The Minnesota Book Awards
For more information about the Minnesota Book Awards, click here.
1988: the first year's winners
The first year's awards were made without mention of categories
The high price of everything : stories by Kathleen Coskran
The star maiden : an Ojibway tale / retold by Barbara Juster Esbensen ; illustrated by Helen K. Davie
Spillville by Patricia Hampl ; engravings by Steven Sorman
Leaving home by Garrison Keillor
Selected poems, 1938-1988 by Thomas McGrath
Hatchet : a novel by Gary Paulsen
Anthologies & Collections/Collected Works
2006 Voices of Rondo : oral histories of Saint Paul’s historic Black community, edited by Kate Cavett
2005 Old Glory : American war poems from the Revolutionary War to the war on terrorism, edited by Robert Hedin
2004 A place called home : writings on the Midwestern small town, edited by Richard O. Davies, Joseph A. Amato, David R. Pichaske
2003 Keys to the interior : twenty-five years of Great River Review, edited by Richard Broderick and Robert Hedin
2002 The cancer poetry project : poems by cancer patients and those who love them, edited by Karin B. Miller
2001 Visiting Emily : poems inspired by the life & work of Emily Dickinson, edited by Sheila Coghill & Thom Tammaro ; foreword by Robert Bly
1999 The talking of hands : unpublished writings by New Rivers Press authors, edited by Robert Alexander, Mark Vinz, and C. W. Truesdale
1997 Changing the bully who rules the world : reading and thinking about ethics, compiled by Carol Bly
1996 Imagining home : writing from the Midwest, edited by Mark Vinz and Thom Tammaro
1994 Inheriting the land : contemporary voices from the Midwest, edited by Mark Vinz and Thom Tammaro
1993 The Beacon book of quotations by women, compiled by Rosalie Maggio
1992 The Graywolf annual eight : the new family, edited by Scott Walker
Architecture
2003 Cap Wigington : an architectural legacy in ice and stone by David Vassar Taylor, with Paul Clifford Larson
Art and Music
2003 The Gág family : German-Bohemian artists in America by Julie L'Enfant
Autobiography/Biography/Creative nonfiction/Memoirs/Personal narrative/Personal papers/Personal voices
2010 The wolf at twilight : an Indian elder's journey through a land of ghosts and shadows by Kent Nerburn
2009 The latehomecomer : a Hmong family memoir by Kao Kalia Yang
2008 The florist’s daughter by Patricia Hampl (memoir and creative nonfiction)
2007 Spirit car : journey to a Dakota past by Diane Wilson
2006 Left for dead : a second life after Vietnam by Jon Hovde and Maureen Anderson
2005 Flim-flam man : a true family history by Jennifer Vogel
2004 The language of blood : a memoir by Jane Jeong Trenka (Autobiography and memoir)
2003 Back to Mississippi : a personal journey through the events that changed America in 1964 by Mary V. Winstead (Autobiography, Biography, Memoir)
2002 While the locust slept : a memoir by Peter Razor (Autobiography and memoir)
2001 Packinghouse daughter : a memoir by Cheri Register (Autobiography and memoir)
2000 Telling : a memoir of rape and recovery by Patricia Weaver Francisco (Biography and memoir)
1999 The witness of combines by Kent Meyers (Memoirs); Hoover, Roy O A Lake Superior lawyer : a biography of Chester Adgate Congdon (Biography)
1998 The far islands and other cold places : travel essays of a Victorian lady by Elizabeth Taylor (Personal papers); John Quincy Adams : a public life, a private life by Paul C Nagel (Autobiography/Biography)
1997 The heart can be filled anywhere on earth : Minneota, Minnesota by Bill Holm, Bill (Personal voices); Patty's journey : from orphanage to adoption and reunion by Donna Scott Norling
