Public Information and Communication
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
September 27, 2017
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Mary Jo Ryan
402-471-3434
800-307-2665
Finalists for 2018 One Book One
Nebraska Announced
What book will all Nebraskans be encouraged to read in 2018?
We will all find out on October 21. Two poetry collections, one
memoir, and two novels—all stories with ties to Nebraska and the
Great Plains—are the finalists for the 2018 One Book One
Nebraska statewide reading program. The finalists are:
- The Bones of Paradise by Jonis Agee, William Morrow
(2016)
- Nebraska Poetry: A Sesquicentennial Anthology 1867-2017 edited
by Daniel Simon, Stephen F. Austin University Press (2017)
- Nebraska Presence: An Anthology of Poetry edited by Greg
Kosmicki and Mary K. Stillwell, The Backwaters Press (2007)
- Ordinary Spaceman: From Boyhood Dreams to Astronaut
by Clayton
Anderson, University of Nebraska Press (2015)
- Swan Gondola: A Novel by Timothy Schaffert, Riverhead Books
(2015)
The One Book One Nebraska reading program, now in its thirteenth
year, is sponsored by the Nebraska Center for the Book,
Humanities Nebraska, and Nebraska Library Commission. It
encourages Nebraskans across the state to read and discuss the
same book, chosen from books written by Nebraska authors or that
have a Nebraska theme or setting. A Nebraska Center for the Book
committee selected the five finalists from a list of twenty-six
titles nominated by Nebraskans. In the coming weeks, Nebraska
Center for the Book board members will vote on the 2018
selection.
Nebraskans are invited to attend the
Celebration of
Nebraska Books on
October 21, where
the choice for the 2018 One Book One Nebraska will be announced
at 5:30 p.m. at the Nebraska State Historical Society’s Nebraska
History Museum, 131 Centennial Mall North, in downtown Lincoln.
This year’s One Book One Nebraska selection,
Black Elk
Speaks (University of Nebraska Press, 2014) by John G.
Neihardt will be featured in a keynote presentation by Timothy
G. Anderson, author of the biography
Lonesome Dreamer: The
Life of John G. Neihardt (University of Nebraska Press,
2016) at 2:45 p.m. See
http://onebook.nebraska.gov or
https://www.facebook.com/OneBookOneNebraska for more
information about ongoing 2017 One Book One Nebraska activities.
The October 21 Celebration of Nebraska Books is scheduled for
2:30 - 6:30 p.m., with the Nebraska Center for the Book Annual
Meeting to be held at 1:30 p.m. Awards will be presented to the
winners of the
2017 Nebraska Book Awards, and
some of the winning authors will read from their work. A list of
Nebraska Book Award winners is posted at
http://centerforthebook.nebraska.gov/awards.html. The
Celebration of Nebraska Books is sponsored by the Nebraska
Center for the Book and Nebraska Library Commission with support
from the Nebraska State Historical Society’s Nebraska History
Museum. Humanities Nebraska provides support for the One Book
One Nebraska keynote presentation. For more information, contact
Mary Jo Ryan, 402-471-3434 or 800-307-2665.
Confirmed presenters will be announced at
www.centerforthebook.nebraska.gov and
http://www.facebook.com/NebraskaCenterfortheBook in advance
of the Celebration.
The Nebraska Center for the Book is housed at the Nebraska
Library Commission and brings together the state’s readers,
writers, booksellers, librarians, publishers, printers,
educators, and scholars to build the community of the book,
supporting programs to celebrate and stimulate public interest
in books, reading, and the written word. The Nebraska Center for
the Book is supported by the national Center for the Book in the
Library of Congress and the Nebraska Library Commission.
As the state library agency, the Nebraska Library Commission is
an advocate for the library and information needs of all
Nebraskans. The mission of the Library Commission is statewide
promotion, development, and coordination of library and
information services, “bringing together people and
information.”
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The most up-to-date news releases from the Nebraska Library
Commission are always available on the Library Commission
Website,
http://nlc.nebraska.gov/publications/newsreleases
.