The 2025 Southern Book Prize finalists will be announced on November 1, 2024. Voting for the 2025 Southern Book Prize will start on the same day. The Prize, representing Southern bookseller favorites from 2024, is awarded to “the best Southern book of the year” as nominated by Southern indie booksellers and voted on by their customers. Winners were chosen by popular vote from a ballot of finalists in fiction, nonfiction, and children’s and young adult literature. Over 1200 ballots were cast for the 2024 Southern Book Prize, making each Southern Book Prize winner a true Southern reader favorite.  Readers who submit a ballot can choose to be entered into a raffle to win a collection of the SBP finalist and winning titles.

FAQs about The Southern Book Prize

Which books can be nominated?

A book must be set in the South, or the author must be Southern, or both, and it must have been published in the previous calendar year. Books must also be in print and generally available to the industry at standard wholesale terms.

Are self published books eligible?

If they meet the above criteria.

Who can nominate a book?

Nominations close on October 1. Nominations must come from SIBA member booksellers. Positive reviews of eligible books submitted by SIBA booksellers to Edelweiss are also considered to be nominations. SIBA Booksellers can nominate books directly via the form link below. Only SIBA booksellers can nominate a book.

online nomination form

How are winners selected?

• A list of finalists is compiled from eligible books that receive the most nominations. Nominations close on October 1
• Finalists are announced on November 1.
• Bookstores and their customers vote on the finalists between November 1 and February 1.

Celebrating 25 Years of Great Taste in Southern Literature:
Announcing the 2024 Southern Book Prize Finalists

The Southern Book Prize celebrates its 25th anniversary with the announcement of the 2024 Southern Book Prize finalists, selected by Southern independent booksellers and representing bookseller favorites from 2023 that are Southern in nature—either about the South or by a Southern writer. Since its inception in 1999, the Southern Book Prize (formerly the SIBA Book Award) has stood as a testament to the love of indie booksellers for great storytelling.

All books nominated for the Southern Book Prize have been submitted by bookseller members of the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA) and have received enthusiastic reviews from Southern booksellers. The 18 finalists, six in each category, received the highest number of nominations and rave reviews, making these books a collection of the most beloved “handsells” of the year in fiction, nonfiction, and children’s/young adult literature.

The finalists make up the 2024 Southern Book Prize ballot. Voting is open now and will run through February 1, 2024. All readers who love Southern literature and Southern independent bookstores can vote for their favorites:

VOTE HERE: The 2024 Southern Book Prize Ballot
See the 2024 Southern Book Prize finalists

SIBA launched the Southern Book Prize public ballot in 2019 to encourage stores to engage their customers in the important question of what books deserve to be called “the best Southern book of the year.”  Participating bookstores promote the ballot to their customers, and submitted ballots are entered into a raffle to win a set of the finalist titles. Winners in each category will be chosen by popular vote. Southern Book Prize winners will be announced on February 14, Valentine’s Day.

The Finalists:

Fiction

All the Sinners Bleed by S. A. Cosby [Flatiron Books]
How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix [Berkley]
Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward [Scribner]
Starling House by Alix E. Harrow [Tor Books]
Tom Lake by Ann Patchett [Harper]
The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff [Riverhead Books]

Nonfiction

Above Ground by Clint Smith [Little, Brown and Company]
The Comfort of Crows by Margaret Renkl [Spiegel & Grau]
Happily by Sabrina Orah Mark [Random House]
Kiss Me in the Coral Lounge by Helen Ellis [Doubleday]
This Isn't Going to End Well by Daniel Wallace [Algonquin Books]
We Are Too Many by Hannah Pittard [Henry Holt and Co.]

Children's & YA

Begin Again by Emma Lord [Wednesday Books]
Blood Debts by Terry J. Benton-Walker [Tor Teen]
Chaos Theory by Nic Stone [Crown Books for Young Readers]
Okra Stew by Natalie Daise [Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)]
When Sea Becomes Sky by Gillian McDunn [Bloomsbury Children's Books]
Where are the Aliens by Stacy McAnulty, Nicole Miles (Illus.) [Little Brown Books for Young Readers]

For more information, visit the home of the Southern Book Prize at The Southern Bookseller Review or contact Linda-Marie Barrett, Executive Director, Southern Booksellers Alliance at lindamarie@sibaweb.com.