1996 Shepherdess : notes from the field by Joan Jarvis Ellison (Personal voices); Jack and Rochelle : a Holocaust story of love and resistance by Jack Sutin (Biography)
1995 Eggs in the coffee, sheep in the corn : my 17 years as a farm wife by Marjorie Myers Douglas (Biography); Neither wolf nor dog : on forgotten roads with an Indian elder by Kent Nerburn (Personal voices)
1994 Walking the Rez Road by Jim Northrup
1993 The journey goes on by David Nimmer
1992 Matriarch of conspiracy : Ruth von Kleist 1867-1945 by Jane Pejsa (Biography)
1991 Coming home crazy : an alphabet of China essays by Bill Holm (Biography)
Book Design & Execution/Illustrated Book/Fine Press
2007 What it’s like here by Jim Moore, Regula Russelle and CB Sherlock
2006 Ghost poems for the living : 13 sonnets by Shakespeare with distillations, William Shakespeare, text and Paulette Myers-Rich, text
2005 Distance from the sun : thirty prose poems from thirty years by Louis Jenkins; illustrated by Chandler O’Leary; Jeff Rathermel, design and binding; Jana Pullman, design and binding (Fine press)
2004 Poetry of chance encounters by Harriet Bart, Harriet (Fine press)
2003 Impressions by Roger Cooper ; Mandi Selisker, designer; John Erickson, artist
2002 Garment Register by Harriet Bart, book artist ; Phillip Gallo, printer ; Jill Jevne, binder
2001 The summer house by Patricia Hampl; Harold Kyle, book artist; Michael Lizama, book artist; Mary Jo Pauly, book artist (Fine press)
2000 Broder by Anna Reckin; Paulette Myers-Rich, photographs and bookwork (Fine press)
1999 Chased by the light : a 90-day journey by Jim Brandenburg (Illustrated book); Roar shocks by David Rathman (Fine press)
1998 Connections & reflections : mothers & daughters in their own light, in their own words by Catherine Koemptgen (illustrated books)
1997 Minnesota architect : the life and work of Clarence H Johnston by Paul Clifford Larson
1996 The architecture of Edwin Lundie by Dale Mulfinger
1995 The shape of things : the art of Francis Lee Jaques by Patricia Condon Johnston
1994 The Lake Superior images by Craig Blacklock
1989 The Arctic wolf : living with the pack by L. David Mech
1988 Border country : the Quetico-Superior wilderness by Craig Blacklock
Children's/Young Adult/Younger Children/Older Children (Fiction/Non-fiction/Picture Books/Poetry)
2010 Red sings from treetops : a year in colors by Joyce Sidman ; illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski (Children's); The magician's elephant by Kate DiCamillo (Young adult)
2009 The house in the night, written by Susan Marie Swanson ; pictures by Beth Krommes (Children's); Twleve long months by Brian Malloy (Young adult)
2008 Emmy and the incredible shrinking rat by Lynne Jonell ; art by Jonathan Bean (Children's); Defect by Will Weaver (Young adult)
2007 Tomorrow, the river by Dianne E. Gray (children's); The book of one hundred truths by Julie Schumacher (young adult)
2006 Wanda Gág : storybook artist by Gwenyth Swain (non-fiction); The counterfeit princess by Jane Resh Thomas (fiction); Fold me a poem by Kristine O’Connell George ; Lauren Stringer, illustrator (picture book); All rivers flow to the sea by Alison McGhee (young adult fiction)
2005 The darkest evening by William Durbin (Children's fiction); The hidden folk : stories of fairies, dwarves, selkies, and other secret beings by Lise Lunge-Larsen (Children's and young adult nonfiction); The best pet of all by David LaRochelle ; illustrated by Hanako Wakiyama (Picture Book); Godless by Pete Hautman (Young adult fiction and poetry)
2004 Hey, pancakes! by Tamson Weston ; pictures by Stephen Gammell (Children's fiction); Our family tree : an evolution story by Lisa Westberg Peters ; Illustrated by Lauren Stringer (Children's non-fiction); Sweetblood by Pete Hautman (Young adult fiction); Northern lights : the stories of Minnesota's past by Dave Kenney (Young adult non-fiction)
