2025 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA BOOK FESTIVAL HONORS JOURNEY OF DISCOVERY

LOS ANGELES_ A novel detailing the journey of two Irish-American boys from a rundown Washington, D.C., neighborhood to adulthood is the top book in the 2025 Southern California Book Festival, which honors the best books of the fall.

Author Greg Fields’ The Bright Freight of Memory (Koehler Books) tells the story of Matthew Cooney and Donal Mannion, who shared their time as boys in a rundown neighborhood without fathers, without comfort, without a sense of tomorrow, then went their separate ways, one to chase the trappings of maturity, the other to the streets, as each sought his place and purpose.

This challenging book raises larger issues of destiny and the impact of suffering. Within their struggles are the challenges of escape, of outrunning the roll of the dice that placed them where they are, and in the end, of defining what it means to be alive, to constantly strive for the things that are just out of reach.

Other winners in the competition:


CHILDREN’S BOOKS:

WINNER: Benjamin’s Special Memories - Fernando Jackson

RUNNERS-UP:

• Pickleball in Pickleton - Bucleigh Newton Kernodle
• The Enchanted Journey of Remembering with Grandpa - Fernando Jackson
• The Adventures of Bot - Sara LaTorre & Lindsay Viducic
• Gizelle's Silly Soggy Day - Joy VanDertuin and Michelle Hill
• BE A SCRIBE! - Michael Hoffen

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

• A Tree for Me - Tasha-Nicole Terani
• The American Cat and the Persian Family - Judith Wilson Shadzi
• The Tail of Little Bit - Linda Hickam
• A Young Person’s Field Guide to Finding Lost Shipwrecks - Laurie Anne Zaleski
• Tears of Joy - Nini Le
• Kamala and the Worm - Ray Marcuss

ROMANCE:

WINNER: A perfect miracle: Jacobs Landing series Book One - Katrina Alexander


GENERAL FICTION:

WINNER: The Bright Freight of Memory - Greg Fields

RUNNERS-UP:

• Rebuild the Moon - Trip Mackintosh
• Tears of the Aeon - R.F. Pina
• Finding Eden - J.P. Kerwin
• The Photograph - Eve M. Riley
• Sniff - GC Brown

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

• 21 Tattoos - Monica Broussard
• Empire of Light 1 - Carcer Kane
• The Third Estate Secrets of the Manor - D.R. Berlin
• The Intruder’s Visions - Gary Lang
• Spectral Guidance - Laurie A. M. Ludtke
• A Tree for Me - Tasha-Nicole Terani
• No Borders for Truth - Martin Brown
• Death of a Mayfly - Ellie Leonard
• A Touch Unexpected - A.L. Rivers
• Pick Up The Phone - Ellie Leonard
• I Forgave You - Natia Khaduri  
• Whispers in the Night - Dorothy Elizabeth Love
• A Touch Unexpected - A.L. Rivers
• Isabel y Pedro en su Pais Nuevo - Courtney Cardenas

HOW-TO:

WINNER: Becoming Semi-Famous - Burke Allen

RUNNERS-UP:

• The Stress Book - D. Terrence Foster, MD
• Are You Ready? - Dr. Kimberly Harms

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

• All You Need is Rhythm & Grit - Cory Wharton-Malcolm
• Vote for You - Marnie Maton

WILD CARD:

WINNER: Canceled - Tim Cann

RUNNERS-UP:

• Ambition to Savor - B.B.E. Gwyn
• The Stress Book - D. Terrence Foster, MD

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

• Soothing Stories for Grown-Up Hearts - Laura Linn Knight
• The Race Horse - Vicki Rees Kendall

NATURE/ANIMALS:

WINNER: What the Bear Knows - Chris Erskine and Steve Searles

RUNNER-UP: No Time to Waste - Carolyn Armstrong


PHOTOGRAPHY/ART:

WINNER: Saving Michelangelo’s Dome - Wayne Kalayjian

GENERAL NONFICTION:

WINNER: The Business Artist - Adam Boggs

RUNNERS-UP:

• Rudeness Rehab - John M. O’Brien
• A Chance to Harmonize - Sheryl Kaskowitz
• Beyond Potential - Lubna Samara
• Mission Out of Control - Dr. Charles J. Camarda
• AI Today: OI Tomorrow - Edmund JB White

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

• The Power of Your Spine - Tracy L. Markley
• Snow White Bites Hollywood - Janet Davidson
• The American Dream - Dwight Treadwell Sr.
• The Stress Book - D. Terrence Foster, MD
• Educational Disobedience - Dr. Annise Mabry
• The Good Daughter Syndrome - Katherine Fabriio
• The 5 Pitfalls of a Relationship - Dr. La Grande Mason Jr. PhD

MEMOIR:

WINNER: Property of the Revolution - Ana Hebra Flaster

RUNNERS-UP:

• Memoir of a Mangled Mind - Steven Simmons Shelton, MA, JD
• I Met Another Dead Man Today - Dan Danbom

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

• The Politizer Saga - Linda Ambrus Broenniman
• Pain, Pumpernickel & Profound Forgiveness- Rosanne D’Ausilio
• Abandoned at Birth - Janet Sherlund

COMPILATIONS/ANTHOLOGIES:

WINNER: 1968 - Rick Robinson

RUNNER-UP: Island to Icon - Dreama Denver

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

• I Dream I Wake I Write - Jane F. Ruby
• Americans Who Made America - Richard V. Battle

YOUNG ADULT:

WINNER: A Remarkable Marketable You - Jes Petion

RUNNER-UP: The Boy Who Earned His Magic - Lynn H. Elliott


SPIRITUAL/RELIGIOUS:

WINNER: The Heart of Bhagavad Gita - Rajeev Kurapati

RUNNER-UP: Infrequent Frequencies Rare Resonance - G.E. Poole

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

• Faith, Cancer, God’s Miracle - Ray Scott
• Satan, Hell with You…My Son is More Than Just a Number! - Rea Unique

BUSINESS/TECHNOLOGY:

WINNER: Briefly Speaking - Deborah Shames and David Booth

RUNNERS-UP:

• The AI Lead - Brian Lambert, PhD
• Al-Preneurs-Revolutionizing Entrepreneurship with Artificial Intelligence - Wan Mohd Hirwani Wan Hussain

HONORABLE MENTION:

• The Oratory Project - Matt Eventoff

UNPUBLISHED:

WINNER: Holindrian & The Human Revolution - Macaulay Christian


SCIENCE FICTION:

WINNER: Meddling Mages - S.G. Blaise


BIOGRAPHY/AUTOBIOGRAPHY:

WINNER: Khuda Buksh: The Pioneer of Life Insurance in Bangladesh - Muhammad Rahim

RUNNER-UP: Faith, Cancer, God’s Miracle - Ray Scott


POETRY:

WINNER: Flood Plain - Lisa Sewell

RUNNER-UP: Rise: An Inspired Book of Dreams - Ebenezer O. Makinde

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

• A Face Out of Clay - Brent Ameneyro
• Time Billionaire - KG Newman

REGIONAL LITERATURE:

WINNER: Whose Hearts Align - Mara Purl

RUNNER-UP: The King of Nothing - Liv O’Day