The Arab American Book Award, created in 2006, is an annual award that honors the research and writings of Arab Americans and their culture. The award supports the publication of books that help people learn more about the Arab American community by sharing the stories and ideas of Arab Americans. Its goal is to encourage authors, teach readers, and promote respect and understanding of Arab American culture.

The award was created by the Arab American National Museum (AANM) and professors from the nearby University of Toledo. Winners are chosen by groups of readers, including well-known authors, university professors, artists, and AANM staff. The awards are given at a special event in the Fall of the year they are awarded. In 2007, the AANM first presented these awards for books published in 2006. That year, the number of book entries more than doubled compared to the first year.

To keep the Arab American Book Award ongoing, a special fund was started with a $10,000 donation from Drs. A. Adnan and Barbara C. Aswad. Dr. Barbara C. Aswad is a retired professor of Anthropology at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. She was also a past president of the Middle Eastern Studies Association and a board member of the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS), which founded the AANM. Dr. A. Adnan Aswad is a retired professor of Engineering at the University of Michigan–Dearborn. The Aswads, now living in Los Angeles, decided to make the donation after the first Book Award ceremony in Fall 2007.

In 2011, the non-fiction prize was renamed to honor Evelyn Shakir, who passed away in 2010. Ms. Shakir won the Arab American Book Award for Fiction in 2008. She also studied the history of Arab women and wrote the important book Bint Arab: Arab and Arab American Women in the United States in 1997. Evelyn’s partner, poet George Ellenbogen, worked with the AANM to create the award in her memory.

Chronology change (2009)

In 2009, the Arab American Book Award Committee renamed the "2008 Arab American Book Award" to the "2009 Arab American Book Award" to show the correct date of the award, not the publication date of the winning books. The dates for all previous award years were also updated in past years. Although the name of the award now includes a different date, the rules about when books can be entered for consideration have not changed.