2014 MINNESOTA BOOK AWARDS FINALISTS

Preliminary judges met at the end of January to narrow down book submissions to four books in each category.  I have been both a prelimary and finalist judge.  Preliminary judges  read as many as 40 books or more in a category.  Judges have several months to read the books and then meet at the end of January to discuss their findings with other judges.  There are 3 judges per category.
The finalists for each of the adult categories are listed below;

General Nonfiction

 Evil Men by James Dawes (Harvard University Press)Harriman vs. Hill: Wall Street’s Great Railroad War by Larry Haeg (University of Minnesota Press)                                                                                                  The Nazi and the Psychiatrist: Hermann Göring, Dr. Douglas M. Kelley, and a Fatal Meeting of Minds at the End of WWII by Jack El-Hai (PublicAffairs Books/Perseus Books Group) Soda Shop Salvation: Recipes and Stories from the Sweeter Side of Prohibition by Rae Katherine Eighmey (Minnesota Historical Society Press)

 Genre Fiction

The Book of Killowen by Erin Hart (Scribner/Simon & Schuster)
The Cold Nowhere by Brian Freeman (Quercus)
Tamarack County by William Kent Krueger (Atria Books/Simon & Schuster)
Wolves by Cary J. Griffith (Adventure Publications

Memoir & Creative Nonfiction

The Girl Who Sang to the Buffalo: A Child, an Elder and the Light from an Ancient Sky by Kent Nerburn (New World Library)
Prairie Silence by Melanie Hoffert (Beacon Press)
Thunder of Freedom: Black Leadership and the Transformation of 1960s Mississippi by Sue [Lorenzi] Sojourner with Cheryl Reitan (University Press of Kentucky)
We’ll Be the Last Ones to Let You Down: Memoir of a Gravedigger’s Daughter by Rachael Hanel (University of Minnesota Press)

Minnesota

A Love Affair with Birds: The Life of Thomas Sadler Roberts by Sue Leaf (University of Minnesota Press)
Minneapolis Madams: The Lost History of Prostitution on the Riverfront by Penny A. Petersen (University of Minnesota Press)
Modern Spirit: The Art of George Morrison by W. Jackson Rushing III and Kristin Makholm (University of Oklahoma Press)
 Survival Schools: The American Indian Movement and Community Education in the Twin Cities by Julie L. Davis (University of Minnesota Press)

Novel & Short Story

Let the Dark Flower Blossom by Norah Labiner (Coffee House Press)
Little Wolves by Thomas Maltman (Soho Press)
The Peripatetic Coffin and Other Stories by Ethan Rutherford (Ecco/HarperCollins Publishers)
Vacationland by Sarah Stonich (University of Minnesota Press

 Poetry

Black Aperture by Matt Rasmussen (Louisiana State University Press)
The First Flag by Sarah Fox (Coffee House Press)
It Becomes You by Dobby Gibson (Graywolf Press)
Slip by Cullen Bailey Burns (New Issues Poetry & Prose)

Finalist judges receive the four finalist books in their category at the beginning of February  and have one month to read the books.    This year I am a finalist judge for the Minnesota category.  As you can see  I am reading about birds, prostituion, art and Native American schools!  Quite a variety.  Final judges meet on March 8 and will determine the winners for each category.  The winners must be kept secret until they are announced at the Minnesota Book Award gala, Saturday, April 5. 
Read some of the above titles and let us know which books you think should win!