The winners of the 2017 Indies Choice Book Awards and the E.B. White Read-Aloud Awards, voted by independent booksellers nationwide and sponsored by the American Booksellers Association, are:
Indies Choice:
Adult Fiction Book of the Year: The Underground Railroad: A Novel by Colson Whitehead (Doubleday)
Adult Nonfiction Book of the Year: The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate--Discoveries from a Secret World by Peter Wohlleben (Greystone Books)
Adult Debut Book of the Year: Homegoing: A Novel by Yaa Gyasi (Knopf)
Young Adult Book of the Year: Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys (Philomel Books)
E.B. White Read-Aloud:
Middle Reader: The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill (Algonquin Young Readers)
Picture Book: Du Iz Tak? by Carson Ellis (Candlewick)
Indie Champion Award: Louise Erdrich
Picture Book Hall of Fame Inductees:
Jumanji by Chris Van Allsburg (HMH Books for Young Readers)
Kitten's First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes (Greenwillow Books)
Millions of Cats by Wanda Gag (G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers)
All of the Indies Choice and E.B. White winners and honor recipients (who can be viewed here) will be invited to the Celebration of Bookselling and Author Awards Lunch on Wednesday, May 31, at BookExpo in New York City.
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The High Places by Fiona McFarlane has won the £30,000 (about $38,770) International Dylan Thomas Prize, awarded to "the best published literary work of fiction in the English language, written by an author aged 39 or under," and given in partnership with Swansea University. The short story collection was published in the U.S. by Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
Chair of judges Professor Dai Smith of Swansea University said: "From an exceptionally talented shortlist of six works, after a great deal of vigorous discussion, the judges recognised the mastery of form which is present in Fiona McFarlane's unforgettable collection of stunning short stories. The High Places, the judges thought, was highly varied in tone and brought the reader to characters, situations and places which were haunting in their oddity and moving in their human empathy. This is a mature work by a young writer who exemplifies the international spirit of this prize."