Each day leading up to the April 14 announcement of the Minnesota Book Awards, we highlight one of the thirty-two finalists. Today we feature 2012 Minnesota Finalist:

Pioneer Modernists: Minnesota’s First Generation of Women Artists
Julie L’Enfant

Afton Press

Category Sponsor: Xcel Energy

In Pioneer Modernists, Julie L’Enfant uses a host of sources, including previously unpublished papers, to tell the untold story of a groundbreaking generation of Minnesota female artists who played a significant, yet often-overlooked role in the development of art schools, galleries, and other institutions that make the Twin Cities the major cultural center it is today. The book was inspired by a 2007 show at the Minnesota Museum of American Art of work by Minnesota women who were "working artists before they could even vote for the president of the United States," Minnesota Historical Society curator Brian Szott wrote in the introduction.

An excerpt from Pioneer Modernists:

Clara Mairs was an imposing and lively presence in Minnesota’s artistic community and a prolific painter, printmaker, and maker of decorative arts. She had a ringing voice and sharp wit. We have little direct record of her opinions, however. Virtually no letters have been found, nor did she, it seems, keep a diary. Only a few interviews remain. Otherwise, one must speculate on her ideas and working methods, capitalizing on what others have said about her. In many cases one must let her enigmatic work speak for itself.

Julie L’Enfant is chair of liberal arts at the College of Visual Arts in Saint Paul. "Even art historians aren't familiar with these artists now, although a lot has been published about them and they were all very well known in their day," Pioneering Modernists is her fourth book.

Reviews and more:

“Wanda Gag, subject of L’Enfant’s foreword, I had heard of, but the other subjects of this great book were complete unknowns to me. Each is important and deserves mention in a fantastically assembled volume like this.”
- Minnesota Book Awards judge

“If you like painters, read this. If you like 3D arts, such as sculpturing, read this. And if you’re a general fan of women’s history, all the better!”
- Minnesota Book Awards judge

“The women in this book are amazing, truly marvelous… grand dames, gloriously on stage, so to speak. They help make the twentieth century remarkable and memorable.”
- Barbara Flanagan, Star Tribune

"Lavishly illustrated and handsomely designed, Pioneer Modernists is a well-researched and lively read, full of keen insights about the difficulties the women encountered in their professional lives."
- Mary Abbe, Star Tribune

In this interview, just four questions - asked by MPR's Marianne Combs and answered by L'Enfant.

Award winners will be announced at the 24th Annual Minnesota Book Awards Gala on Saturday, April 14, 2012 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel - Saint Paul Riverfront. The opening reception begins at 7 p.m. followed by the awards ceremony at 8 p.m. New this year: a post-awards "Epilogue Celebration" The Gala is sold out, but you may be placed on a waiting list in the event of last-minute cancellations by calling 651-222-3242. Click here for more information.

Have you read Pioneer Modernists? What are your thoughts? We welcome your comments!

Each day leading up to the April 14 announcement of the Minnesota Book Awards, we highlight one of the thirty-two finalists. Today we feature 2012 Novel & Short Story Finalist:

The Law of Miracles and Other Stories
Gregory Blake Smith

University of Massachusetts Press

Category Sponsor: Anchor Trust

The Law of Miracles is a collection of short stories in which characters navigate between the everyday and the extraordinary. While settings range from St. Petersburg to Venice to rural Indiana, and the characters are nearly as varied, there lies in each tale the suspicion that the transcendent lies just at the edge of perception.

An excerpt from The Law of Miracles:

When the tree fell on my house, I was already on my way down. Wife gone, son gone, middle age just around the corner. There had been no hurricane, no stiff in-line winds: the tree just fell over – plunk! The rafters snapped, the window imploded, and there I was lying in bed going eenie-meenie-minie-moe as to whether it should be Seconal and scotch or a razor in the bathtub.

Gregory Blake Smith is the Lloyd P. Johnson-Norwest Professor of English and the Liberal Arts at Carleton College. This is his fourth book.

Reviews:

“These are short stories only in terms of physical length. The worlds Smith creates have an incredible depth to them.”
- Minnesota Book Awards judge

“A short story collection for people who don’t normally gravitate to this sort of reading.”
- Minnesota Book Awards judge

“As marvelously varied as these stories are in terms of premise, narration, and setting, they all exhibit the same powerful sense of authenticity, creative exuberance, careful observation, and moral engagement. The Law of Miracles is my favorite kind of book, both conceptual and urgent.”
- Chris Bachelder, author of Abbott Awaits and Bear v. Shark.

