Friends of the St. Paul Public Library on Wednesday announced finalists for the 2026 Minnesota Book Awards, presented this year by sponsor Education Minnesota.
The finalists (* denotes titles from Minnesota presses):
Children’s Literature, sponsored by Beret Publishing:
“All the Stars in the Sky” by Art Coulson; illustrated by Winona Nelson (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers/Simon & Schuster)
“Dear Acorn (Love, Oak)” by Joyce Sidman; illustrated by Melissa Sweet (Clarion Books/HarperCollins)
“Revolutions Are Made of Love: The Story of James Boggs and Grace Lee Boggs” by Mélina Mangal and Sun Yung Shin; illustrated by Leslie Barlow (Carolrhoda Books/Lerner Publishing)*
“Saturday Morning at the Shop” by Keenan Jones; illustrated by Ken Daley (Beach Lane Books/Simon & Schuster)
General Nonfiction
“Enchanted Plants: A Treasury of Botanical Folklore and Magic” by Varla Ventura (Weiser Books/Red Wheel Weiser)
“Gentlemen of the Woods: Manhood, Myth, and the American Lumberjack” by Willa Hammitt Brown (University of Minnesota Press)*
“It’s Their World: Teens, Screens, and the Science of Adolescence” by Erin Walsh (Free Spirit Publishing)
“Sea of Grass: The Conquest, Ruin, and Redemption of Nature on the American Prairie” by David Hage and Josephine Marcotty (Random House/Penguin Random House)
Genre Fiction, sponsored by Macalester College
“Apostle’s Cove” by William Kent Krueger (Atria Books/Simon & Schuster)
“Broken Fields” by Marcie Rendon (Soho Press/Penguin Random House)
“The Codebreaker’s Daughter” by Amy Lynn Green (Bethany House Publishers/Baker Publishing Group)
“The Quiet Librarian” by Allen Eskens (Mulholland Books/Little, Brown and Company/Hachette Book Group)
Memoir/Creative Nonfiction
“Beard: A Memoir of a Marriage” by Kelly Foster Lundquist (Eerdmans/Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.)
“The Book of Kin” by Jennifer Eli Bowen (Milkweed Editions)*
“The Lonely Veteran’s Guide to Companionship by Bronson Lemer (University of Wisconsin Press)
“What Doesn’t Kill Me Makes Me Weirder and Harder to Relate To: A Memoir” by Mary Lucia (University of Minnesota Press)*
Middle-Grade Literature, sponsored by Education Minnesota:
“The House on Rondo by Debra J. Stone (University of Minnesota Press)*
“Scattergood” by H.M. Bouwman (Neal Porter Books/Holiday House)
“Weird Sad and Silent” by Alison McGhee (Rocky Pond Books/Penguin Random House)
“What Happened Then” by Erin Soderberg Downing (Scholastic Press)
Emilie Buchwald Award for Minnesota Nonfiction, sponsored by Annette and John Whaley:
“Enmity and Empathy: Japanese Americans in Minnesota During World War II by Ka F. Wong (Minnesota Historical Society Press)*
“Held Over: Harold and Maude at The Westgate Theater” by John Gaspard (self-published)
“Her Place in the Woods: The Life of Helen Hoover” by David Hakensen (University of Minnesota Press)*
“The War at Home: Minnesota During the Great War, 1914 – 1920” by Greg Gaut (Minnesota Historical Society Press)*
Novel/Short Story, sponsored by Minnesota Humanities Center
“Ashes to Ashes” by Thomas Maltman (Soho Press/Penguin Random House)
“If the Dead Belong Here” by Carson Faust (Viking/Penguin Random House)
“Lucky Tomorrow: Stories” by Deborah Jiang-Stein (University of Minnesota Press)*
“The Many Mothers of Dolores Moore” by Anika Fajardo (Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster)
Poetry, sponsored by Wellington Management
“The Becoming Game” by Paula Cisewski (Hanging Loose Press)
“Enter” by Jim Moore (Graywolf Press)*
“I Imagine I Been Science Fiction Always” by Douglas Kearney (Wave Books)
“Terminal Maladies” by Okwudili Nebeolisa (Autumn House Press)
Young Adult Literature
“Alice in Evermoor” by Karen Huss (self-published)
“The Flip Side” by Jason Walz (Rocky Pond Books/Penguin Random House)
“Seven for a Secret” by Mary E. Roach (Disney Hyperion/Penguin Random House)
“Worthy of Trust: That Word Honor Book 1” by Erin Makela (Beaver’s Pond Press)*
Winners will be announced at the Minnesota Book Awards ceremony May 6 at Ordway Center for the Performing Arts in St. Paul. The Kay Sexton and Hognander awards will also be presented at the event. Tickets are $27 available at thefriends.org/mnba.
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