The Washington Center for the Book at The Seattle Public Library announces the selection of 25 finalists for the 2004 Washington State Book Awards.

Of these 25 titles, 10 will be named winners of the 2004 Washington State Book Awards at an awards ceremony this fall. The program, open to the public, will include readings by the authors.

Now in its 38th year, the Washington State Book Award (formerly known as the Governor's Writers Award) honors books published by Washington authors during the previous calendar year. The panel selects books based on three criteria: literary merit, lasting importance, and overall quality of the publication.

The 25 finalists were culled from more than 300 titles nominated for this year's Washington State Book Awards. The panel will spend the summer reading and judging the finalists and will come together in September to choose the 10 award winners.

Thanks to the sponsorship of The Seattle Public Library Foundation, each award winner will receive a $1,000 honorarium.

The finalists for the award are:
1. Sherman Alexie, "Ten Little Indians" (Grove Press)
2. Gary Atkins, "Gay Seattle: Stories of Exile and Belonging" (University of Washington Press)
3. K.K. Beck, "Opal: A Life of Enchantment, Mystery, and Madness" (Viking)
4. Fred Beckey, "A Range of Glaciers: The Exploration and Survey of the Northern Cascade Range" (Oregon Historical Society Press)
5. Michael Byers, "Long for This World" (Houghton Mifflin)
6. Linda Carlson, "Company Towns of the Pacific Northwest" (University of Washington Press)
7. Molly Cone, Howard Droker and Jacqueline Williams, "Family of Strangers: Building a Jewish Community in Washington State" (Washington State Jewish Historical Society)
8. Chris Crutcher, "King of the Mild Frontier: An Ill-Advised Autobiography" (Greenwillow Books)
9. Karen Cushman, "Rodzina" (Clarion Books)
10. Pete Dexter, "Train" (Doubleday)
11. Ivan Doig, "Prairie Nocturne" (Scribner)
12. Chris Forhan, "The Actual Moon, the Actual Stars" (Northeastern University Press)
13. Alan Gallay, "The Indian Slave Trade: The Rise of the English Empire in the American South, 1670-1717" (Yale University Press)
14. William Gibson, "Pattern Recognition" (G.P. Putnam's Sons)
15. David Guterson, "Our Lady of the Forest" (Knopf)
16. Christopher Howell, "Just Waking: Poems Uncollected and Otherwise" (Lost Horse Press)
17. Linda Lawrence Hunt, "Bold Spirit: Helga Estby's Forgotten Walk Across Victorian America" (University of Idaho Press)
18. Charles Johnson, "Turning the Wheel: Essays on Buddhism and Writing" (Scribner)
19. Tetsuden Kashima, "Judgment Without Trial: Japanese American Imprisonment During World War II" (University of Washington Press)
20. Erik Larson, "The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America" (Crown Publishers)
21. David Montgomery, "King of Fish: The Thousand-Year Run on Salmon" (Westview Press)
22. Jack Nisbet, "Visible Bones: Journey Across Time in the Columbia River Country" (Sasquatch Books)
23. Jonathan Raban, "Waxwings" (Pantheon Books)
24. Matt Ruff, "Set This House in Order: A Romance of Souls" (HarperCollins)
25. Nance Van Winckel, "Beside Ourselves" (Miami University Press)

"This is a great summer reading list for the panel, and anyone else who appreciates a good book," said Nancy Pearl, executive director of the Washington Center for the Book.

The jurists for the Washington State Book Awards represent various facets of the state's literary community. This year's judges are: Karen Maeda Allman, writer and bookseller, The Elliott Bay Book Company; Mary Harris, owner, Parkplace Books; Tod Marshall, professor of English, Gonzaga University; Venta Silins, reference/education librarian, University of Washington, Bothell; and Edwin Weihe, professor of English, Seattle University.

For more information contact:

Nancy Pearl, Washington Center for the Book
206-386-4184

Chris Higashi, Washington Center for the Book
206-386-4650

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