2003 Countdown to kindergarten by Alison McGhee ; Pictures by Harry Bliss (Children's fiction); The sky's the limit : stories of discovery by women and girls by Catherine Thimmesh ; Illustrated by Melissa Sweet (Children's non-fiction); Firestorm by Joan Neubert Schultz (Young adult fiction); The good path : Ojibwe learning and activity book for kids by Thomas Peacock (Young adult non-fiction)
2002 The race of the Birkebeiners by Lise Lunge-Larsen ; illustrated by Mary Azarian (Children); Zazoo by Richard Mosher (Youth literature)
2001 Curse of a winter moon by Mary Casanova (Young adult); The hunter : a Chinese folktale, retold by Mary Casanova ; illustrations by Ed Young (Children)
2000 The troll with no heart in his body : and other tales of trolls from Norway, retold by Lise Lunge-Larsen ; woodcuts by Betsy Bowen (Children); Dove song by Kristine Franklin (Young adult)
1999 Paulsen, Gary Soldier's heart : a novel of the Civil War (Young person's fiction); Thomas, Jane Resh Behind the mask : the life of Queen Elizabeth I (Children's non-fiction); Frasier, Debra Out of the ocean (Picture book, illustrator); Stuve-Bodeen, Stephanie Elizabeti's doll (Picture book, author)
1998 Durbin, William The broken blade (Young adult fiction); Bauer, Marion Dane If you were born a kitten ; illustrated by JoEllen McAllister Stammen (Picture book); Parker, David L Stolen dreams : portraits of working children (Children's non-fiction)
1997 Dorris, Michael Sees Behind Trees (Young adult fiction); Root, Phyllis Aunt Nancy and Old Man Trouble ; illustrated by David Parkins (Picture book); Czech, Kenneth P Snapshot : America discovers the camera (Children's non-fiction)
1996 Kroll, Steven Ellis Island : doorway to freedom ; illustrated by Karen Ritz (Winner, illustrator); Weidt, Maryann N Daddy played music for the cows ; illustrated by Henri Sorensen (Winner, author); Qualey, Marsha Hometown (Young adult fiction); Swain, Gwenyth Bookworks : making books by hand ; with Minnesota Center for Book Arts ; illustrations by Jennifer Hagerman ; photographs by Andy King (Children's non-fiction)
1995 Chocolate, Deborah M Newton Imani in the belly ; pictures by Alex Boies (Younger children); Am I blue? : coming out from the silence, edited by Marion Dane Bauer (Older children); Buettner, Dan Sovietrek : a journey by bicycle across Russia (Children's non-fiction)
1994 Bowen, Betsy Tracks in the wild (Younger children); Knutson, Barbara Sungura and Leopard : a Swahili trickster tale (Younger children); Brandenburg, Jim To the top of the world : adventures with Arctic wolves (Older children non-fiction); Qualey, Marsha Revolutions of the heart (Older children fiction)
1993 Aylesworth, Jim Old black fly ; illustrations by Stephen Gammell (Younger children); Bauer, Marion Dane What's your story? : a young person's guide to writing fiction (Older children)
1992 Mazer, Anne The salamander room ; illustrated by Steve Johnson (Younger children); Bauer, Marion Dane Face to face : a novel (Older children)
1991 McDonald, Megan Is this a house for a hermit crab? (Younger children; International Children's Book Award); Knutson, Barbara How the Guinea fowl got her spots : a Swahili tale of friendship (Younger children); Paulsen, Gary Woodsong (Older children)
1989 Peters, Lisa Westberg The sun, the wind, and the rain (Younger children); Latimer, Jim Going the moose way home (Children's)
Cuisine
1993 Scandinavian feasts by Beatrice A. Ojakangas
Education/Teaching/Academic
