Mass Center for the Book Celebrates 25th Anniversary of Mass Book Awards

Source: Massachusetts Center for the Book

The Massachusetts Center for the Book will celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the Massachusetts Book Awards on Wednesday, November 5, at 6 p.m.,with a public reading at the Northampton Center for the Arts (33 Hawley Street).

The evening will feature Mass Book Award–winning authors Christian G. Appy, George Howe Colt, Amy Dryansky, Uzma Aslam Khan, Jim Shepard, Karen Skolfield, and Heather Treseler, who will share both new and award-winning work across fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. 

For 25 years, the Massachusetts Book Awards have recognized significant works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, translated literature, graphic novel/memoir, and children’s/young adult literature written, illustrated, or translated by current Commonwealth residents. Award winners and honor recipients are celebrated each fall at the Massachusetts State House in Boston. This year, Mass Center for the Book is pleased to bring authors together in Western Massachusetts to celebrate the longevity and continued success of the awards. 

Books will be available for purchase from Broadside Bookshop, and a reception will follow. 

About the authors:

Christian G. Appy holds a Ph.D. in American civilization and has taught at both Harvard University and MIT, where he was an associate professor of history. He won the Mass Book Award for Nonfiction for Patriots: The Vietnam War Remembered from all Sides (2003) and is the editor of the series Culture, Politics and the Cold War.

George Howe Colt is the bestselling author of The Big House, which was a National Book Award finalist and a New York Times Notable Book of the Year; Brothers, winner of the Mass Book Award; November of the Soul; and The Game.

Amy Dryansky (she/her) is the author of the poetry collections Grass Whistle (Salmon Poetry, 2013), winner of the Massachusetts Book Award for poetry, and How I Got Lost So Close to Home (Alice James Books, 1999), winner of the New England/New York Award.

Uzma Aslam Khan’s fifth and most recent novel, The Miraculous True History of Nomi Ali, won the 2023 Massachusetts Book Award in Fiction. Khan’s previous novels are The Story of Noble Rot; Trespassing, nominated for a Commonwealth Prize 2003; The Geometry of God, a Kirkus Reviews’ Best Book of 2009; and Thinner Than Skin, winner of the French Embassy Prize for Best Fiction at the Karachi Literature Festival 2014.

Jim Shepard has written eight novels, including The Book of Aron, which won the Sophie Brody Medal for Jewish Literature, as well as six story collections, including Like You’d Understand, Anyway, a finalist for the National Book Award. He’s been a recipient of the Rea Award for the Short Story, the ALEX Award for Fiction, the Massachusetts Book Award for Fiction, and a Guggenheim Fellowship.

Karen Skolfield’s book Battle Dress (W.W. Norton, 2019) won the Massachusetts Book Award in Poetry and the Barnard Women Poets Prize. Her book Frost in the Low Areas (Zone 3 Press) won the 2014 PEN New England Award in poetry and the First Book Award from Zone 3 Press, and is a Massachusetts “Must Read” selection.

Heather Treseler is the author of the poetry collection Auguries & Divinations, which received the 2025 Massachusetts Book Award, the May Sarton Poetry Prize, and the Sheila Margaret Motton Book Award. She is also the author of the chapbooks Hard Bargain (2025) and Parturition (2020); the latter received the 2019 chapbook award from the Munster Literature Centre in Cork, Ireland, and the Jean Pedrick Chapbook Prize.

About the Massachusetts Center for the Book
Massachusetts Center for the Book (MCB) is a nonprofit dedicated to inspiring a love of reading, honoring the rich literary culture of the Commonwealth, promoting unrestricted access to books and libraries, and fostering literacy and learning. Founded in 2000, MCB is charged with developing, supporting, and promoting cultural programming to advance the cause of books, libraries, and reading in Massachusetts. As the designated Commonwealth affiliate of the Library of Congress, the Center runs youth and family literacy programs, like the Reading Challenge and Letters About Literature; represents Massachusetts at the National Book Festival; operates the Massachusetts Book Awards and Mass Kids Lit Fest; and partners with community organizations on literary initiatives and events, big and small, across the state.