MINNESOTA BOOK AWARD FINALISTS

On Saturday, January 31, 2015, preliminary judges met at the Loft Literary Center to decide on four finalists for each book category.  Some judges needed to read 40 books for their category.
Each group had 3 judges and one facilitator.  I was a facilitator for the Minnesota category.
The finalist books will be sent to final judges, who will read them and meet at the Loft on Saturday, March 7.  The winning books will be announced at the Minnesota Book Awards gala event on Saturday, April 18.  Minnesota has many good authors.  It is an honor to have a book be chosen as a finalist.
The finalists are:

Children’s Literature

 

 

 

• It’s an Orange Aardvark by Michael Hall (Greenwillow Books/HarperCollins Publishers
• Little Puppy and the Big Green Monster by Mike Wohnoutka (Holiday House)
• Water Can Be… by Laura Purdie Salas, illustrated by Violeta Dabija (Millbrook Press/Lerner Publishing Group)
• Winter Bees and Other Poems of the Cold by Joyce Sidman and Rick Allen (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

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General Nonfiction

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• Harriet Beecher Stowe: A Spiritual Life by Nancy Koester (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.)
• My Grandfather’s Knocking Sticks: Ojibwe Family Life and Labor on the Reservation by Brenda J. Child (Minnesota Historical Society Press)
• New Scenic Café: The Cookbook by Scott Graden with Arlene Anderson (New Scenic Café, Inc.)
• Queer Clergy: A History of Gay and Lesbian Ministry in American Protestantism by R.W. Holmen (The Pilgrim Press)

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Genre Fiction

• Fallen Angel by Chuck Logan (Conquill Press)
• The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens (Seventh Street Books/Prometheus Books)
• The Secret of Pembrooke Park by Julie Klassen (Bethany House Publishers)
• Strongwood: A Crime Dossier by Larry Millett (University of Minnesota Press)

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Memoir & Creative Nonfiction

• Love Imagined: A Mixed Race Memoir by Sherry Quan Lee (Modern History Press/Loving Healing Press)
• Northern Orchards: Places Near the Dead by James Silas Rogers (North Star Press of St. Cloud)
• Seeking the Cave: A Pilgrimage to Cold Mountain by James P. Lenfestey (Milkweed Editions)
• Tailings: A Memoir by Kaethe Schwehn (Cascade Books/Wipf and Stock Publishers)

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Minnesota

• Amphibians and Reptiles in Minnesota by John J. Moriarty and Carol D. Hall (University of Minnesota Press)
• Her Honor: Rosalie Wahl and the Minnesota Women’s Movement by Lori Sturdevant (Minnesota Historical Society Press)
• Minnesota Farmers Market Cookbook: A Guide to Selecting and Preparing the Best Local Produce with Seasonal Recipes from Local Chefs and Farmers by Tricia Cornell (Voyageur Press)
• Minnesota’s Own: Preserving Our Grand Homes by Larry Millett, photography by Matt Schmitt (Minnesota Historical Society Press)

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Novel & Short Story

 

• A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James (Riverhead Books/Penguin Random House)
• In Reach by Pamela Carter Joern (University of Nebraska Press)
• The Lovers Set Down Their Spoons by Heather A. Slomski (University of Iowa Press)
• Stillwater by Nicole Helget (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

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Poetry

 

• Albedo by Kathleen Jesme (Ahsahta Press)
• Dangerous Goods by Sean Hill (Milkweed Editions)
• Soul Over Lightning by Ray Gonzalez (The University of Arizona Press)
• This Way to the Sugar by Hieu Minh Nguyen (Write Bloody Publishing)

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Young People’s Literature

 

• Ambassador by William Alexander (Margaret K. McElderry Books/Simon & Schuster)
• Leroy Ninker Saddles Up by Kate DiCamillo, illustrated by Chris Van Dusen (Candlewick Press)
• West of the Moon by Margi Preus (Amulet Books/Abrams)
• The Witch’s Boy by Kelly Barnhill (Algonquin Young Readers/Algonquin

- See more at: http://thefriends.org/events/mnba/winners-and-finalists/current-finalists/#sthash.P5uW6Wol.dpuf