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Arts and Culture
MPR News Staff

Finalists announced for 2021 Minnesota Book Awards

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The field of finalists is set for the 2021 Minnesota Book Awards.

Authors and artists living in Minnesota are eligible for the awards. The finalists were picked Saturday by a group of 27 judges from around the state, including librarians, booksellers, teachers and writers.

The awards are organized by The Friends of the St. Paul Public Library. The winners for the 33rd annual Minnesota Book Awards will be announced at a online ceremony on April 29.

Children’s literature

  • "Bee Love (Can Be Hard)" by Alan Page and Kamie Page, illustrated by David Geister

  • "Big Papa and the Time Machine" by Daniel Bernstrom, illustrated by Shane Evans

  • "A Bowl Full of Peace: A True Story" by Caren Stelson, illustrated by Akira Kusaka

  • "The Most Beautiful Thing" by Kao Kalia Yang, illustrated by Khoa Le

General nonfiction

  • "100 Cookies: The Baking Book for Every Kitchen, with Classic Cookies, Novel Treats, Brownies, Bars, and More" by Sarah Kieffer

  • "How the Streets Were Made: Housing Segregation and Black Life in America" by Yelena Bailey

  • "The Language Warrior’s Manifesto: How to Keep Our Languages Alive No Matter the Odds" by Anton Treuer

  • "Owls of the Eastern Ice: A Quest to Find and Save the World’s Largest Owl" by Jonathan C. Slaght

Genre fiction

  • "The Deep, Deep Snow" by Brian Freeman

  • "From the Grave: A McKenzie Novel" by David Housewright

  • "Get Idiota" by Nate Granzow

  • "Things We Didn't Say" by Amy Lynn Green

Memoir and creative nonfiction

  • "Somewhere in the Unknown World" by Kao Kalia Yang

  • "Tell Me Your Names and I Will Testify: Essays" by Carolyn Holbrook

  • "Unglued: A Bipolar Love Story" by Jeffrey Zuckerman

  • "The War Requiem" by Kaia Solveig Preus

Middle grade literature

  • "CatStronauts: Digital Disaster" by Drew Brockington

  • "The Littlest Voyageur" by Margi Preus, illustrated by Cheryl Pilgrim

  • "Lukezilla Beats the Game" by Kurtis Scaletta, illustrated by David Sossella

  • "What if a Fish" by Anika Fajardo

Minnesota nonfiction

  • "Daybreak Woman: An Anglo-Dakota Life" by Jane Lamm Carroll

  • "Elizabeth Scheu Close: A Life in Modern Architecture" by Jane King Hession

  • "Minnesota's Geologist: The Life of Newton Horace Winchell" by Sue Leaf

  • "A Woman's War, Too: Women at Work During World War II" by Virginia Wright-Peterson

Novel and short story

  • "Bliss" by Fredrick Soukup

  • "The Night Watchman" by Louise Erdrich

  • "Sharks in the Time of Saviors: A Novel" by Kawai Strong Washburn

  • "The Things You Left" by Raki Kopernik

Poetry

  • "Catrachos" by Roy G. Guzmán

  • "Feel Puma: Poems" by Ray Gonzalez

  • "Homie: Poems" by Danez Smith

  • "Wound from the Mouth of a Wound" by torrin a. greathouse

Young adult literature

  • "My Eyes Are Up Here" by Laura Zimmermann

  • "Unscripted" by Nicole Kronzer

  • "Where We Are" by Alison McGhee

  • "The Whitsun Daughters" by Carrie Mesrobian