The Idaho Book of the Year (previously the Idaho Book Award) is awarded annually by the Idaho Library Association (ILA). Awards are given for books published the previous year.

2021

• 2021 FICTION WINNER: Doerr, Anthony. Cloud Cuckoo Land. New York: Scribner, 2021.
• 2021 NON-FICTION WINNER: Sentilles, Sarah. Stranger Care: A Memoir of Loving What Isn’t Ours. New York: Random House, 2021.
• 2021 HONORABLE MENTION: Anderson, Cory. What Beauty There Is. New York: Roaring Brook Press, 2021.

2020

• 2020 WINNER: Reed Lewis, Mark McFaddan, John Burch, and Chelsea McRaven Feeney. Idaho Rocks! A Guide to Geologic Sites in the Gem State. Missoula, Minnesota : Mountain Press Publishing Company, 2020.
• 2020 HONORABLE MENTION: Rember, John. A Hundred Little Pieces on the End of the World. Albuquerque, New Mexico: University of New Mexico Press, 2020.
• 2020 HONORABLE MENTION: Wendy, Swore. The Wish and the Peacock. [Salt Lake City, Utah]: Shadow Mountain, 2020.

2019

• 2019 WINNER: Quinney, Dana Stewart. Wildflower Girl: A Lifelong Journey beyond the Trail. McCall, Idaho: Hidden Shelf Publishing House, 2019.
• 2019 HONORABLE MENTION: Kyle, Catherine. Shelter in Place. New York City: Spuyten Duyvil, 2019.
• 2019 HONORABLE MENTION: Bingham, Dave. Idaho Underground: The Fins, Snake River Basalt, Boise, Sun Valley [a Climber’s Guide]. 2nd Edition. New Castle, Colorado: Wolverine Publishing, 2019.
• 2019 HONORABLE MENTION: Petersen, Keith C.; afterword by Janet L. Gallimore. Idaho: The Land and Its People [A Companion to Exhibits at the Idaho State Museum]. Boise, Idaho: Idaho State Historical Society, 2019.

2018

• 2018 WINNER: Owens, Delia. Where the Crawdads Sing. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2018.
• 2018 HONORABLE MENTION: Westover, Tara. Educated. New York: Random House, 2018.
• 2018 HONORABLE MENTION: Sigler, John; and Donald Zaroban. Fishes of Idaho. First edition. Caldwell, Idaho: Caxton Press, 2018.

2017

• 2017 WINNER: Ruskovich, Emily. Idaho: a Novel. New York : Random House, 2017.

2016

• 2016 WINNER: Feldman, Murray; and Jennifer Emery Davidson. Idaho Wilderness Considered.  Boise, Idaho: Idaho Humanities Council, 2016.
• 2016 HONORABLE MENTION: LeFavour, Nichole; photographs by Mark William Lisk. Sawtooth White Cloud. Caldwell, Idaho: Caxton Press, 2016.
• 2016 HONORABLE MENTION: Niemeyer, Carter. Wolf Land. Boise, Idaho: BottleFly Press, 2016.

2015

• 2015 WINNER: Stuebner, Steve; and Todd Shallat. Idaho Microbes: how tiny single-celled organisms can harm, or save, our world. Boise, Idaho: Boise State University, School of Public Service and Division of Research and Economic Development, 2015.

2014

• 2014 WINNER: Doerr, Anthony. All the Light We Cannot See. New York: Scribner, 2014.
  2014 HONORABLE MENTION: Sowards, Adam M., editor. Idaho’s Place: A New History of the Gem State. Seattle, Washington: University of Washington Press, 2014.

2013

• 2013 WINNER: Wegars, Priscilla. As Rugged as the Terrain: CCC “Boys,” Federal Convicts, and World War II Alien Internees Wrestle with a Mountain Wilderness.  Caldwell, Idaho: Caxton Press, 2013.
• 2013 WINNER: Shallat, Todd; and Russell Tremayne. Surviving Minidoka. Boise, Idaho: Boise State University Publications Office, College of Social Sciences and Public Affairs, 2013.