Award winners will be announced at the 24th Annual Minnesota Book Awards Gala on Saturday, April 14, 2012 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel - Saint Paul Riverfront. The opening reception begins at 7 p.m. followed by the awards ceremony at 8 p.m. New this year: a post-awards "Epilogue Celebration." Online sales have ended, but tickets may be available by calling 651-222-3242. Click here for more information.

Have you read The Law of Miracles? What are your thoughts? We welcome your comments!

Each day leading up to the April 14 announcement of the Minnesota Book Awards, we highlight one of the thirty-two finalists. Today we feature 2012 Poetry Finalist:

Bodies of Light
Athena Kildegaard

Red Dragonfly Press

Category Sponsor: Wellington Management, Inc.

The name and structure of Bodies of Light stem from the fact that light from exploded stars reaches earth long after those stars are gone. The first section, “Tenant,” focuses on the body and things permanent, while the second, “Transit,” focuses on movement and things fleeting.

An excerpt from Bodies of Light:

You Are Like a Star

Even the otter finds its way
To the creek by your light.

Buds on the fig dare to open,
The thief reconsiders.

I can stand out here all night
Beside the blue shed

embracing you, my hands
Sure of everything they touch.

Athena Kildegaard was born in Wyoming, grew up in Minnesota, and has lived in Sydney Australia, Chicago, Austin Texas, Oxford Mississippi, New Orleans, and Guanajuato Mexico. She now lives in Morris where she is a lecturer at the University of Minnesota, Morris.

Reviews:

“At times delightfully gritty, at times truly transcendent, Bodies of Light deserves our notice.”
- Minnesota Book Awards judge

Interviews:

In this interview with Lakes Country Living’s Stephen Henning, Athena Kildegaard talks about Bodies of Lights and the beautiful locations in outstate Minnesota from which she draws inspiration.

Award winners will be announced at the 24th Annual Minnesota Book Awards Gala on Saturday, April 14, 2012 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel - Saint Paul Riverfront. The opening reception begins at 7 p.m. followed by the awards ceremony at 8 p.m. New this year: a post-awards "Epilogue Celebration." Online sales have ended, but tickets may be available by calling 651-222-3242. Click here for more information.

Have you read Bodies of Light? What are your thoughts? We welcome your comments!

Each day leading up to the April 14 announcement of the Minnesota Book Awards, we highlight one of the thirty-two finalists. Today we feature 2012 General Nonfiction Finalist:

Punishing Race: A Continuing American Dilemma
Michael Tonry

Oxford University Press

Category Sponsor: Minnesota AFL-CIO

This book relates why it is that African American men are arrested, prosecuted, convicted, and imprisoned at a much higher rate than the population at large. Michael Tonry explains that these patterns result not from racial differences in crime or drug use but from drug and crime control policies that disproportionately affect African Americans.

An excerpt from Punishing Race:

Four aspects of American crime control policies stand out: the world’s highest imprisonment rate, the Western world’s only use of capital punishment, the Western world’s most severe punishments short of death, and the devastating effects of those policies on black Americans. Black men for a quarter century have been five to seven times more likely than white men to be in prison, are much more likely to receive decades-long sentences or life without the possibility of parole and are much likelier to be on death row.

Michael Tonry, among the nation’s leading authorities on crime and punishment, is a professor of law and public policy at the University of Minnesota.

Reviews:

“Without a doubt, an important contribution to the discussion of American race relations.”
- Minnesota Book Awards judge

“I read strictly nonfiction, and much of that is pretty heavy or otherwise shocking stuff. Even so, this is the most eye-opening read I’ve had in my several years as a Minnesota Book Awards judge.”
- Minnesota Book Awards judge

"Michael Tonry's discussion and explanation of the racial disparities in prison, including black arrests for drug offenses, will change the way we think about fairness in our criminal justice system. Punishing Race is replete with original insights on how contemporary crime and drug policies have been shaped by a political climate that reflects America's unique history of race relations. Tonry documents the adverse racial effects of these policies and shows how they can be changed to do less unnecessary future harm to African Americans. This authoritative book is a must read."
-William Julius Wilson, Lewis P. and Linda L. Geyser University Professor, Harvard University

Interviews:

Each day leading up to the April 14 announcement of the Minnesota Book Awards, we highlight one of the thirty-two finalists. Today we feature 2012 Children’s Literature Finalist:

Friends: True Stories of Extraordinary Animal Friendships
Catherine Thimmesh

Houghton Mifflin/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

Category Sponsor: Books For Africa

What makes a camel friends with a Vietnamese pig? Or a wild polar bear with a sled dog or a young giraffe with an ostrich? In this book, Catherine Thimmesh makes readers wonder at the truth and mystery of unlikely animal friendships. These real-life stories of animal relationships demonstrate how differences don’t really matter between friends.

