The 18 finalists for this year's SASE/Jerome Awards have been announced. The annual awards of up to $5,000 go to emerging Minnesota writers and are presented by Intermedia Arts. Judges this year were Julie Landsman for creative nonfiction, Sharon Chmielarz for poetry and John Jodzio for fiction. Here are the finalists:

Poetry: Todd Boss, Paula Cisewski, Melanie Figg, Michelle Matthees, Michael J. Opperman and Elisabeth Workman.

Creative nonfiction: Ruth Gila Berger, Sherrie Fernandez-Williams, Kara Garbe, Rodney Nelsestuen, Margie Newman and Joan Trygg.

Fiction: Annie Baxter, Heather Bouwman, Elizabeth Edelson, Scott Muskin, Ethan Rutherford and Eric Vrooman.

Winners will be announced Wednesday.

Also...

• Michael Perry, author of "Population: 485," a memoir about returning to his childhood home of New Auburn, Wis., has a book coming out in April. "Coop: A Year of Poultry, Pigs and Parenting," will be published by HarperCollins.

• Jim Proebstle, who now lives in Illinois but has lived in northern Minnesota most of his life, has published a thriller set in northern Minnesota. "In the Absence of Honor" is a murder mystery that revolves around the conflict between a brewery executive and two Ojibwe tribal council members. Proebstle will be at Common Good Books, 165 N. Western Av., St. Paul, at 2 p.m. today, and at the Bookcase of Wayzata at 2 p.m. next Sunday.

• "Westhope: Life as a Former Farm Boy," a memoir of North Dakota by Dean Hulse of Fargo, will be published in April by the University of Minnesota Press.

• "I'm Sorry That You Feel That Way," by Diana Joseph, will be published in March by Putnam. Joseph, who teaches at Minnesota State University, Mankato, will be at the Mankato Barnes & Noble at 7 p.m. March 5, Magers & Quinn in Minneapolis at 6 p.m. March 7, the Best of Times in Red Wing at 1 p.m. March 14, and at the Book Shelf in Winona at 7 p.m. March 26.