Minnesota Book Awards honor authors and artists in return to live ceremony

The Minnesota Book Awards returned live tonight (Tuesday) after three years of airing virtually. Presented by Friends of the St. Paul Public Library and sponsored by Education Minnesota, the program at the Ordway Center for the Arts in St. Paul honored authors/illustrators in nine categories as well as the Book Artist, Hognander Minnesota History and Kay Sexton awardees, previously announced. T. Mychael Rambo was emcee.

Here are the 2022 Minnesota Book Awards winners. (Category sponsors are in parenthesis. *Indicates a Minnesota-based publisher.)

Children’s Literature (Books For Africa)

“How to Apologize” by David LaRochelle; illustrated by Mike Wohnoutka (Candlewick Press*): Everyone makes mistakes but apologizing can be hard. LaRochelle is a former elementary school teacher who has been creating books for young people for more than 25 years. He is the recipient of the Sid Fleischman Humor Award and the Minnesota Book Award. Wohnoutka has illustrated over 30 books for children, many of them with David LaRochelle, and is a Minnesota Book Award-winner.

General Nonfiction (The Duchess Harris Collection)

“The Violence Project: How to Stop a Mass Shooting Epidemic” by Jillian Peterson and James Densley (Abrams Books): Using data from the writers’ groundbreaking research on mass shooters, including first-person accounts from the perpetrators themselves, “The Violence Project” charts new pathways to prevention and innovative ways to stop the social contagion of violence. Peterson has led large-scale research studies on mental illness and crime, school-shooting prevention and mass violence. She is a professor of criminology and criminal justice at Hamline University and faculty director of the Center for Justice and Law. Densley is a professor of criminal justice and first University Scholar at Metropolitan State University. He has established himself as one of the world’s leading experts on street gangs and youth violence, including cyber violence.

Genre Fiction (Macalester College)

“Life’s Too Short” by Abby Jimenez (Forever/Hachette Book Group): When Vanessa Price quit her job to pursue her dream of traveling the globe, she wasn’t expecting to gain millions of YouTube followers. But after the sudden custody of her baby niece, the last person Vanessa expects to show up offering help is the hot lawyer next door. Jimenez is a Food Network winner and New York Times bestselling author. She founded Nadia Cakes out of her home kitchen in 2007, and the bakery has gone on to win numerous Food Network competitions.

Memoir & Creative Nonfiction (Bradshaw Celebration of Life Centers)

“Watershed: Attending to Body and Earth in Distress” by Ranae Lenor Hanson (University of Minnesota Press*): Watershed follows the streams and tributaries that connect us to our world and to each other, as revealed in the life stories of Minnesotans driven from their homelands by climate disruption. Hanson is a lifelong educator. She collaborates with Minnesota 350 and Transition US and other organizations to develop effective responses to the trauma of our changing climate.

Middle-Grade Literature (Education Minnesota)

“Long Lost” by Jacqueline West (Greenwillow Books/HarperCollins): When Fiona’s family moves to a new town, nobody seems to notice Fiona’s unhappiness. After she finds a gripping mystery novel at her local library, Fiona begins to notice strange similarities that blur the lines between the novel and her new town. West is the author of the bestselling middle-grade series The Books of Elsewhere, the Schneider Family Book Award Honor Book “The Collectors,” and other novels for young readers and teens.

Emilie Buchwald Award for Minnesota Nonfiction (Bookmobile)

“Confluence: A History of Fort Snelling” by Hampton Smith (Minnesota Historical Society Press*): Historian Hampton Smith delves into Fort Snelling’s long and complicated story: its construction as an improbably enormous structure, the daily lives of its inhabitants, its role as a military outpost, itsparticipation in wresting the land from the Dakota, its evolution as two cities grew up around it, and its roles in two world wars – up to the reinterpretation of the fort as Minnesotans mark its 200th anniversary. Smith is a former reference librarian at the Minnesota Historical Society.

Novel & Short Story

“The Seed Keeper” by Diane Wilson (Milkweed Editions*): A widow and mother, Rosalie Iron Wing has spent two decades on her white husband’s farm, finding solace in her garden. Now, grieving, Rosalie begins to confront the past and what it means to be descended from women with souls of iron – women who have protected their families, their traditions, and a precious cache of seeds through generations of hardship and loss. Wilson (Dakota) is the author of several books, including the Minnesota Book Award-winning “Spirit Car: Journey to a Dakota Past.” She is executive director for the Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance.

Poetry (Wellington Management Inc.)

“Sho”  by Douglas Kearney (Wave Books): Navigating the complex penetrability of language, these poems espouse Black vernacular strategies, while examining histories and current events through the lyric, brand new dances, and other performances. Kearney is the author of seven poetry collections. He has received a Whiting Writer’s Award and a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Cy Twombly Award for Poetry. He teaches creative writing at the University of Minnesota.

Young Adult Literature (Expedition Credit Union) 

“The Night When No One Had Sex” by Kalena Miller (AW Teen/Albert Whitman): It’s the night of senior prom, and 18-year-old Julia has made a pact with her friends. (Yes, that kind of pact.) They have secured a secluded cabin in the woods, one night without parental supervision, and plenty of condoms. Alternating between each character’s perspective and their group chat as the pact unravels following the dance, the novel charts a group of friends navigating the tenuous transition into adulthood and embracing the uncertainty of life after high school. Miller is a teacher, editor, and writer of books for children and young adults. She studied religion and gender studies at Carleton College before receiving a master’s in creative writing from Hamline University.

Previously announced