American Book Fest™ Announces Winners and Finalists of the 20th Annual Best Book Awards

LOS ANGELES, NOVEMBER 2023 – American Book Fest announced the winners and finalists of THE 20th ANNUAL BEST BOOK AWARDS (BBA), one of the world’s largest international book award programs for mainstream, indie, and self-published titles. Over 500 winners and finalists were announced in over 100 categories. Awards were presented for titles published in 2021, 2022, and 2023.

Jeffrey Keen, President and CEO of American Book Fest, said this year’s contest yielded thousands of entries from authors and publishers around the world, which were then narrowed down to the final results.

Full results for the 20th Annual Best Book Awards can be found at: https://www.americanbookfest.com/2023bbafullresults.html

Winners and finalists of this year’s contest join a prestigious group of past laureates, including Pope Francis, Amy Tan, Anne Lamott, George Sanders, Julie Andrews, Clive Barker, Vanessa Williams, Shark Tank’s Daymon John, Brad Thor, Kitty Kelley, and many others.

Visit the Award Laureate page for an expanded list: https://www.americanbookfest.com/aboutuscontactus/laureates.html

American Book Fest covers books from all sections of the publishing industry—mainstream, independent, & self-published. 

In the Creative Nonfiction category, the winner and finalists are:

Winner
The Golden Ticket: A Life in College Admissions Essays by Irena Smith
She Writes Press

Finalist
Bipolar a Gift of Thorns by Dale Zurawski
Acorn Publishing

Finalist
Broken Little Believer: Finding Purpose in All the Pretty Painful Pieces by Shane Svorec
AAE

Finalist
Please Write: Finding Joy and Meaning in the Soulful Art of Handwritten Letters by Lynne M. Kolze
Beaver’s Pond Press

Finalist
Stories That Move by Bill Berry
Independently Published

Finalist

The Fifth Chamber by Anne Gudger
Jaded Ibis Press

Finalist
The Worst Thing We’ve Ever Done: One Juror’s Reckoning with Racial Injustice by Carol Menaker
She Writes Press