Public Information and Communication
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
September 15, 2
021
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Tessa Terry
402-471-3434
800-307-2665
Celebrate Nebraska’s 2021 Book Award Winners
Celebrate Nebraska’s 2021 Book Award winners with author readings and an awards presentation ceremony at the Nebraska Center for the Book’s Celebration of Nebraska Books. Held at the Nebraska History Museum on October 23rd, winners of the 2021 Nebraska Book Awards will be honored and the celebration will include readings by some of the winning authors, designers and illustrators of books with a Nebraska connection published in 2020. And the winners are
Children’s Picture Book:
Letters from Space
by Clayton Anderson, Illustrated by Susan Batori.
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
Design:
Sy’s Barbershop and
Pool Hall: New and Selected Poems and Paintings
by Jay D. Gerber. Publisher: Infusionmedia
Illustration:
Lily Discovers People
are Like Donuts
by Rob Otte,
Illustrated by Carey Goddard. Publisher: Jelly Donut Publishing
Illustration Honor:
The Day We Went to the
Park
by Linda Stephen and
Christine Manno, origami artwork by Linda Stephen. Publisher: Handersen
Publishing
Fiction:
The Brightest Place in the World
by David Philip Mullins. Publisher: University of Nevada Press
Nonfiction Legal History:
A Question of Freedom:
The Families Who Challenged Slavery from the Nation’s Founding to the Civil
War
by William G. Thomas
III. Publisher: Yale University Press
Nonfiction Memoir:
Dancing with the
Octopus: A Memoir of a Crime by Debora Harding. Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Nonfiction Memoir Honor:
Yards After Contact -
Team Jack: Scoring a Touchdown Against Childhood Brain Cancer
by Andrew Hoffman, foreword by Rex Burkhead.
Publisher: Nico 11 Publishing and Design
Nonfiction Military History:
A Mighty Force for
Peace: A History of the Former Lincoln Air Force Base
by Robert M. Branting. Publisher: Infusionmedia
Nonfiction Nebraska History:
Never
Caught Twice: Horse Stealing in Western Nebraska, 1850-1890
by Matthew S. Luckett. Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
Nonfiction Nebraska as Place:
Cut in Stone, Cast in
Bronze: Nebraska’s Historical Markers and Monuments, 1854-1967
by Jeff Barnes. Publisher: The Donning Company
Publishers
Nonfiction Solidarity:
American Harvest: God,
Country, and Farming in the Heartland
by Marie Mutsuki Mockett. Publisher: Graywolf
Press
Nonfiction Urban History:
My Omaha Obsession:
Searching for the City by Miss Cassette, foreword by Chris Ware. Publisher: Bison Bookss
Poetry:
Two-Toned Dress
Lucy Adkins. Publisher: Blue Light Press
Poetry Honor:
Forever War
by Kate Gaskin. Publisher: YesYes Books
The Celebration of Nebraska Books, on October 23rd, will also
honor winners of the 2021 Jane Geske and Mildred Bennett awards. The Mildred
Bennett Award recognizes individuals who have made a significant
contribution to fostering the literary tradition in Nebraska, reminding us
of the literary and intellectual heritage that enriches our lives and molds
our world. The Jane Geske Award is presented to a Nebraska organization for
exceptional contribution to literacy, books, reading, libraries, or
literature in Nebraska. It commemorates Geske’s passion for books, and was
established in recognition of her contributions to the well-being of the
libraries of Nebraska.
The 2021 One Book One Nebraska
selection, Prairie Forge: The Extraordinary Story of the Nebraska Scrap
Metal Drive of World War II by James J. Kimble (Bison Books, 2014) will
be featured in a keynote presentation by the author. The introduction of the
2022 One Book One Nebraska book choice will conclude the festivities.
The Celebration of Nebraska Books is sponsored by Nebraska Center for the
Book and the Nebraska Library Commission, with support from History
Nebraska’s Nebraska History Museum. Humanities Nebraska provides support for
One Book One Nebraska. 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.”
###
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.