Minnesota Book Awards Finalists

The Minnesota Book Awards was created over two decades ago by The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library as part of a larger festival of the book.

Books created by writers, illustrators or book artists who are Minnesotans are eligible for Minnesota Book Awards.  The Awards are given each year for books published in the previous year.  For instance, the winners in 2010 were books published in 2009.  

The award process begins with nominations, which are received from authors, publishers and others from throughout the state. From the nominated works, Award finalists are chosen by panels of preliminary round judges. Award winners are then selected by different, final round, judging panels.  Over the years of the Book Awards program, the categories of Award winners and the number of finalists has varied from year to year.

The Friends maintain an excellent web site that is well worth a visit. It includes a page offering downloads of reading notes about for the Minnesota Book Award Winners for the last few years, very thoughtful.

For vistors from outside the USA, Minnesota is the 12th biggest state in the country with a population of about 5 million. The capital is St. Paul.

The nominees for 2011 have been posted. By Tragic's reckoning this will be the 23rd time around the block for the prize. 

Tragic list past winners over at Book Awards US

Finalists

CHILDREN'S LITERATURE

Sponsored by Books for Africa

"-1+1=5 and Other Unlikely Additions" by David LaRochelle, illustrated by Brenda Sexton (Sterling Publishing)

"Emma's Poem: The Voice of the Statue of Liberty" by Linda Glaser, paintings by Claire A. Nivola (Houghton Mifflin Books for Children/ Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

"My Heart Is Like a Zoo" by Michael Hall (Greenwillow Books/HarperCollins Publishers)

"A Night on the Range" by Aaron Frisch, illustrated by Chris Sheban (The Creative Company)
GENERAL NONFICTION
Sponsored by Minnesota AFL-CIO

"The Assassination of Hole in the Day" by Anton Treuer (Borealis Books/Minnesota Historical Society Press)

"The Nature of College: How a New Understanding of Campus Life Can Change the World" by James J. Farrell (Milkweed Editions)

"The Opposite of Cold: The Northwoods Finnish Sauna Tradition" by Michael Nordskog, photography by Aaron W. Hautala (University of Minnesota Press)

"Paddle North: Canoeing the Boundary Waters-Quetico Wilderness" by Greg Breining, photography by Layne Kennedy (Minnesota Historical Society Press)

"Silencing Sam" by Julie Kramer (Atria Books/Simon & Schuster)

"The Taking of Libbie, SD" by David Housewright (Minotaur Books)

"The Tale of Halcyon Crane" by Wendy Webb (Henry Holt)

"Vermilion Drift" by William Kent Krueger (Atria Books/Simon & Schuster)

"Carrier: Untangling the Danger in My DNA" by Bonnie J. Rough (Counterpoint)

"Crossing the Barriers: The Autobiography of Allan H. Spear" by Allan H. Spear (University of Minnesota Press)

"News to Me: Adventures of an Accidental Journalist" by Laurie Hertzel (University of Minnesota Press)

"She Looks Just Like You: A Memoir of (Nonbiological Lesbian) Motherhood" by Amie Klempnauer Miller (Beacon Press)
MINNESOTA
Sponsored by Xcel Energy

"North Country: The Making of Minnesota" by Mary Lethert Wingerd (University of Minnesota Press)

"Prairie, Lake, Forest: Minnesota's State Parks" by Chris Niskanen, photography by Doug Ohman (Minnesota Historical Society Press)

"This is Not Florida: How Al Franken Won the Minnesota Senate Recount" by Jay Weiner (University of Minnesota Press)

"We're Gonna Win, Twins!: 50 Years of Minnesota's Hometown Team" by Doug Grow (University of Minnesota Press)

"Dogfight, A Love Story" by Matt Burgess (Doubleday/Random House Inc.)

"The House of Tomorrow" by Peter Bognanni (G. P. Putnam's Sons/The Penguin Group)

"Losing Camille" by Paul Kilgore (Black Lawrence Press/Dzanc Books)

"Vestments" by John Reimringer (Milkweed Editions)
POETRY
Sponsored by Wellington Management Inc.

"Dreaming Man, Face Down" by Mark Conway (Dream Horse Press)

"Find the Girl" by Lightsey Darst (Coffee House Press)

"On Speaking Terms" by Connie Wanek (Copper Canyon Press)

"Sin Eater" by William Reichard (Mid-List Press)
YOUNG PEOPLE'S LITERATURE
Sponsored by Sit Investment Associates

"Blank Confession" by Pete Hautman (Simon & Schuster)

"Hamster Magic" by Lynne Jonell, illustrated by Brandon Dorman (Random House Children's Books/Random House Inc.)

