Portland author Kimberly King Parsons speaks after winning the Ken Kesey Award for Fiction at the 2025 Oregon Book Awards ceremony on Monday, April 28, 2025, for her debut novel, "We Were The Universe."
Courtesy of Andie Petkus Photography / Literary Arts
Portland author Kimberly King Parsons published her debut novel, “We Were the Universe,” last year. On Monday, her book took home the Ken Kesey Award for Fiction at the 2025 Oregon Book Awards ceremony.
Parsons’ book has earned national acclaim as well, taking readers on an exploration of a young mother’s grief after the loss of her sister. Listed by Time Magazine as one of its Must-Read Books of 2024, the book also received praise from The New York Times.
That award for best fiction by an Oregon author in 2025 came from Literary Arts in Portland, which also doled out awards in several other categories, including:
- Stafford/Hall Award for Poetry — charity e. yoro, another Portland author, for “ten-cent flower & other territories.”
- Angus L. Bowmer Award for Drama — Brianna Barrett, also of Portland, for “Still Harvey Still.”
- Frances Fuller Victor Award for General Nonfiction — Rebecca Clarren of Portland for “The Cost of Free Land: Jews, Lakota and an American Inheritance.”
- Sarah Winnemucca Award for Creative Nonfiction — Jaclyn Moyer of Corvallis for “On Gold Hill: A Personal History of Wheat Farming and Family, from Punjab to California.”
- Leslie Bradshaw Award for Young Adult & Middle Grade Literature — Makiia Lucier of Portland for “Dragonfruit.”
- Eloise Jarvis McGraw Award for Children’s Literature — Ann Broyles of Portland for “I’m Gonna Paint: Ralph Fasanella, Artist of the People.”
"We Were The Universe" by Portland author Kimberly King Parsons.
Courtesy of Literary
Literary Arts also bestowed two awards for individuals who have made a significant impact on the state’s literary landscape: Jelani Memory of Portland, the founder of A Kids Co., won The Walt Morey Young Readers Literary Legacy Award; and Laura Moulton of Portland, founder of Street Books, took home the Stewart H. Holbrook Literary Legacy Award.
This year, panels of out-of-state judges looked at 212 titles by Oregon writers and authors, choosing 35 as finalists.
Founded in 1984, Literary Arts began giving out Oregon Book Awards in 1987, recognizing work by the state’s authors and poets. The Portland-based nonprofit regularly hosts programs such as the Portland Arts & Lectures series, Portland Book Festival, the book awards and fellowships, writing classes and several youth programs like “Verselandia.”
The organization’s radio show and podcast, “The Archive Project,” airs on OPB Sundays at 7 p.m.