SALT LAKE CITY — The five winners of the 2009 Utah Book Award were announced on Thursday during the Utah Humanities Book Festival at the Salt Lake City Public Library. The Utah Book Award, sponsored by The Salt Lake City Library and the Utah Center for the Book, honors outstanding achievements by Utah writers and exceptional literature having a Utah theme or setting.
In the fiction category, Peter Rock won for his "My Abandonment" book.
"Comb Ridge and Its People: The Ethnohistory of a Rock" by Robert S. McPherson swept honors in the nonfiction division.
In poetry, "Backyard Alchemy" by Lance Larsen was the winner.
For young adult literature, Sara Zarr's "Once Was Lost" was the winner, while in literature for children, "Pingo" by Brandon Mull took honors.
—Lynn Arave