2017 Minnesota Book Awards Finalists Announced

The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library have announced the finalists in all nine categories for the 29th Annual Minnesota Book Awards. Award winners will be announced 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 online or calling (651) 222-3242.

Chosen on Saturday, Jan. 28, by 27 judges from around the state – writers, teachers, librarians, booksellers, and others from the literary comunity – the finalists for each category are:

*Indicates a Minnesota Publisher

Children's Literature

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 and 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 and 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)

Image via Shutterstock