Minnesota Book Awards finalists named

This year's short list for the Minnesota Book Awards is studded with the names of authors and books that have already won major prizes.

The list of finalists, released Saturday night, includes novelist Louise Erdrich's "The Round House" and young-adult writer William Alexander's "Goblin Secrets," both of which were honored with a National Book Award in November.

Also in the running are Laura Purdie Salas, a Minnesota Book Award winner last year; Margi Preus, whose first novel was a Newbery Honor book; Patricia Kirkpatrick's "Odessa," winner of Milkweed Edition's Lindquist and Vennum Prize for Poetry, and Dore Kiesselbach's, "Salt Pier," winner of the Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize.

And one author -- mystery writer David Housewright -- is going up against himself, garnering two of the nominations in genre fiction.

The list of finalists is below. The winners will be announced at the annual gala on April 13 in downtown Minneapolis.

Children's Literature, sponsored by Books For Africa

"A Leaf Can Be," by Laura Purdie Salas, illustrated by Violeta Dabija; "It's a Tiger!" by David LaRochelle, illustrated by Jeremy Tankard; "Tell Me About Your Day Today," by Mem Fox, illustrated by Lauren Stringer; "Waking Dragons," by Jane Yolen, illustrated by Derek Anderson.

"Debating the End of History: The Marketplace, Utopia, and the Fragmentation of Intellectual Life," by David W. Noble; "Forward: The First American Unsupported Expedition to the North Pole," by John Huston and Tyler Fish; "Holding Our World Together: Ojibwe Women and the Survival of Community," by Brenda J. Child; "Rez Life: An Indian's Journey Through Reservation Life," by David Treuer.

Genre Fiction, sponsored by Marvin Windows and Doors

"Curse of the Jade Lily," by David Housewright; "The Devil and the Diva," by David Housewright and Renee Valois; "Ruth3:5," by Michael Fridgen; "The Tutor's Daughter," by Julie Klassen.

Memoir & Creative Nonfiction, sponsored by Leonard, Street and Deinard

"Letters to a Young Madman," by Paul Gruchow; "Life on Ice: 25 Years of Arctic Exploration," by Lonnie Dupre; "My Mother Is Now Earth," by Mark Anthony Rolo; "Turn Here Sweet Corn: Organic Farming Works," by Atina Diffley.

"Every Man Did His Duty: Pictures & Stories of the Men of the First Minnesota," by Wayne D. Jorgenson; "Lost Duluth: Landmarks, Industries, Buildings, Homes, and the Neighborhoods in Which They Stood," by Tony Dierckins and Maryanne C. Norton; "The Minnesota Book of Skills: Your Guide to Smoking Whitefish, Sauna Etiquette, Tick Extraction, and More," by Chris Niskanen; "Mni Sota Makoce: The Land of the Dakota," by Gwen Westerman and Bruce White.

Novel & Short Story

"The Healing," by Jonathan Odell; "It Takes You Over," by Nick Healy; "The Round House," by Louise Erdrich; "Vladimir's Mustache and Other Stories," by Stephan Eirik Clark.

Poetry, sponsored by Wellington Management Inc.

"The First Day of Spring in Northern Minnesota," by Jim Johnson; "Odessa," by Patricia Kirkpatrick; "Pitch," by Todd Boss; "Salt Pier," by Dore Kiesselbach.

"Goblin Secrets," by William Alexander; "Nothing Special," by Geoff Herbach; "Shadow on the Mountain," by Margi Preus; "Silhouette of a Sparrow," by Molly Beth Griffin.