The Results Are In for the 2021 NH Literary Awards
Top Honors Awarded to Authors in Five Categories
At an online awards ceremony earlier this month, Master of Ceremonies and accomplished author Robert Wheeler announced the 2021 winners of the Biennial NH Literary Awards. For over 25 years, the NH Literary Awards recognize published works written about New Hampshire as well as works that are written by New Hampshire natives or residents. Winners are selected in each of five categories — Fiction, Non-fiction, Middle Grade/Young Adult, Children’s Picture Books, and Poetry.
Of the over 80 books considered this year, six books and their authors received top honors with a tie in the Non-Fiction category. The first-place titles and corresponding authors are:
“The Green House” by Dan Lawton for Fiction
“Finding Home: Portraits and Memories of Immigrants” by Becky Field for Non-fiction
“Lunch with Tommy and Stasia – TV’s Golden Age of Candlepin Bowling” by Mike Morin for Non-fiction
“In The Neighborhood of True” by Susan Kaplan Carlton for Young Adult/Middle Grade
“Rootbound Rescue” by Kayla Fisher for Children’s Picture Book
“The Human Half” by Deborah Brown for Poetry
Master of Ceremonies Robert Wheeler, a New Castle author widely known for his books of prose and photography related to Ernest Hemingway’s literature and travels, is an advisory member of the Board of Trustees of the New Hampshire Writers’ Project (NHWP). “This recognition helps fuel the confidence in the writer to go further out from the shoreline — to trust in their abilities,” said Wheeler at the beginning of the ceremony. “This is what I wish for each of you that receive the NH Literary Award: no hugging shorelines…allow this to instill in you a trust in the stars.”
The NHWP hosts and facilitates the Biennial NH Literary Awards. The judges for the awards are teachers, librarians, and readers from the Granite State and are independent of the New Hampshire Writers’ Project. “As a board, we look forward to celebrating the talents of New Hampshire authors,” said Claudia Decker, NHWP Board member and chairwoman of the 2021 Biennial Literary Awards. “This year, in particular, our celebration is all the more significant because writing became the conduit to connecting with others. It was the escape into hope and the flight of imagination that sustained the writing spirit in all of us. We proudly received 82 submissions, double the number of entries from the last time we held the Literary Awards in 2019.”
The identity of the winning books and authors is a well-guarded secret right up until the awards are announced at the event. In fact, just moments prior to the live awards ceremony, only the judges and staff at Crown Trophy, who had engraved the authors’ names into the crystal awards and plaques, knew who the winners were.
2021 NH Literary Awards Winners |
||
|---|---|---|
| Fiction | Non-Fiction | Non-Fiction (Tie!) |
 |  |  |
| Young Adult/Middle Grade | Children's Picture Book | Poetry |
 |  |  |
Nearly 900 Readers Weigh in on Favorites
The 2021 New Hampshire People’s Choice Awards Winning Books Are Named
View the Winners for the 2021 People’s Choice Awards
