"Owls of the Eastern Ice," a nonfiction narrative account of a scientist's search to find and conserve a rare owl in far eastern Russia, has been named to the National Book Awards longlist for nonfiction. Its author, Jonathan C. Slaght, lives in Minneapolis and did his graduate work at the University of Minnesota. It is his first book.
Slaght's book tells the story of the five winters he spent in Primorye, Russia, searching for, tagging and tracking the elusive fish-eating Blakiston's fish owl, which lives along riverbanks teeming with salmon and nests in huge old trees — habitat that was being threatened by fishermen and loggers.
Other books on the long list include "Caste" by Isabel Wilkerson, and Claudio Saunt's "Unworthy Republic."
The full list can be found online at https://bit.ly/2FDNftT
Once again, the National Book Awards long lists for each genre are being rolled out daily. "The Galleons" by Rick Barot, published by Minneapolis' Milkweed Editions, and "Guillotine" by Eduardo C. Corral and "Postcolonial Love Poem," by Natalie Diaz, both published by Graywolf Press of Minneapolis, are longlisted for the poetry award. That full list is here: https://bit.ly/35JIkCb
The fiction list will be revealed on Friday.
Laurie Hertzel • 612-673-7302
@StribBooks