2003 Ojibwe waasa inaabidaa = We look in all directions by Thomas D. Peacock
Fiction/Novel & Short Story/Popular Fiction/Genre fiction
2010 Jelly's gold by David Housewright (genre fiction); The book of night women by Marlon James (novel & short story)
2009 The plague of doves by Louise Erdrich (novel & short story); Stalking Susan by Julie Kramer (genre fiction)
2008 Thunder Bay : a Cork O’Connor mystery by William Kent Krueger (genre fiction); The last communist virgin : stories by Wang Ping (novel & short story)
2007 Copper River : a Cork O’Connor mystery by William Kent Krueger (genre fiction); When Charlotte comes home by Maureen Millea Smith (novel & short story)
2006 The painted drum by Louise Erdrich (novel & short story); The iron girl by Ellen Hart (popular fiction)
2005 Meyers, Kent The work of wolves (Novel & Short Story); Erickson, K. J. Alone at night (Popular Fiction)
2004 O'Connor, Sheila Where no gods came; Tracy, P. J. Monkeewrench
2003 Labiner, Norah Miniatures (Fiction); Sandford, John Mortal prey (Genre)
2002 Erdrich, Louise The last report on the miracles at Little No Horse (Novel & Short Story); Krueger, William Kent Purgatory Ridge : a Cork O'Conner mystery (Popular Fiction)
2001 Logue, Mary Dark coulee : a Claire Watkins mystery (Popular Fiction); McGhee, Alison Shadow baby (Novel & Short Story)
2000 Polansky, Steven Dating Miss Universe : nine stories (Short Story); Hautman, Pete Mrs Million (Popular Fiction); Pate, Alexs D. The multicultiboho sideshow (Novel)
1999 McGhee, Alison Rainlight (Novels and Short Stories); Krueger, William Kent Iron Lake : a Cork O'Connor mystery (Mystery)
Bujold, Lois McMaster Komarr (Fantasy & Science Fiction)
1998 Weatherby, Beth Small invasions (Short Stories); Rabasa, George Floating kingdom : a novel (Novels); Housewright, David Practice to deceive (Mystery); Ford, John M. From the end of the twentieth century (Fantasy & Science Fiction); Martin, Janet Letnes Growing up Lutheran : what does this mean? (Fun & humor)
1997 Rabasa, George Glass houses : stories (Short Stories); Erdrich, Louise Tales of burning love (Novels); Drury, Joan Silent words (Mystery)
1996 Grunke, Ann Lundberg Revealing the unknown to a pair of lovers : stories (Novel & Short Stories); Hart, Ellen Faint praise : a Jane Lawless mystery (Mystery); Prill, David The unnatural : a novel (Fantasy & Science Fiction)
1995 DeGrazia, Emilio Seventeen grams of soul (Fiction); Hart, Ellen A small sacrifice : a Jane Lawless mystery (Mystery); Stevermer, Caroline A college of magics (Fantasy & Science Fiction)
1994 Green, Kate Black dreams (Mystery); Benítez, Sandra A place where the sea remembers : a novel (Fiction); Arnason, Eleanor Ring of swords (Fantasy & Science Fiction)
1993 Adams, Harold The man who was taller than God (Mystery); Dorner, Marjorie Winter roads, summer fields : stories (Fiction)
1992 Sutter, Barton My father's war and other stories (Fiction); Shetterly, Will Elsewhere (Fantasy & Science Fiction)
1991 Dorner, Marjorie Freeze frame (Mystery); Peyton, John L The stone canoe and other stories (Fiction); Wrede, Patricia C Dealing with dragons (Fantasy & Science Fiction)
1989 Spencer, LaVyrle Morning glory (Genres); Weaver, Will A gravestone made of wheat : stories (Fiction)
History/Biography
2006 The lobotomist : a maverick medical genius and his tragic quest to rid the world of mental illness by Jack El-Hai
2005 Genghis Khan and the making of the modern world by Jack Weatherford
2004 Mill city : a visual history of the Minneapolis mill district, edited by Shannon M. Pennefeather
2003 Pale horse at Plum Run : the First Minnesota at Gettysburg by Brian Leehan (History, politics, & culture)
