Stiff competition: NE Minnesota Book Award nominees announced

The 24th annual Northeastern Minnesota Book Award nominees have been announced, and look out, there are a lot of them. Competition is going to be stiff, particularly in the category of nonfiction, which has 17 finalists. (Good luck to all of them. And good luck to the two in the art/photography category, where the odds are a little better.)

The NEMBA is a joint venture of the UMD Library, Friends of the Duluth Public Library and Lake Superior Writers. The ceremony will be May 17 in Duluth. Thriller writer Brian Freeman will be the keynote, and, as always, poet Barton Sutter will be the charming emcee. Winners will receive $200 and a truly lovely glass plaque.

Here are the nominees:

FICTION

• BlizzardBall, Dennis Kelly, North Star Press of St. Cloud

• Dead Ahead: A Jo Spence Mystery, Jen Wright, Clover Valley Press

• A Long-Forgotten Truth, Rachel Ballard, Rozlyn Press

• Where Echoes Die, Pam Leonard, North Star Press of St. Cloud

• Where Memories Dream: Campfire Stories for the Boundary Waters, Steven Coz, Savage Press

• The Winds of Change: A Family's Journey to a Future of Promise, Duane Schwartz, A-Argus Better Book Publishers

POETRY

• Birdland, Kathy McTavish, Wildwood River Press

• East of Nowhere, Larry Christianson, North Star Press of St. Cloud

• Fog & Woodsmoke: Behind the Image, Stephani Schaefer, Lost Hills Books

• Marrow, Muscle, Flight, Gary Boelhower, Wildwood River Press

• Migrations: Poetry and Prose for Life's Transitions, Sheila Packa, ed., Wildwood River Press

• Tumbled Dry, Charmaine Donovan, Lost Hills Books

• Agates of Lake Superior: Stunning Varieties and How They Are Formed, Dan R. Lynch and Bob Lynch, Adventure Publications

• Ancient Earth and the First Ancestors: A Cultural and Geological Journey, Ron Morton and Carl Gawboy, illustrations by Carl Gawboy, Rockflower Press

• And the Snow Came Up to Here: Schools of Carlton County, Minnesota, Nancy C. Hanson, published by author with the assistance of Dovetailed Press

• Anishinaabe Syndicated: A View from the Rez, Jim Northrup, Minnesota Historical Society Press

• A Boundary Waters History: Canoeing Across Time, Stephen Wilbers, The History Press

• Cooking in Canoe Country, Robert Black with Susan Peterson, Carmen Black, and Maja Black, Nodin Press

• Dorothy Molter: The Root Beer Lady, Sarah Guy-Levar and Terri Schocke, Adventure Publications

• Ezhichigeyang: Ojibwe Word List, Nancy Jones, Gordon Jourdain, and Rose Tainter, edited by Anton Treuer and Keller Paap, Waadookodaading Ojibwe Immersion Charter School

• Faces and Places II...A Second Look: A Cook County Historical Album 1930-1960, Pat Zankman, 2nd edition editor; co-edited by M.J. Humphrey, Adolph A. Toftey, and Willis H. Raff, Cook County Historical Society

• Hiking the North Shore: 50 Fabulous Day Hikes in Minnesota's Spectacular Lake Superior Region, Andrew Slade, There and Back Books

• The Oranges Are Sweet: Major Don M. Beerbower and the 353rd Fighter Squadron, November 1942 to August 1944, Paul M. Sailer, Loden Books

• Staycation in Minnesota: Up North, Patricia Overson, North Star Press of St. Cloud

• Trout Caviar: Recipes from a Northern Forager, Brett Laidlaw, Minnesota Historical Society Press

• Twelve Owls, Laura Erickson, with illustrations by Betsy Bowen, University of Minnesota Press

• 20 Great BWCA Trips: Exploring the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, Van Jordahl and Gerald Strom, Adventure Publications

• Hauling Water: Reflections on Making a Home in the North Woods, Becca Brin Manlove, illustrated by Sharon Brin Hathaway, Raven Productions

• Shelter, Sarah Stonich, Borealis Books, Minnesota Historical Society Press

• Spirit of the Lights, Chuck Frederick, Lake Superior Port Cities

• A View of the Lake: Living the Dream on Lake Superior, Beryl Singleton Bissell, Lake Superior Port Cities

• Whitey: From Farm Kid to Flying Tiger to Attorney, Wayne G. Johnson, Langdon Street Press

• Around a Woodsy Corner, Marcy Bolinger, illustrated by Rhonda Weitzel, Gunflint Trail Productions

• Birds in Our Backyard: Say Hello to Minnesota's Feathered Friends, text by Adele Porter, photography by Bill Marchel, Minnesota Historical Society Press

• Buddy's Adventures: Lost Bone, Michael J. Perkins, 10,000 Lakes Art

• Frog in the House, David Mather, illustrated by Stephanie Mirocha, Raven Productions

• Little Minnesota, Kathy-jo Wargin, Sleeping Bear Press

• Tales of Lake Superior: A Grandmother's Stories of the North, Juliet Beatrice Lind, illustrated by Joan Henrik, Joan Henrik Design

• Unforgettable, Loretta Ellsworth, Walker & Co.

• Utterly Otterly Night, Mary Casanova, pictures by Ard Hoyt, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

ART, PHOTOGRAPHY

• Old Minnesota, Nace Hagemann, Gunflint Trail Productions