We are pleased to announce the finalists in all nine categories for the 29th Annual Minnesota Book Awards. Chosen on Saturday, January 28, by 27 judges from around the state – writers, teachers, librarians, booksellers, and others from the literary community – the finalists are...
Tell Me a Tattoo Story
by Alison McGhee, illustrated by Eliza Wheeler
(Chronicle Books)
— This is NOT a Cat!
by David LaRochelle, illustrated by Mike Wohnoutka
(Sterling Children’s Books) — Worm Loves Worm
by J.J. Austrian, illustrated by Mike Curato
(Balzer + Bray)
— Yellow Time
by Lauren Stringer
(Beach Lane Books)
GENERAL NONFICTION
Canoes: A Natural History in North America
by Mark Neuzil and Norman Sims
(University of Minnesota Press*)
— Designing Our Way to a Better World
by Thomas Fisher
(University of Minnesota Press*)
— Thrill Me: Essays on Fiction
by Benjamin Percy
(Gray wolf Press*)
— The War on Science: Who’s Waging It, Why It Matters, What We Can Do About It
by Shawn Otto
(Milkweed Editions*)
GENRE FICTION
The Born and the Made
by Robert Spande
(self-published)
— The Heavens May Fall
by Allen Eskens
(Seventh Street Books)
— Rise of the Spring Tide
by James Stitt
(self-published)
— Stealing the Countess
by David Housewright
(Minotaur Books)
MEMOIR & CREATIVE NONFICTION
I Live Inside: Memoirs of a Babe in Toyland
by Michelle Leon
(Minnesota Historical Society Press*)
— The Song Poet: A Memoir of My Father
by Kao Kalia Young
(Metropolitan Books)
— This is Where I Am: A Memoir
by Zeke Caligiuri
(University of Minnesota Press*)
— The Thunder Before the Storm: The Autobiography of Clyde Bellecourt
by Clyde Bellecourt, as told to Jon Lurie
(Minnesota Historical Society Press*)
MIDDLE GRADE LITERATURE
Little Cat’s Luck
by Marion Dane Bauer, illustrated by Jennifer A. Bell
(Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers/Simon & Schuster)
— Sachiko: A Nagasaki Bomb Survivor’s Story
by Caren Stelson
(Carolrhoda Books/Lerner Publishing Group*)
— The Secret of Dreadwillow Carse
by Brian Farrey
(Algonquin Young Readers/Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill)
— Sticks & Stones
by Abby Cooper
(Farrar Straus Giroux/Macmillan)
MINNESOTA NONFICTION
The Big Marsh: The Story of a Lost Landscape
by Cheri Register
(Minnesota Historical Society Press*)
— The Ford Century in Minnesota
by Brian McMahon
(University of Minnesota Press*)
— Richard F. Lack: Catalogue Raisonné 1943-1998
by Gary B. Christensen, biography by Stephen A. Gjertson (Afton Historical Society Press*)
— Women of Mayo Clinic: The Founding Generation
by Virginia M. Wright-Peterson
(Minnesota Historical Society Press*)
NOVEL & SHORT STORY
The Annie Year
by Stephanie Wilbur Ash
(Unnamed Press)
— Do Not Find Me
by Kathleen Novak
(The Permanent Press)
— LaRose
by Louise Erdrich
(HarperCollins Publishers)
— Wintering
by Peter Geye
(Alfred A. Knopf)
POETRY
May Day
by Gretchen Marquette
(Gray wolf Press*) — Tula
by Chris Santiago
(Milkweed Editions*)
— Unbearable Splendor
by Sun Yung Shin
(Coffee House Press*)
— Yes Thorn
by Amy Munson
(Tupelo Press)
YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE
Assassin’s Heart
by Sarah Ahiers
(HarperTeen/HarperCollins Publishers)
— LGBTQ+ Athletes Claim the Field: Striving for Equality
by Kirstin Cronn-Mills
(Twenty-First Century Books/Lerner Publishing Group*)
— The Memory Book
by Lara Avery
(Poppy/Little, Brown and Company)
— Original Fake
by Kirstin Cronn-Mills, art by E. Eero Johnson
(G. P. Putnam’s Sons/Penguin Random House)
Awards Ceremony
Save the date: April 8
Award winners will be announced at the 29th Annual Minnesota Book Awards Ceremony on Saturday, April 8, at the InterContinental Hotel Saint Paul Riverfront. The Preface reception begins at 6:30 p.m., followed by the awards ceremony at 8 p.m. Tickets are $40 - $55 and available by visiting www.thefriends.org or calling 651-222-3242. The official hashtag for social media is #mnbookawards. All are encouraged to use it when posting comments, status updates or tweeting about any of the authors or their books.