2002 Views on the Mississippi : the photographs of Henry Peter Bosse by Mark Neuzil (History & biography)
2001 The haymakers : a chronicle of five farm families by Steven R. Hoffbeck
2000 Minnesota's twentieth century : stories of extraordinary everyday people by D. J. Tice
1999 Building community, keeping the faith : German Catholic vernacular architecture in a rural Minnesota parish by Fred W. Peterson
1998 Icy pleasures : Minnesota celebrates winter by Paul Clifford Larson
1997 Aldo Leopold : a fierce green fire by Marybeth Lorbiecki (Biography & history)
1996 Professor Wellstone goes to Washington : the inside story of a grassroots US Senate campaign by Dennis J. McGrath
1995 As seen on TV : the visual culture of everyday life in the 1950s by Karal Ann Marling
1994 The hike into the sun : memoir of an American soldier captured on Bataan in 1942 and imprisoned by the Japanese until 1945 by Bernard T. FitzPatrick
Information/Help & Guidance
1999 Raising nonviolent children in a violent world : a family handbook by Michael Obsatz (Health & guidance); Hiking Minnesota by John Pukite (Information)
1998 Minnesota business almanac : Minnesota's guide to business (Information); Taking charge of my mind & body : a girls' guide to outsmarting alcohol, drugs, smoking, and eating problems by Gladys Folkers (Health & guidance)
1997 Canoe country flora : plants and trees of the North Woods and Boundary Waters by Mark Stensaas (Information); The manipulative child : how to regain control and raise resourceful, resilient, and independent kids by Ernest W. Swihart (Health & guidance)
1996 A concise dictionary of Minnesota Ojibwe by John Nichols (Information); Realistic oil painting techniques by Kurt Anderson (Health & guidance)
1995 Minnesota job seeker's sourcebook : the complete statewide guide to job-seeking support services 2d ed. (Information); Suicide--why? : 85 questions and answers about suicide by Adina Wrobleski (Health & guidance)
1994 Writing for business : helpful, easy-to-apply advice for everyone who writes on the job by Stephen Wilbers
1993 The wild gardener : the life and selected writings of Eloise Butler by Martha E. Hellander
1992 Walking Minnesota by Mary Jo Malach (Information)
1991 How to say it : choice words, phrases, sentences and paragraphs for every situation by Rosalie Maggio (Information)
Multicultural
2003 Overcoming : the autobiography of W Harry Davis by W. Harry Davis
Minnesota/Nature/Science
2010 Opening Goliath : danger and discovery in caving by Cary J. Griffith
2009 Hard work and a good deal : the Civilian Conservation Corps in Minnesota by Barbara W. Sommer
2008 Land of amber waters : the history of brewing in Minnesota by Doug Hoverson
2006 A northern front : new and selected essays by John Hildebrand
2005 Minnesota treasures : stories behind the state's historic places by Denis P. Gardner
2004 Looking for the summer by Jim Brandenburg
2003 Voices for the land : Minnesotans write about the places they love Photographs by Brian Peterson
2002 In search of Lake Wobegon by Garison Keillor ; photographs by Richard Olsenius
2001 Wild rice cooking : harvesting, history, natural history, and lore with 80 recipes by Susan Hauser
2000 Worlds within a world : reflections on visits to Minnesota Scientific and Natural Area Preserves by Paul Gruchow
1999 Valley of grass : tallgrass prairie and parkland of the Red River region by Kim Alan Chapman
1998 A wild neighborhood by John Henricksson (Nature)
1997 Far from tame : reflections from the heart of a continent by Laurie Allmann (Nature); Tales of the old north shore : paintings and companion stories by Howard Sivertson (Minnesota)