2012

• 2012 WINNER: Swetnam, Susan H. Books, Bluster, and Bounty: Local Politics and Carnegie Library Building Grants in the Intermountain West, 1890-1920. Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press, 2012.
• 2012 HONORABLE MENTION: Williams, Jack R. Be Brave, Tah-hy! The Journey of Chief Joseph’s Daughter. Pullman, Washington: Washington State University Press, 2012.
• 2012 HONORABLE MENTION: Deurbrouck, Jo. Anything Worth Doing: A true story of adventure, friendship and tragedy on the last of the West’s great rivers. Idaho Falls, Idaho: Sundog Book Publishing, 2012.

2011

• No titles were submitted for the 2011 Idaho Book Award.

2010

• 2010 WINNER: Udall, Brady. The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udall. New York: W.W. Norton, 2010.
• 2010 HONORABLE MENTION: Niemeyer, Carter. Wolfer: A Memoir. Boise, Idaho: Bottlefly Press, 2010.

2009

• 2009 WINNER: Wieland, Mitch. God’s Dogs: A Novel in Stories. Dallas, Texas: Southern Methodist University Press, 2009.
• 2009 HONORABLE MENTION: Weston, Julie Whitesel. The Good Times Are All Gone Now: Life, Death, and Rebirth in an Idaho Mining Town. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 2009.
• 2009 HONORABLE MENTION: Laughy, Linwood. The Fifth Generation: A Nez Perce Tale. Kooskia, Idaho: Mountain Meadow Press, 2009.

2008

• 2008 WINNER: Percy, Ann. James Castle: A Retrospective. Philadelphia, Pensylvannia: Philadelphia Museum of Art; New Haven Connecticut: In association with Yale University Press, 2008.
• 2008 HONORABLE MENTION: Schrand, Brandon R. The Enders Hotel: A Memoir. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 2008.
• 2008 HONORABLE MENTION: Fox, William. Owyhee Canyonlands. Caldwell, Idaho: Caxton Press, 2008.

2007

• 2007 WINNER: Whiting, Henry II. At Nature’s Edge: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Artist Studio. Salt Lake City, Utah: University of Utah Press, 2007.
• 2007 HONORABLE MENTION: Carlson, Ron. Five Skies. New York: Viking, 2007.

2006

• 2006 WINNER: Scherer, Joanna Cohan. A Danish Photographer of Idaho Indians: Benedicte Wrensted. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 2006.
• 2006 HONORABLE MENTION: Campbell, Spence. Lewis & Clark and Me. Rochester, Washington: Gorham Printing, 2006.

2005

• 2005 WINNER: Olsen, Gregg. The Deep Dark: Disaster and Redemption in the America’s Richest Silver Mine. New York: Crown Publishers, 2005.
• 2005 HONORABLE MENTION: Stuebner, Stephen; and Mark Lisk. Salmon River Country. Caldwell, Idaho: Caxton Press, 2004.
• 2005 HONORABLE MENTION: Weatherby, James B.; Randy Stapilus. Governing Idaho: Politics, People and Power. Caldwell, Idaho: Caxton Press, 2005.

2004

• 2004 WINNER: Hilldorfer, Joseph; and Robert Dugoni. The Cyanide Canary. New York: Free Press, 2004.
• 2004 HONORABLE MENTION: Trusky, Tom. James Castle: His Life & Art. Boise, Idaho: Idaho Center for the Book, 2004.

2003

• 2003 WINNER: Rember, John. Traplines: coming home to Sawtooth Valley. New York: Pantheon Books, 2003.
• 2003 HONORABLE MENTION: Wegars, Priscilla. Polly Bemis, a Chinese American pioneer. Cambridge, Idaho: Backeddy Books, 2003.

2002

• 2002 WINNER: Shallat, Todd, editor. The Secrets of the Magic Valley and Hagerman’s Remarkable Horse. Boise, Idaho: Black Canyon Communications, 2002.
• 2002 Special Recognition for His Contribution to the Literature of Idaho: Ford Swetnam
• 2002 HONORABLE MENTION: Gruber, William. On All Sides Nowhere: Building a Rural Life in Idaho. Boston, Massachusetts: Houghton Mifflin Co., 2002.

2001

• 2001 WINNER: Freeman-Toole, T. Louise. Standing up to the Rock. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 2001.

2000

• 2000 WINNER: Johnson, William C. Out of the Ruins. Lewiston, Idaho: Confluence Press; Kansas City, Kansas: Distributed by Midpoint Trade Books, 2000.
• 2000 HONORABLE MENTION: Swetnam, Susan H. Home Mountains: Reflections from a Western Middle Age. Pullman, Washington. Washington State University Press, 2000.