An excerpt from Friends: True Stories of Extraordinary Animal Friendships:

A friend comforts…
A pat,
A hug,
And a new friend is made;
No longer alone,
No longer afraid.

 

Friends: True Stories of Extraordinary Animal Friendships is Catherine Thimmesh’s sixth nonfiction book for children. Her book, The Sky's the Limit won the Minnesota Book Award in 2002. Girls Think of Everything and Lucy, Long Ago were Minnesota Book Award finalists. She lives in Eden Prairie.

Reviews:

“I think this would be a cute kids book – and worth keeping on my shelf – even if it was a work of fiction. But real-life tales, with photos and all? A big starred review from me!”
- Minnesota Book Awards judge

Each day leading up to the April 14 announcement of the Minnesota Book Awards, we highlight one of the thirty-two finalists. Today we feature 2012 General Nonfiction Finalist:

Vikings in the Attic: In Search of Nordic America
Eric Dregni

University of Minnesota Press

Category Sponsor: Minnesota AFL-CIO

Eric Dregni explores the significant—and quite often bizarre—historic sites, tales, and traditions of Scandinavia’s peculiar colony in the Midwest. The author reveals the little-known tales that lie beneath the surface of Nordic America and proves by example why generations of Scandinavian-Americans have come to love and cherish these tales and traditions so dearly.

An excerpt from Vikings in the Attic:

Where are all the Scandinavian restaurants in the Midwest? If combined, the offspring of these Nordic settlers make up the largest ethnic group in the area; why isn’t shrimp smorbrod standard fair at Perkins? Only at church basement potlucks, Christmas hooplas, and ethnic lodge meetings does the real Scandinavian inventiveness show its Jello-O laden face.

Eric Dregni is assistant professor of English at Concordia University in Saint Paul and the author of several previous works on Nordic and Italian heritage.

Reviews:

"Startling and funny... This is a hugely enjoyable book that has plenty of history decked out in entertaining fashion. And you know what? I don't think you have to have Scandinavian heritage to appreciate it.
- Flyoverland

“A worthy follow-up to Dregni’s In Cod We Trust, this page-turner will give Scandinavian Midwesterners a new appreciation for their unique heritage.”
- Minnesota Book Awards judge

Video:

In this book trailer for Viking in the Attic, author Eric Dregni demonstrates how Swedish egg coffee – which includes the eggshell! – is made.

Award winners will be announced at the 24th Annual Minnesota Book Awards Gala on Saturday, April 14, 2012 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel - Saint Paul Riverfront. The opening reception begins at 7 p.m. followed by the awards ceremony at 8 p.m. New this year: a post-awards "Epilogue Celebration." Tickets are available online or by calling 651-222-3242. Click here for more information.

Have you read Viking in the Attic? What are your thoughts? We welcome your comments!

 

Each day leading up to the April 14 announcement of the Minnesota Book Awards, we highlight one of the thirty-two finalists. Today we feature 2012 Genre Fiction Finalist:

Northwest Angle
William Kent Kreuger

Atria Books/Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Category Sponsor: Marvin Windows and Doors

With his family caught in the crosshairs of a group of brutal killers, detective Cork O’Connor must solve the murder of a young girl in this latest installment of William Kent Krueger’s bestselling series.

An excerpt from Northwest Angle:

He woke long before it was necessary, had wakened in this way for weeks, troubled and afraid. A dull illumination came through the houseboat window into the cabin he shared with his son. Not light exactly. More the promise of light. False dawn, Cork O’Connor knew.

Click here for a chapter-long excerpt of Northwest Angle.

William Kent Krueger, acclaimed author of ten Cork O’Connor novels, has won four Minnesota Book Awards. Click here to visit his website.

