Southern Book Prize

Pat Conroy Southern Book Prize (formerly the SEBA Book Award and SIBA Book Award) is an American South literary award given by the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA), first awarded in 1999. Nominated books must be southern in nature or by a southern author, have been published the previous year, and have been nominated by a SIBA-member bookstore or one of their customers. Voting categories include fiction, non-fiction, poetry, cooking and children's literature.

The first awards were given in 1999. From 1999 through 2007 winners were chosen by popular vote through an online voting mechanism. Starting in 2008 winners were chosen from the list of finalists by a jury of SIBA booksellers, instead of by popular vote. Beginning in 2016, the award was renamed the Southern Book Award and named on honor of southern writer Pat Conroy.

Winners

SIBA Book Award

1999

• Fiction: The Next Step in the Dance, Tim Gautreaux
• Nonfiction: Confederates in the Attic, Tony Horwitz
• Children: Out of the Ocean, Debra Frasier
• Poetry: Someone Will Go On Owing, Andrew Glaze

2000

• Fiction: Look Back All the Green Valley, Fred Chappell
• Nonfiction: Ecology of a Cracker Childhood, Janisse Ray
• Children: Bugs & Critters I Have Known, Ann Heiskell Rickey
• Poetry: Elegy for the Southern Drawl, Rodney Jones

2001

• Fiction: Jim the Boy, Tony Earley
• Nonfiction: Somebody Told Me, Rick Bragg
• Children: Because of Winn-Dixie, Kate DiCamillo
• Poetry: Zinc Fingers, Peter Meinke

2002

• Fiction: The Bridge (2001 novel), Doug Marlette
• Nonfiction: Ava’s Man, Rick Bragg
• Children: How Animals Saved the People, J.J. Reneaux

2003

• Fiction: The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd
• Nonfiction: My Losing Season, Pat Conroy
• Children: Hoot, Carl Hiaasen
• Poetry: Catching Light, Kathryn Stripling Byer
• Cookbook: The Foster’s Market Cookbook, Sara Foster

2004

• Fiction: Lunch at the Piccadilly, Clyde Edgerton
• Nonfiction: The GRITS Guide to Life, Deborah Ford
• Children: How I Became a Pirate, Melinda Long
• Poetry: Locales, Fred Chappell (Editor)
• Cookbook: The Gift of Southern Cooking, Edna Lewis

2005

• Fiction: Saints at the River, Ron Rash
• Nonfiction: We’re Just Like You, Only Prettier, Celia Rivenbark
• Children: Peter and the Starcatchers, Dave Barry & Ridley Pearson
• Poetry: A Companion for Owls, Maurice Manning
• Cookbook: Frank Stitt’s Southern Table, Frank Stitt

2006

• Fiction: Gods in Alabama, Joshilyn Jackson
• Nonfiction: Marley & Me, John Grogan
• Children: Rosa, Nikki Giovanni (with Bryan Collier)
• Poetry: What Travels with Us, Darnell Arnoult
• Cookbook: Being Dead is No Excuse, Gayden Metcalfe & Charlotte Hays

2007

• Fiction: Thirteen Moons, Charles Frazier
• Nonfiction: Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee, Charles J. Shields
• Children: Alabama Moon, Watt Key
• Poetry: Keep and Give Away, Susan Meyers
• Cookbook: I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence, Amy Sedaris

2008

• Fiction: Garden Spells, Sarah Addison Allen
• Nonfiction: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, Barbara Kingsolver
• Children: Deep in the Swamp, Donna Bateman, illustrated by Brian Lies
• Poetry: The House On Boulevard Street, David Kirby
• Cookbook: A Love Affair with Southern Cooking, Jean Anderson

2009

• Fiction: Serena, Ron Rash
• Nonfiction: The Prince of Frogtown, Rick Bragg
• Young Adult: Graceling, Kristin Cashore
• Children: Two Bobbies, Kirby Larson & Mary Nethery
• Poetry: Dear Darkness, Kevin Young
• Cookbook: Screen Doors and Sweet Tea, Martha Hall Foose

2010

• Fiction: The Help by Kathryn Stockett
• Nonfiction: The Most They Ever Had by Rick Bragg
• Children: The Secret World of Walter Anderson by Hester Bass
• Cookbook: The Lee Bros. Simple Fresh Southern by Ted and Matt Lee