1999

• 1999 WINNER: Fiege, Mark. Irrigated Eden: The Making of an Agricultural Landscape in the American West. Seattle, Washington: University of Washington Press, 1999.

1998

• 1998 WINNER: Peek, Pat Cary. One Winter in the Wilderness. Moscow, Idaho: University of Idaho Press, 1998.

1997

• 1997 WINNER: Lukas, J. Anthony. Big Trouble: A Murder in a Small Western Town Sets Off a Struggle for the Soul of America. New York, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997.

1996

• 1996 WINNER: James, Caroline. Nez Perce Women in Transition, 1877-1990. Moscow, Idaho: University of Idaho Press, 1996.
• 1996 HONORABLE MENTION: Barnes, Kim. In the Wilderness: Coming of Age in an Unknown Country. New York: Doubleday, 1996.
• 1996 HONORABLE MENTION: Derig, Betty B. Roadside History of Idaho. Missoula, Montana: Mountain Press Pub. Co., 1996.

1995

• 1995 WINNER: Petersen, Keith C. River of Life, Channel of Death: Fish and Dams on the Lower Snake. Lewiston, Idaho: Confluence Press, 1995.
• 1995 HONORABLE MENTION: Yahr, Warren. Smokechaser. Moscow, Idaho: University of Idaho Press, 1995.

1994

• 1994 WINNER: Nisbet, Jack. Sources of the River: Tracking David Thompson Across Western North America. Seattle, Washington: Sasquatch Books, 1994.
• 1994 HONORABLE MENTION: Shallat, Todd A.; and E.B. Bentley. Snake: The Plain and its People. Boise, Idaho: Boise State University, 1994.
• 1994 HONORABLE MENTION: Killoren, John J. “Come, Blackrobe”: De Smet and the Indian tragedy. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1994.

1993

• 1993 WINNER: Hedberg, Kathleen. A Flood Cannot Happen Here: The Story of Lower Goose Creek Reservoir, Oakley Idaho, 1984. Burley, Idaho: Magic Valley Publishers, 1993.
• 1993 HONORABLE MENTION: Schwantes, Carlos. Railroad Signatures Across the Pacific Northwest. Seattle, Washington: University of Washington Press, 1993.
• 1993 HONORABLE MENTION: Pavesic, Max G.; William Studebaker; and Catherine S Fowler. Backtracking: Ancient Art of Southern Idaho. Pocatello, Idaho: Idaho Museum of Natural History, 1993.

1992

• No Idaho Book Awards were awarded in 1992.

1991

• 1991 WINNER: Attebery, Jennifer Eastman. Building Idaho: An Architectural History. Moscow, Idaho: University of Idaho Press, 1991.

1990

• 1990 WINNER: Stacy, Susan M. Conversations: A Companion Book to Idaho Public Television’s “Proceeding on through a Beautiful Country, a History of Idaho”. Boise, Idaho: Idaho Educational Public Broadcasting Foundation, 1990.

1989

• 1989 WINNER: Woodward, Tim. Tiger on the Road: The Life of Vardis Fisher. Caldwell, Idaho: Caxton Printers, 1989.

1988

• 1988 WINNER: Stapilus, Randy. Paradox Politics: People and Power in Idaho. Boise, Idaho: Ridenbaugh Press, 1988.

1987

• 1987 WINNER: Petersen, Keith C. This Crested Hill: An Illustrated History of the University of Idaho. Moscow, Idaho: University of Idaho Press, 1987.

1986

• 1986 WINNER: Maguire, James H., editor. The Literature of Idaho: An Anthology. Boise, Idaho: Hemingway Western Studies, Boise State University, 1986.

1985

• 1985 WINNER: Attebery, Louie W.; and Brian Attebery. Idaho Folklife: Homesteads to Headstones. Salt Lake City, Utah: University of Utah Press; Boise, Idaho: Idaho State Historical Society, 1985.

1984

• 1984 WINNER: Hart, Patricia; and Ivar Nelson. Mining Town: The Photographic Record of T.N. Barnard and Nellie Stockbridge from the Coeur d’Alenes. Seattle, Washington: University of Washington Press; Boise, Idaho: Idaho State Historical Society, 1984.
• 1984 was the first year for the Idaho Book Award.

