SAN FRANCISCO BOOK FESTIVAL NAMES “GOODBYE HOMEBOY” FOR TOP HONORS

SAN FRANCISCO_The 2020 San Francisco Book Festival has named Goodbye Homeboy: How My Students Drove Me Crazy and Inspired a Movement by Steve Mariotti and Debra Devi (BenBella Books) as the winner of its annual competition honoring the best books of the spring.

Tortured by nightmares about the teens who roughed him up, Steve Mariotti sought counseling. When his therapist suggested that he face his fears, Mariotti closed his small import-export business and became a teacher at the city’s most notorious public school--Boys and Girls High in Bed-Stuy.

There he noticed that whenever he connected their lessons to entrepreneurship, even his most disruptive students got excited about learning.

That success inspired him to found the nonprofit Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship to bring entrepreneurship education to low-income youth. More than a million young people have graduated from his programs, proving a spark of hope can empower everyone to overcome hardships.

Other winners in the competition:

GAY

WINNER: People I’ve Met From The Internet – Stephen Van Dyck

RUNNER-UP: She Who Doesn’t Sin – Martha Emily Bellinger

HONORABLE MENTION:

  • The Two Ruths – Martha Emily Bellinger


GENERAL FICTION:

WINNER: Opposition Research – Rick Robinson

RUNNER-UP: Madam In Silk – Gini Grossenbacher

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

  • Sir Bone Funk – Eddie Tebbe
  • A Light on Altered Land – Becky Bohan
  • The Darkness – Robbi Sommers Bryant
  • Artificial Light – D. Dupree
  • Never Too Soon – Tamika Christy
  • Treasure of the Blue Whale – Steven Mayfield
  • Seat 24H – Rosemary Rudland
  • In The Shape Of A Man – Paul Clayton
  • Whisperwood – Van Temple
  • The Slave Players – Megan Allen
  • The Baja Redemption – Richard Bonte and James Crew Allen
  • Operation Olive Tree – Jemil Metti
  • The Legend of See Bird: Kiamichi – Karl L. Stewart
  • The Others: The Beginning – Praveen Kumar Neelappa
  • Kidnapped on Safari – Peter Riva


WILD CARD

WINNER: Mind The Gap, A Novel – George Tombs

RUNNER-UP: When The Heart Listens – Mara Purl

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

  • The Meat Hunter – Megan Allen
  • The Slave Players – Megan Allen
  • The Vast Venus Conspiracy – Raymond A Keller


HOW-TO

WINNER: Common Financial Sense – Harris Nydick/Greg Makowski

RUNNER-UP: ParentShift: Ten Universal Truths That Will Change the Way You Raise Your Kids – Wendy Thomas Russell

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

  • The Mystery Shopper Training Program – Bethany Mooradian
  • The Art of Forgiveness – Carolyn CJ Jones


YOUNG ADULT

WINNER: Fly, Fly Away – Pamela Bauer Mueller

RUNNER-UP: The Redemption – Lauren Hudson

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

  • Ice Queen – Felicia Farber
  • Right Now Is Worth It – Thomas Corrigan
  • Lollygag – Robert W. West
  • Athena’s Secrets – Donna Del Oro


POETRY

WINNER: All The Marvelous Stuff – Nils Peterson

RUNNER-UP: Leave Smoke – Jeff Walt

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

  • Swerve: Poems on Environmentalism… - Ellery Akers
  • Blu Diamonds – Kevin Hollingsworth


BIOGRAPHY/AUTOBIOGRAPHY

WINNER: Goodbye Homeboy – Steve Mariotti, Debra Devi

RUNNER-UP: The Common Wife – Lindy Hughes

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

  • The Immigrants – Herbert Ausbel
  • Anchorless – Jolie P. Hoang


GENERAL NON-FICTION

WINNER: Goodbye Homeboy - Steve Mariotti, Debra Devi

RUNNER-UP: Golden Gates: Fighting For Housing in America – Conor Dougherty

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

  • Nina’s Memento Mori – Matthias Freese
  • Conscious Change Today – Kashonia Carnegie
  • Your Crocodile Has Arrived – Laurie McAndish King
  • Secrets from the Sofa – Kenneth Herman


CHILDREN’S BOOKS

WINNER: More Fairy Tales For Life – Linda Champion

RUNNER-UP: Black Bear Goes To San Francisco – Denise Lawson

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

  • Brody the Lion – Kristin Wegner
  • What’s So Special About Today? – Kelsey Clark
  • Four Bears in a Box – Dreama Denver
  • Welcome to Chuckle Giggle Nu – Keith Johnson
  • To Be or Knot to Be - Melanie Burgess


SPIRITUAL/RELIGIOUS

WINNER: The Two Ruths – Martha Emily Bellinger

RUNNER-UP: Higher Consciousness Meditation – Blair Abee

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

  • Conscious Change Today – Kashonia Carnegie
  • Homage to Spirit – Blair Abee
  • Save Him – William Hayes
  • God and Country – Joe Bylinski


PHOTOGRAPHY/ART

WINNER: The Undersea Art of Indonesia – Charles Rawlings

RUNNER-UP: Selected Early Creative Works – Donald M. Ferguson


HISTORY

WINNER: The Hanford Plaintiffs – Trisha T. Pritkin

RUNNER-UP: The Mystery of Barbara Fritchie – Tamara Thayer

HONORABLE MENTION:

  • The Last Moon – De Ann Luben


SCIENCE FICTION

Winner: The Last Lumerian – S.G. Blaise