2011

• Fiction: Burning Bright by Ron Rash
• Nonfiction: The Blueberry Years: A Memoir of Farm and Family by Jim Minick
• Young Adult: Countdown by Deborah Wiles
• Children: Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine
• Poetry: A House of Branches by Janisse Ray
• Cookbook: Southern My Way: Simple Recipes, Fresh Flavors by Gena Knox

2012

• Fiction: Iron House by John Hart
• Nonfiction: Lions of the West by Robert Morgan
• Young Adult: Darwen Arkwright and the Peregrine Pact by A. J. Hartley
• Children: Jo MacDonald Saw a Pond (Jo MacDonald Series) by Mary Quattlebaum
• Poetry: Abandoned Quarry by John Lane
• Cookbook: The New Southern Garden Cookbook by Sheri Castle

2013

• Fiction: A Land More Kind Than Home by Wiley Cash
• Nonfiction: Stand Up That Mountain: The Battle to Save One Small Community in the Wilderness Along the Appalachian Trail by Jay Erskine Leutze
• Young Adult: Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage
• Children: The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore by William Joyce
• Poetry: Descent by Kathryn Stripling Byer
• Cookbook: The Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook by Cheryl Day

2014

• Fiction: Whistling Past the Graveyard by Susan Crandall
• Nonfiction: Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital by Sheri Fink
• Young Adult: The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen
• Children: The Girl from Felony Bay by J. E. Thompson
• Poetry: The Collected Poems of Cathy Smith Bowers by Cathy Smith Bowers
• Cooking: Pickles, Pigs & Whiskey: Recipes from My Three Favorite Food Groups and Then Some by John Currence

2015

• Fiction: The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
• Nonfiction: Factory Man by Beth Macy
• Young Adult: League of Seven by Alan Gratz, Brett Helquist (illustrator)
• Children: Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
• Cooking: Heritage by Sean Brock

Southern Book Prize

2016

• Fiction: My Sunshine Away by M. O. Walsh
• Literary: Above the Waterfall by Ron Rash
• Mystery: Bull Mountain by Brian Panowich
• Thriller: The Bone Tree by Greg Isles
• Cookbook: Soul Food Love by Alice Randall
• Non-fiction: Dispatches from Pluto: Lost and Found in the Mississippi Delta by Richard Grant
• History & Life Stories: Jacksonland: President Andrew Jackson, Cherokee Chief John Ross, and a Great American Land Grab by Steve Inskeep
• Young Adult: Mosquitoland by David Arnold
• Youngsters: Serafina and the Black Cloak by Robert Beatty

2017

• Fiction (Coming of Age): Commonwealth by Ann Patchett
• Fiction (Family Life): A Lowcountry Christmas by Mary Alice Monroe
• Fiction (Historical): Chasing the North Star by Robert Morgan
• Fiction (Literary): Over the Plain Houses by Julia Franks
• Southern Stories & Stories by Southerners: The Whole Town's Talking by Fannie Flagg
• Thriller: Redemption Road by John Hart
• Juvenile: Lily and Dunkin by Donna Gephart
• Biography, Autobiography & Memoir: The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man's Love Affair with Nature by J. Drew Lanham
• Cooking: Deep Run Roots: Stories & Recipes from My Corner of the South by Vivian Howard
• Creative Nonfiction: Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J. D. Vance

2018

• Fiction (Women & Family: Young Jane Young by Gabrielle Zevin
• Fiction (Literary): The Last Ballad by Wiley Cash
• Mystery/Thriller/Suspense: Gradle Bird by J. C. Sasser
• Southern Fiction: Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate
• Juvenile Fiction: Tumble & Blue by Cassie Beasley and Flame in the Mist by Renée Ahdieh
• Biography & History: Coretta: My Life, My Love, My Legacy by Coretta Scott King
• Non-fiction: Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America by Michael Eric Dyson

2019

• Fiction: The Line that Held Us by David Joy
• Children's: Smack Dab in the Middle of Maybe by Jo Hackl
• Non-fiction: The Best Cook in the World by Rick Bragg

2020

• Fiction: The Magnetic Girl by Jessica Handler
• Children's: The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi
• Non-fiction: Tell Me a Story: My Life With Pat Conroy by Cassandra King Conroy

External links

• SIBA Book Award, official website
• SIBA Book Award at LibraryThing