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2021 Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature Winners Selected

PRESS RELEASE  

Contact: 
Dora Ho
Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association
dorah2005@gmail.com

For Immediate Release
January 25, 2021

2021 Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature Winners Selected

Chicago – The Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA), an affiliate of the American Library Association, has selected the winners of the 2020-2021 Asian/Pacific American Awards for Literature (APAAL). The awards promote Asian/Pacific American culture and heritage and are awarded to titles published from September 2019 to August 2020 based on their literary and artistic merit.

There are five categories for the Awards.  Each committee select a winning title for the category.  Here are the winners and honor titles of the 2020-2021 Literature Awards:

Adult Fiction

The APALA Adult Literature Fiction committee has selected How Much of These Hills is Gold: A Novel written by C Pam Zhang published by Riverhead Books as the Adult Fiction winner.

The honor title is How to Pronounce Knife by Souvankham Thammavongsa, published by Little, Brown and Company.

Adult Non-Fiction

The Adult Non-Fiction Committee has selected America for Americans: A History of Xenophobia in the United States written by Erika Lee, published by Basic Books, an imprint of Hachette Book Group as the Adult Non-Fiction winner. 

The honor title is Hollywood Chinese: The Chinese in American Feature Films by Arthur Dong, published by Angel City Press. 

Young Adult Literature

The Youth Literature Committee has selected This Light Between Us written by Andrew Fukuda, published by Tor Teen Book as the Youth Literature Award Winner. 

The honor title is Displacement by Kiku Hughes, published by First Second, an imprint of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group.

Children’s Literature

The Children’s Literature Committee has selected When You Trap a Tiger written by Tae Keller, published by Random House Children’s Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books a division of Penguin Random House as the Children’s Literature Award Winner. 

The honor title is Prairie Lotus by Linda Sue Park, published by Clarion Books, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers, a division of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Picture Book

The Picture Books Committee has selected Paper Son: The Inspiring Story of Tyrus Wong, Immigrant and Artist, written by Julie Leung and illustrated by Chris Sasaki, published by Schwartz & Wade an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Penguin Random House.

The honor winner is Danbi Leads the School Parade written and illustrated by Anna Kim, published by Viking Children’s Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC.


Each award will be named and given the award seal and plaques during the 2021 APALA Literature Award Ceremony. 

For a complete list of Asian/Pacific American Awards for Literature including adult fiction and nonfiction titles, please visit http://www.apalaweb.org/awards/literature-awards/.

The 2020-2021 Asian/Pacific American Awards for Literature committee includes Jury Co-Chairs Dora Ho, Los Angeles Public Library, Los Angeles, Calif.; Ven Basco, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida, and Helen Look, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan. 

Adult Fiction Committee:
Chair: Tiffany Esteban, University of Florida George A. Smathers Libraries, Gainesville, Florida; Stephanie Akau, Library of Congress, Washington DC; Richard Cho, University of California Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California; Elaine Tai, Burlingame Public Library, Burlingame, California; Anuradha Vedantham, Princeton University Libraries, Princeton, New Jersey.

Adult Non-Fiction Committee:
Chair: Cynthia Orozco East Los Angeles College, Monterey Park, CA; Eugenia Beh, MIT Libraries, Cambridge, MA; Lamonica Sanford, Georgia College & State University, Milledgeville, GA. 

Youth Literature Award Committee:
Chair: Zoë McLaughlin, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI; Ammi Bui, University of Texas, San Antonio. San Antonio, TX; Kristyn Dorfman, The Nightingale-Bamford School, New York, NY; Janet Mumford, École Henry Anderson Elementary School Library, Richmond, BC, Canada; Lalitha Nataraj, California State University San Marcos, San Marcos, CA; Renee Roberson-Tecco, Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library, Cincinnati, OH; Julia Wright, Alameda County Library, Fremont, CA.

Children’s Literature Award Committee:
Chair: Lana Adlawan, Sonoma County Library, Rohnert Park, CA; Jade Alburo, UCLA Library. Los Angeles, CA; Christine Chai, Los Angeles Public Library, Los Angeles, CA; Kate Rolfe, Erickson Library, Lake Superior College, Duluth, Minnesota, and Florence Tang, Mercer University Swilley Graduate and Professional Library, Atlanta, Georgia.

Picture Book Award Committee:
Chair: Hannah Lee Park, American University Library, Washington, D.C.; Arya Hackney, Lincoln Memorial University, Harrogate, TN; Hadeal Salamah, Georgetown Day School, Washington, D.C.; Karen Nguyen, Curtis School Library, Los Angeles, CA; Maria Shackles, Tacoma Public Library, Tacoma, WA; Yumi Ohira, University of Texas at Arlington Libraries, Arlington, TX.

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The Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA) was founded in 1980 by librarians of diverse Asian/Pacific ancestries committed to working together toward a common goal: to create an organization that would address the needs of Asian/Pacific American librarians and those who serve Asian/Pacific American communities.

Publishers interested in submitting books for the 2021-2022 awards should contact Dora Ho, Jury Co-Chair, at dorah2005@gmail.com