of the Southern Book Prize at The Southern Bookseller Review or contact Linda-Marie Barrett, Executive Director, Southern Booksellers Alliance at lindamarie@sibaweb.com.