Reviews:

“There’s a good reason Krueger’s name keeps cropping up in the list of yearly Minnesota Book Award contenders. And this could quite possibly be the best yet.”
- Minnesota Book Awards judge

"William Kent Krueger can't write a bad book. Northwest Angle is one of his best. A complex crime novel that contains meditations on the difficulties of loving and the paths we take to reach God, this Cork O'Connor novel has everything you want in a great read: depth, action, and credibility."
- Charlaine Harris, New York Times bestselling author

"Solid storytelling and intriguing characterizations combine for a sobering look at the power of family and faith and Native American culture. Krueger never writes the same book twice as each installment finds him delving deeper into Cork's psyche."
- Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"...What began as a beautifully written thriller is transformed into a tale of selfless love, redemption and hope, without losing an iota of the suspense promised at its inception."
- BookReporter

Video:

Watch the book trailer for the newest Cork O’Connor thriller. Among other things, it explains why the Northwest Angle, on Lake of the Woods in far northern Minnesota, is the perfect setting for a Midwest murder mystery.

In this video, William Kent Kreuger discusses his characters and how, even after twelve installments, each new Cork O’Connor book is a new and unique reading experience.

Prized Writers: Plotting Mysteries

  (full episode)

Minnesota Book Award winners and mystery authors P. J. Tracy and William Kent Krueger in conversation, discussing their approaches to writing as a craft, and mystery writing's special challenges. Produced by tpt-Minnesota Channel with the Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library.

 

Award winners will be announced at the 24th Annual Minnesota Book Awards Gala on Saturday, April 14, 2012 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel - Saint Paul Riverfront. The opening reception begins at 7 p.m. followed by the awards ceremony at 8 p.m. New this year: a post-awards "Epilogue Celebration." Tickets are available online or by calling 651-222-3242. Click here for more information.

Have you read Northwest Angle? What are your thoughts? We welcome your comments!

Each day leading up to the April 14 announcement of the Minnesota Book Awards, we highlight one of the thirty-two finalists. Today we feature 2012 Minnesota Finalist:

Sisterhood of War: Minnesota Women in Vietnam
Kim Heikkila

Minnesota Historical Society Press

Category Sponsor: Xcel Energy

In Sisterhood of War, Kim Heikkila delves into the experiences of Minnesota nurses who served in the Vietnam War, exploring what drove them to enlist, their war-time experiences, and their pivotal role in the creation of a national Vietnam Women’s Memorial.

An excerpt from Sisterhood of War:

Veterans Day 2008 was chilly but sunny in Washington, D.C. As they do every November, Vietnam veterans from across the country gathered at the Wall to pay their respects to those who had served and died in the United States’ longest and most controversial war. Flowers adorned the pathway along which visitors descend into the earth swallowed by the seemingly endless listing of names of the war’s dead. A stage stood on the grassy lawn in front of the Wall. News trucks line the nearby streets as cameras captured the swelling throngs, military color guard, musical performers, and featured speakers. Filling the hundreds of chairs in front of the stage were the day’s honorees – veterans who had encountered in Vietnam the heights of human bravery and depths of human depravity and had come home to a divided, sometimes indifferent and sometimes hostile, nation. The veterans wore jackets and ties, jeans and sweatshirts, black leather vests and boonie hats. They sported clean-shaven faces and crew cuts or beards and ponytails, mellowed and graying with the passing of time. But clustered among this crowd of men were women who had also served in Vietnam, for on this day, they were the special guests of honor at the annual celebration.

Kim Heikkila is an adjunct instructor in the history department of St. Catherine University.

Reviews:

“Bravery doesn’t know any generational or gender boundaries. The brave men and boys who fought and died in Southeast Asia are heroes - but that’s every bit as true for the fearless ladies Heikkila centers her narrative on.”
- Minnesota Book Awards judge

“Informative. Concise. A real treat. A must read for any nonfiction-oriented book club.”
- Minnesota Book Awards judge

Interviews:

In this MPR interview, Kim Heikkila, along with Kay Bauer and Mary Beth Crowley, two Minnesotans among the 6,000 military nurses who served in the Vietnam War, disucss why they enlisted, what they experienced in Vietnam and at home after the war, and women’s role in various aspects of the Vietnam conflict.

Kim Heikkila, a University of Minnesota – Twin Cities alumna, and Sisterhood of War were featured recently in a piece by the institution’s Alumni Association.

Award winners will be announced at the 24th Annual Minnesota Book Awards Gala on Saturday, April 14, 2012 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel - Saint Paul Riverfront. The opening reception begins at 7 p.m. followed by the awards ceremony at 8 p.m. New this year: a post-awards "Epilogue Celebration." Tickets are available online or by calling 651-222-3242. Click here for more information.

Have you read Sisterhood of War? What are your thoughts? We welcome your comments!

