Ohio Book Awards to honor diverse authors, including Dayton native Timothy Snyder

Each year, juried awards are given to books in the following categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, About Ohio/an Ohioan, Young Adult Literature, Middle Grade Literature and Juvenile Literature.

Other recognitions include the Readers’ Choice Book Award and the Walter Rumsey Marvin Grant, a prize for emerging writers.

Seven of the Ohio Book Award winners, as well as the Marvin Grant recipient, are selected by juries. The Ohioana website also stated the Readers’ Choice Award is determined by voters in a public online poll. Over 3,500 votes were cast for this year’s Readers’ Choice Award.

“We have a nice representation of diversity this year,” said Kimberlee Kiehl, executive director of the Ohioana Library Association. “Diversity is always important to us. And it’s going to be a fun celebration this year. I’m really excited about the awards. We had such close votes this year as well.”

Dayton native Timothy Snyder, an acclaimed historian and a graduate of Centerville High School, is this year’s Nonfiction winner for “On Freedom.” Snyder will attend the ceremony and also participate in an onstage interview conducted by Dayton Daily News Editor and Chief Content Officer Ashley Bethard.

“Tim Snyder’s book is so relevant right now with everything that’s happening and I’m really happy to bring some attention to it,” Kiehl said. “I don’t see his work as political. I see it as being about democracy and (examining) what it means to have freedom. ‘On Freedom’ is so timely and the fact that it did win tells me it’s something people are thinking a lot about this year.”

Credit: Contributed

Credit: Contributed

In addition, Claudia Owusu, a Ghanaian-American poet, filmmaker and essayist based in Columbus, is the recipient of the Walter Rumsey Marvin Grant, which was established in honor of the Ohioana Library Association’s second director who served from 1954 to 1965. The Marvin Grant is a $1,000 award given annually to an Ohio writer 30 years of age or younger who has not had a book published.

Owusu’s writing has appeared or is forthcoming in Ninth Letter, Bellingham Review, Indianapolis Review, Vogue, Narrative Northwest, Akoroko and Brittle Paper. She also received the second annual Julia Reichert Award at this year’s Yellow Springs Film Festival for her project “This is the House: If I Don’t See You, I Love You.”

Credit: Nana Kwadwo Agyei Addo

Credit: Nana Kwadwo Agyei Addo

Assessing current events in America, Kiehl believes this year’s ceremony holds greater significance.

“In some ways, I feel like maybe this is the most important year for the Ohio Book Awards,” she said. “The fact that we are celebrating allowing these authors to express themselves and to share their ideas — and then to celebrate the fact that they do that — is really important."

The 2025 Ohio Book Award winners

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