2025 Book of the Year Winner

Wild and Distant Seas, by Tara Karr Roberts.

Lyrical language, evocative imagery, and careful attention to detail set this book apart as easily the finest example of literature in this year’s submissions. From Nantucket to Boston, from Brazil to Florence, and even to the wilds of Moscow, Idaho, in the early years of the twentieth century, the tale follows four generations of women, all gifted with slightly different abilities to see into the minds of others, and all impacted by the lies and half-truths they choose to protect themselves or their daughters.

Honorable Mention

If Seasons Were Kingdoms, by Margaret Koger.

This slim volume of 46 poems is filled with images of nature found plentifully in Idaho. In the poems are deer, pheasant, salmon, shore birds, wildflowers, bears, and many other creatures and growing things. But there is a human presence also, an observer who loves the natural world and is changed by encounters with it. Koger’s poems speak to the human condition, and our connection to the natural world through its rhythms.

Nomination Process

Do you have a favorite book that was published in 2025?

The Idaho Library Association Book Award Committee is seeking nominations for the 2025 Idaho Book Award to be given at the 2026 Idaho Library Association Conference.

To qualify for the award:

· The book must have been published in the 2025 calendar year

· The book must have an Idaho setting or significant Idaho content, or have been written by a resident of Idaho.

· Books may be in any category: fiction or non-fiction, prose or poetry, intended for children or adults.

· Nominations may be submitted by anyone except for award committee members, including publishers, booksellers, authors, librarians, scholars, and readers.

To nominate a book, please send a letter of nomination and two review copies (if possible) to:

Kathryn Lopez Luker

Marshall Public Library

113 South Garfield Avenue

Pocatello, ID 83204

Nomination letters may also be emailed to: kluker@marshallpl.org