 

Each day leading up to the April 14 announcement of the Minnesota Book Awards, we highlight one of the thirty-two finalists. Today we feature 2012 Children’s Literature Finalist:

BookSpeak! Poems About Books
Laura Purdie Salas (illustrated by Josee Bisaillon)

Clarion Books/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Co.

Category Sponsor: Books For Africa

This book is a collection of wild and weird, wacky and winsome poems about all the magic to be found on a bookshelf. Characters plead for sequels and book jackets strut their stuff in this volume, where each poem gives voice to some aspect of the written word.

An excerpt from BookSpeak!:

I’ll tell you a story.
I’ll spin you a rhyme.
I’ll spill some ideas –
And we’ll travel through time.

Put down the controller.
Switch off the TV.
Abandon the mouse and
Just hang out with me.

I promise adventure.
Come on, take a look!
On a day like today,
There’s no friend like a book!

Laura Purdie Salas lives in Minneapolis. Stampede!, her first book of poetry for children, was a Minnesota Book Award finalist.

Reviews:

“It’s important to instill a love of reading at an early age, and BookSpeak! is as well-suited to that purpose as any book that’s come across my desk in a very long time.”
- Minnesota Book Awards judge

Each day leading up to the April 14 announcement of the Minnesota Book Awards, we highlight one of the thirty-two finalists. Today we feature 2012 Minnesota Finalist:

Anishinaabe Syndicated: A View from the Rez
Jim Northrup

Minnesota Historical Society Press

Category Sponsor: Xcel Energy

The 1990s brought enormous changes in Native American treaty rights, casino gambling, language renewal, and tribal sovereignty. Jim Northrup, an Ojibwe and newspaper columnist, uses stories from his own experience to document this transformative decade. The author’s excerpts tally change as he spears walleye, raises a grandson, harvests wild rice, fixes rez cars, attends powwows, and jets across the country and across the ocean to tell stories.

An excerpt from Anishinaabe Syndicated:

We are tapping maple trees again as we do every year. As I travel around Indian country, I see more and more Indian people going to the sugar bush.

Niinawind ozhiga’ige miinawa niinawind gwayakochige akina gikinoonowin. Amanj’igo apii niin babaamaadizi giiwitaa-ayi’ii Anishinaabewaki, niin waabi eshkam Anishinaabeg izhaa iskigamizigan.

The crows told us it was time for making maple syrup. Two bald eagles flew over the fire when we were boiling the water out of the sap.

We have a small sugar bush, barely over a hundred taps. We take only what we need for feasts and funerals, gifts and pancakes.

Once again it was a learning experience for our grandchildren. They helped us gather the sap from the trees. They are too young to help with the boiling, so they just watched, and listened when we told sugar bush stories.

We watched winter turn into spring. The sun was warm and reminded us of summer. The wind was cold and was a reminder of the winter that just left.

Making syrup is just a lot of work. Sometimes it is hard work, but most of the time is spent just staring at the fire, watching the sap so it doesn’t burn. We spend hours cutting firewood.

Jim Northrup is an award-winning journalist, poet, and playwright. His previous works include Rez Road Follies and Walking the Rez Road.

Reviews:

“Norhtrup’s candor on what some people might consider touchy subjects really makes this book.”
- Minnesota Book Awards judge

"Jim Northrup reminds us not to forget the ancestors and veterans, and the traditions, and the treaty rights and languages of the American Americans. His honesty and wisdom, and his courage and insight inspire us to walk the walk and respect the earth and one another."
- Rick Gresczyk Sr., Ojibwe language instructor, Augsburg College

“Jim Northrup takes the lies told about the Indians and the lies we like to tell ourselves and skins them until there is nothing left but laughter. And from that he manages – as only Northrup can do – to make the truth out of it. Pointed, wry, deadpan, exuberant, Anishinaabe Syndicated is a miracle, a hilarious one at that. Jim Northrup makes me proud to be Ojibwe and grateful I can read about it.
- David Treuer, author Native American Fiction: A User’s Manual and The Translation of Dr. Apelles

Award winners will be announced at the 24th Annual Minnesota Book Awards Gala on Saturday, April 14, 2012 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel - Saint Paul Riverfront. The opening reception begins at 7 p.m. followed by the awards ceremony at 8 p.m. New this year: a post-awards "Epilogue Celebration." Tickets are available online or by calling 651-222-3242. Click here for more information.

Have you read Anishinaabe Syndicated? What are your thoughts? We welcome your comments!