Sources

• Idaho Book Award on LibraryThing
• Idaho Book of the Year Award Winners, Goodreads
• Idaho Library Association
• Celebrate Idaho: Idaho Books and Authors, Lili.org LibGuides (Archive.org 3 Jul 2017)
• “’Idaho Microbes’ Book Wins Top Idaho Book Award.” Boise State University College of Arts and Sciences Newsletter. September 2016. https://www.boisestate.edu/soas/september-2016-newsletter/. Accessed May 4, 2019.
• “Honors & Awards.” WSU Press. Washington State University. https://wsupress.wsu.edu/honors-awards/. Accessed February 25, 2021.
• “Popular Reads.” Connections: Idaho Talking Book Service News. Idaho Commission for Libraries Volume 9, Number 3-4 Summer Fall 2018 page 11.
• https://idahodocs.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16293coll3/id/257093/rec/3. Digitized November 16, 2018. Accessed February 25, 2021.
• “The ILA Idaho Book of the Year committee is pleased to announce that they have chosen Idaho Wilderness Considered, published by the Idaho Humanities Council and edited by Murray Feldman and Jennifer Emery Davidson as the Idaho Book of the Year 2016.” Idaho Library Association. Facebook. September 7, 2017. Accessed May 4, 2019.
• Bauer, Jennifer K. “And the 2015 Idaho book award goes to the microbes.” The 360s. Inland Northwest. Lewiston Morning Tribune. August 29, 2016. https://inland360.com/books/2016/08/and-the-2015-idaho-book-award-goes-to-the-microbes/
• Blanchard, Nicole. “’Idaho can’t be separated from the story and from me,’ writer says of debut novel.” The Idaho Statesman. August 11, 2017. Updated August 14, 2017. https://www.idahostatesman.com/living/treasure/article166775072.html. Accesses May 4, 2019.
• Boise Public Library staff. “Idaho Library Association: Idaho Book Award: Winners.” Boise Public Library. brochure includes winners from1984 through 2008.
• Book awards: Idaho Book Award on LibraryThing. http://www.librarything.com/bookaward/Idaho+Book+Award. Archived version on Internet Archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20160403084619/http://www.librarything.com/bookaward/Idaho+Book+Award. Accessed February 25, 2021.
• Idaho State University. “Retired ISU professor Susan Swetnam honored for book. Idaho State Journal. October 10, 2013. https://www.idahostatejournal.com/members/retired-isu-professor-susan-swetnam-honored-for-book/article_730d75cc-316d-11e3-a140-001a4bcf887a.html. Accessed May 4, 2019.
• Jennifer K. Bauer. ‘The enigmatic Neill James – Moscow man’s novel explores the story of a WWII-era spy’, Lewiston Morning Tribune (online), September 1, 2016. ‹https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&docref=news/15F200A81748C120›
• Lili.org: Library: LibGuides: Celebrate Idaho: Idaho Books and Authors. http://guides.lili.org/c.php?g=419873&p=2863889. Accessed February 25, 2021.
• ‘Members of the Boise State Community Win Literature Fellowships,’ US Fed News (online), June 27, 2019 ‹https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&docref=news/17456F0A4B7DE8E8›
• ‘Notable neighbors: News of note about your friends and neighbors in the Treasure Valley’, The Idaho Statesman (online), October 15, 2013. https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/documentview?p=WORLDNEWS&docref=news/149738C658A26D50›
• Stephanie Eddy. ‘Idaho Book Award honors English professor’s work’, The Idaho Statesman (online), October 12, 2010 ‹https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&docref=news/1337019EB73B4C28›
• Stephanie Eddy. ‘Idaho Book Award honors English professor’s work’, The Idaho Statesman (online). October 12, 2010 ‹https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&docref=news/1337019EB73B4C28›
• Todd Shallat: curriculum vitae. Boise State University. https://d25vtythmttl3o.cloudfront.net/uploads/sites/114/files/2016/08/Shallat-C.V.-bio-3_16_17.pdf Last updated March 16, 2017.
• ‘Writers’ Festival Set.’ Idaho State Journal (online), April 3, 2014 ‹https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&docref=news/14CF4C0EB8863318›

This page updated by Ronnie Joiner on October 13, 2022.