1996 Minnesota's natural heritage : an ecological perspective by John R. Tester (Nature); Minnesota gardens : an illustrated history by Susan Davis Price (Minnesota)
1995 Amphibians & reptiles native to Minnesota by Barney Oldfield
1994 Basic needs : a year with street kids in a city school by Julie Landsman
1991 The bear guardian : northwoods tales and meditations by Peter M. Leschak
1989 Meant to be read out loud by Susan Hauser
New age, metaphysics, and spirituality
2003 Pathways to spirituality and healing : embracing life and each other in the face of a serious illness by Alexa W. Umbreit
New voice (First-time author)
2005 Flim-flam man : a true family history by Jennifer Vogel
2003 Spilling Clarence by Anne Ursu
Non-fiction/General nonfiction
2010 I go to America : Swedish American women and the life of Mina Anderson by Joy K. Lintelman
2009 The compassionate carnivore: or, how to keep animals happy, save old MacDonald’s farm, reduce your hoofprint, and still eat meat by Catherine Friend
2008 The art of subtext : beyond plot by Charles Baxter
2007 A shameful act : the Armenian genocide and the question of Turkish responsibility by Taner Akçam
2006 Recovering the sacred : the power of naming and claiming by Winona LaDuke
2005 Walsh, David Why do they act that way? : a survival guide to the adolescent brain for you and your teen
1999 Cold comfort : life at the top of the map by Barton Sutter; The not so big house : a blueprint for the way we really live by Sarah Susanka
1998 Cleaning up : the story behind the biggest legal bonanza of our time by David Lebedoff; North enough : AIDS and other clear-cuts by Janice Zita Grover
1997 The garden of eating : food, sex, and the hunger for meaning by Jeremy Iggers
1996 Grass roots : the universe of home by Paul Gruchow
1995 Mother journeys : feminists write about mothering, edited by Maureen T. Reddy, Martha Roth, and Amy Sheldon
1994 News from the border : a mother's memoir of her autistic son by Jane Taylor McDonnell
1993 Dragon within the gates : the once and future AIDS epidemic by Stephen C. Joseph
1992 Native roots : how the Indians enriched America by J. McIver Weatherford
1991 The passionate, accurate story : making your heart's truth into literature by Carol Bly
1989 Indian givers : how the Indians of the Americas transformed the world by J. McIver Weatherford
Photography
2003 Voices for the land : Minnesotans write about the places they love / photographs by Brian Peterson
Poetry
2010 I wish I had a heart like yours, Walt Whitman by Jude Nutter
2009 National monuments by Heid E. Erdrich
2008 Willow room, green door : new and selected poems by Deborah Keenan
2007 The curator of silence by Jude Nutter
2006 Lightning at dinner : poems by Jim Moore
2005 Naming the stars : poems by Joyce Sutphen
2004 Coming late to Rachmaninoff : poems by Richard Terrill
2003 The hawk temple at Tierra Grande : poems by Ray González
2002 The night Abraham called to the stars by Robert Bly
2001 Turtle pictures by Ray González
2000 Tug by G. E. Patterson
1999 The green tuxedo by Janet A. Holmes
1998 Selected poems, 1965-1995 by Michael Dennis Browne
1997 War baby express by Roseann Lloyd
1996 The long experience of love by Jim Moore
1995 Nice fish : new and selected prose poems by Lois Jenkins
1994 The book of names : new and selected poems by Barton Sutter
1993 You won't remember this : poems by Michael Dennis Browne
1992 Lone Dog's winter count by Diane Glancy
1991 The color of Mesabi bones : poems and prose poems by John Caddy
1989 The freedom of history : poems by James Moore
Readers' Choice Award (selected by online voters from across the state)
2008 Farmer Cap by Jill Kalz
2007 Waking : a memoir of trauma and transcendence by Matthew Sanford