21st Minnesota Book Awards Nominees Not Previously in a New Books List
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- A Hard-Water World: Ice Fishing and Why We Do It, photographs by Layne Kennedy; essays by Greg Breining
- Striking storytelling photographs by Layne Kennedy and engaging essays by outdoor writer and fisherman Greg Breining capture the quirky world of ice fishing-its natural beauty and solitary subzero vigils, along with its oddball practices and practitioners.
Finalist in the General Nonfiction category, 21st Minnesota Book Awards.
Available in the MHS online store.
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- The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir, by Kao Kalia Yang
- In search of a place to call home, thousands of Hmong families made the journey from the war-torn jungles of Laos to the overcrowded refugee camps of Thailand and onward to America. But lacking a written language of their own, the Hmong experience has been primarily recorded by others. Driven to tell her family's story after her grandmother's death, The Latehomecomer is Kao Kalia Yang's tribute to the remarkable woman whose spirit held them all together. It is also an eloquent, firsthand account of a people who have worked hard to make their voices heard.
Listen to Kao Kalia Yang talk about her book on YouTube, or read a book review on the Feminist Review blog or Twin Cities Daily Planet.
Winner in the Memoir & Creative Nonfiction category, 21st Minnesota Book Awards.
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- Hard Work and a Good Deal: The Civilian Conservation Corps in Minnesota, by Barbara W. Sommer
- Hard Work and a Good Deal traces the history of the Civilian Conservation Corps, which supplied jobs to more than 77,000 Minnesotans during the Great Depression. Nearly one hundred interviews contribute to oral historian Barbara W. Sommer's lively narrative as the "boys" look back on their time in the CCC, during which many of them became men. African American enrollees tell of the segregated policies enforced in the army-run camps; workers for the CCC-Indian Division remember reservation projects that included rebuilding a fur trade-era stockade at Grand Portage. Together, these men give voice to early efforts that advanced the conservation of Minnesota's natural resources five decades in a few short years.
Read a review in The Daily Jounral (International Falls) or listen to an interview with Barb Sommer on Minnesota Public Radio's Midday.
Winner in the Minnesota category, 21st Minnesota Book Awards.
Available in the MHS online store.
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- Landscapes of Minnesota: A Geography, by John Fraser Hart and Susy Svatek Ziegler; with the cartographic collaboration of Mark B. Lindberg
- Have you ever wondered why Minnesota's forests grow in the north and not in the West? Why gaming casinos are prospering? Why producers raise chickens instead of cows? Why some towns grow while others fail? Minnesota's natural wonders have had an effect on and been changed by the people who call this complex mosaic of lakes and forests, rivers and fields home. Through engaging, in-depth text and copious illustrations, John Fraser Hart and Susy Svatek Ziegler explore the human and environmental characteristics that define the state in Landscapes of Minnesota.
Finalist in the Minnesota category, 21st Minnesota Book Awards.
Available in the MHS online store.
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- Famous Suicides of the Japanese Empire: A Novel, by by David Mua
- Ben Ohara, a struggling historian, is the sole surviving member of his family. As he retraces his steps through a childhood colored by tough Chicago streets, horror movie monsters, sci-fi villains, Japanese folk tales, TV war heroes, and family tragedy, he comes to understand the profound personal reach of history. David Mura is an acclaimed essayist, poet, playwright, and performance artist.
Finalist in the Novel and Short Story category, 21st Minnesota Book Awards.
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- Shelter Half: A Novel, by Carol Bly
- A murder in a small town invites readers into the culture of this northern Minnesota community. Town life is seen through the eyes of a number of characters: the cop and the rector, the town bully and the town doctor, and a marvelously realized do-gooder who only in the end realizes that he has not been helpful at all. Published posthumously, this is award-winning author Carol Bly's only novel.
Read a review on Minnesota Public Radio's website or on Gather.
Finalist in the Novel and Short Story category, 21st Minnesota Book Awards.
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