CONGRATULATIONS! West Seattle writer Claudia Rowe up for National Book Award

Another West Seattle writer is up for a prestigious award. Journalist Claudia Rowe‘s book “Wards of the State: The Long Shadow of American Foster Care” is on the longlist for the National Book Award for Nonfiction, announced today. Paper Boat Booksellers co-proprietor Eric Judy tells us that Rowe is a West Seattleite, and that her book is in stock at Paper Boat (4522 California SW). Here’s the full list of nonfiction nominees. The award program’s website describes the book as follows:

In Wards of the State, Claudia Rowe offers readers a deep understanding of the foster care-to-prison pipeline. Through interviews with psychologists, advocates, judges, and the former foster children themselves, Rowe paints a heartbreaking picture of the lives shaped by this broken system.

The awards will be presented November 19 in a livestreamed ceremony.

SLJ September 11, 2025 (7:26 am)

Congratulations! Next up on my list to read.

HS September 11, 2025 (7:59 am)

How exciting!!!

rose September 11, 2025 (11:23 am)

I actually read this book. Very well written, she really looks not just at Washington State but also nationally. It is eye opening, deeply depressing but also constructive. She does not try to say “how to fix it” but she definitely lays out underlying challenges that contribute to the deficits of the system. Definitely a must read!