Awards, awards, awards

So many awards, no room to say anything more; let's just get right to them. Last week, the Minnesota Independent Publishers Association held its annual gala at Luther Seminary in St. Paul and handed out nearly 50 awards. MIPA (as the group is known) represents small, university, independent and self-publishers in the Midwest and has been holding the gala for 24 years. Here's the list of this year's winners:

Arts: Great Houses of Summit Avenue and the Hill District by Karen Melvin, published by Big Picture Press

Autobiography/Memoir: Here Comes the Sun by Brian Lucas, published by Beaver's Pond Press

Biography: Confronting Slavery by Suzanne Cooper Guasco, published by Northern Illinois University Press

Business: Hospitality from the Heart by Brandon W. Johnson & Katherine Foley Roden, published by Beaver's Pond Press

Children's Fiction: The Colored Car by Jean Alicia Elster, published by Wayne State University Press

Children's Non-Fiction: Great Ships on the Great Lakes by Catherine M. Green, Jefferson J. Gray, and Bobbie Malone, published by Wisconsin Historical Society Press

Coffee Table Books: Dances Through Glass by Polly Norman, designed by Dorie McClelland, published by Avant Circle Publishing

Cookbook: Amalia's Guatemalan Kitchen by Amalia Moreno-Damgaard, published by Beaver's Pond Press

Crafts and Hobbies: First-Time Machine Applique by Janet Pittman, published by Landauer Publishing

Culture: Amalia's Guatemalan Kitchen by Amalia Moreno-Damgaard, published by Beaver's Pond Press

Current Events/Political Science: A View from the Interior by Susan Riseling, published by MavenMark

Family/Parenting: Ready for Air by Kate Hopper, published by University of Minnesota Press

Fiction: Contemporary: Turtle Season by Miriam Ruth Black, published by Beaver's Pond Press

Fiction: Fantasy/SciFi/Horror/Paranormal: Orphans by Ben Tanzer, published by Switchgrass Books

Fiction: Historical: Seeking Signs by Staci Angelina Mercado, published by Four Feathers Press

Fiction: Literary: Bolt by Douglas W. Rose, published by Three Towers Press

Fiction: Romance: Turtle Season by Miriam Ruth Black, published by Beaver's Pond Press

Fiction: Short Story/Anthology: Something That Feels Like Truth by Donald Lystra, published by Switchgrass Books

Health: The Gray Zone by Deborah Day Laxson, published by Beaver's Pond Press

History: Race and Rights by Dana Elizabeth Weiner, published by Northern Illinois University Press

Humor: From the Top by Michael Perry, published by Wisconsin Historical Society Press

Midwest Regional Interest: Illustration: One Small Farm by text and photos by Craig Schreiner, published by Wisconsin Historical Society Press

Midwest Regional Interest: Text: Something for Everyone by Michael Leannah, published by Wisconsin Historical Society Press

Nature: From Where I See It by Karen Olson Johnson, published by Amber Skye Publishing LLC

Poetry: The Cancer Poetry Project 2 by Karin D. Miller, published by Tasora Books

Publisher's Website: Beaver's Pond Press

Reference: Royal C. Moore: The Man Who Built the Streetcar Boats by Lori Cherland-McCune, published by Beaver's Pond Press

Religion/Philosophy: Tillich by Daniel J. Peterson, published by Lutheran University Press

Self-Help: Nourishing the Grieving Heart by Jane Thompson with Holly Cashin, published by Empath Press, LLC

Social Sciences: Old Barns and Country Skills of Southeast Michigan by Derek P. Brereton, published by In-Depth Editions

Travel: St. Paul Almanac by multiple authors, published by Arcata Press

Young Adult Non-Fiction: The Compassionate Warrior by Elsa Marston, published by Wisdom Tales

Cover: Dances Through Glass by Polly Norman, designed by Dorie McClelland, published by Avant Circle Publishing

Illustration: Graphic: The Otter, the Spotted Frog and the Great Flood by Gerald Hausman, illustrated by Ramon Shiloh, published by Wisdom Tales

Illustration: Photography: Great Houses of Summit Avenue and the Hill District by Karen Melvin, with photography by Karen Melvin, published by Big Picture Press

Interior Layout: Children of the Tipi by Michael Oren Fitzgerald, designed by Stephen Williams, published by Wisdom Tales

And then last night, up in Duluth, the Northeastern Minnesota Book Awards celebration was held, with Cathy Wurzer as keynote speaker. Here are the winners:

Fiction: "Tamarack County," by William Kent Krueger, published by Atria Books.

Honorarable mention: Timber: Fire in the Pines, by A. L. Sanderson, published by Haven Publishing.

Poetry: "Bound Together: Like the Grasses," by Deborah Cooper, Candace Ginsberg, Ann Floreen Niedringhaus, Ellie Schoenfeld, and Anne Simpson, published by Clover Valley Press.

Honorable mention: "Tin Flag: New and Selected Prose Poems," by Louis Jenkins, published by Will o' the Wisp Books.

Honorable mention: "Esko's Corner: An Illustrated History of Esko and Thomson Township," by Esko Historical Society, edited by Davis Helberg, published by X-presso Books.

Children's Literature: "The Best Part of a Sauna," written by Sheryl Peterson, illustrated by Kelly Dupre, published by Raven Productions, Inc.

Honorable mention: "Finding Hope," by Michelle Myers Lackner, published by Adventure Publications.

Memoir / Creative Nonfiction: "Threads of Hope: Caring for Babies Across Three Continents," by Martha Andrea Aas, M.D., published by Lakeberry Press.