"The Shadows: The Books of Elsewhere; Volume I" by Jacqueline West (Dial Books for Young Readers/ The Penguin Group)

"Split" by Swati Avasthi (Random House Children's Books/Random House Inc.)

Amazon Best Translated Book Award Longlist

The Best Translated Book Award prize is an initiative of Three Percent the web blog arm of Open Letter which is book translating press division of the University of Rochester  in the USA - think that's right!

Three Percent launched in the summer of 2007 with the lofty goal of becoming a destination for readers, editors, and translators interested in finding out about modern and contemporary international literature.

The Three Percent comes from the fact that only that percentage ( or lower) of books that are published in the USA (& probably all english speaking nations)  are translated from another language into english- a great shame given the marvellous amount of literature available.

The award was recently given a big leg up when no less than Amazon picked-up the sponsorship, an indication of the qualitative nature of literature in the mix. The gorgeous part of that is that unlike in the previous years that Tragic has been covering the award, the books are actually all available through Amazon. Bliss.

The gigantic US retailer gets a fair bit of stick, often for no apparent reason - victim of the tall poppy syndrome perhaps with people taking cheap shots at a highly successful, and, very useful enterprise.

Tragic sends Amazon a bouquet of fine Australian wild flowers for their involvement in promoting this quality area of our literary world to a wider audience.With their involvement maybe Three Percent will have to rename themselves, Five to Seven Percent and Rising!

Not sure what the prize money is involved but will dig around.

The 2010 (awarded in 2011) long list has just been released with a shortlist of ten due in March methinks? An ambition this year is to read the complete longlist if the book buying budget can stand it.

Tragic lists past winners over at Literary Awards Australia, Book Awards US and Literary Awards UK.

The Literary Conference by César Aira.
Translated from the Spanish by Katherine Silver.
(New Directions)

The Golden Age by Michal Ajvaz.
Translated from the Czech by Andrew Oakland.
(Dalkey Archive)

The Rest Is Jungle and Other Stories by Mario Benedetti.
Translated from the Spanish by Harry Morales.
(Host Publications)

A Life on Paper by Georges-Olivier Chateaureynaud.
Translated from the French by Edward Gauvin.
(Small Beer)

A Jew Must Die by Jacques Chessex.
Translated from the French by Donald Wilson.
(Bitter Lemon)

A Splendid Conspiracy by Albert Cossery.
Translated from the French by Alyson Waters.
(New Directions)

The Jokers by Albert Cossery.
Translated from the French by Anna Moschovakis.
(New York Review Books)

Eline Vere by Louis Couperus.
Translated from the Dutch by Ina Rilke.
(Archipelago)

Visitation by Jenny Erpenbeck.
Translated from the German by Susan Bernofsky.
(New Directions)

The Blindness of the Heart by Julia Franck.
Translated from the German by Anthea Bell.
(Grove)

Hocus Bogus by Romain Gary (writing as Émile Ajar).
Translated from the French by David Bellos.
(Yale University Press)

To the End of the Land by David Grossman.
Translated from the Hebrew by Jessica Cohen.
(Knopf)

The True Deceiver by Tove Jansson.
Translated from the Swedish by Thomas Teal.
(New York Review Books)

The Clash of Images by Abdelfattah Kilito.
Translated from the French by Robyn Creswell.
(New Directions)

Bad Nature, or With Elvis in Mexico by Javier Marías.
Translated from the Spanish by Esther Allen.
(New Directions)

Cyclops by Ranko Marinković.
Translated from the Croatian by Vlada Stojiljković,
edited by Ellen Elias-Bursać.
(Yale University Press)

Hygiene and the Assassin by Amélie Nothomb.
Translated from the French by Alison Anderson.
(Europa Editions)

I Curse the River of Time by Per Petterson.
Translated from the Norwegian by
Charlotte Barslund and the author.
(Graywolf Press)

A Thousand Peaceful Cities by Jerzy Pilch.
Translated from the Polish by David Frick.
(Open Letter)

Touch by Adania Shibli.
Translated from the Arabic by Paula Haydar.
(Clockroot)

The Black Minutes by Martin Solares.
Translated from the Spanish by
Aura Estrada and John Pluecker.
(Grove/Black Cat)

On Elegance While Sleeping by Emilio Lascano Tegui.
Translated from the Spanish by Idra Novey.
(Dalkey Archive)

Agaat by Marlene Van Niekerk.
Translated from the Afrikaans by Michiel Heyns.
(Tin House)

Microscripts by Robert Walser.
Translated from the German by Susan Bernofsky.
(New Directions)

Georg Letham: Physician and Murderer by Ernst Weiss.
Translated from the German by Joel Rotenberg.
(Archipelago)