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Celebrate Nebraska’s 2023 Book
Award Winners
Celebrate Nebraska’s 2023 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 UNL City Campus Union on October
14th, winners of the 2023 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
2022. And the winners are:
Children’s Design: Eat Your Woolly Mammoths! By
James Solheim. Publisher: Greenwillow Books, an imprint of HarperCollins
Publishers.
Children’s Nonfiction: Eat Your Woolly Mammoths!
By James Solheim. Publisher: Greenwillow Books, an imprint of HarperCollins
Publishers.
Young Adult: Scattered Showers by Rainbow
Rowell. Publisher: Wednesday Books, St. Martin’s Publishing Group.
Design: Feeding the Fire by Twyla Hansen.
Publisher: Wayne State College Press.
Illustration: The Rowdy Randy Wild West Show by
Casey Day Rislov, illustrated by Zachary Pullen. Publisher: Mountain Stars
Press.
Fiction: Private Way by Ladette Randolph.
Publisher: University of Nebraska Press.
Nonfiction Autobiography: Monkey on the Other Side
of the Window: The True Story of the Northeast Nebraska Zoo in Royal,
Nebraska by Dick Haskin. Publisher: Morris Publishing.
Nonfiction Biography: The Women Who Built Omaha: A
Bold and Remarkable History by Eileen Wirth. Publisher: Bison Books.
Nonfiction Fellowship: From Your Friend, Carey Dean:
Letters from Nebraska’s Death Row by Lisa Knopp. Publisher: Cascade
Books.
Nonfiction History: Standing Bear’s Quest for
Freedom: The First Civil Rights Victory for Native Americans by
Lawrence A. Dwyer. Publisher: Bison Books.
Nonfiction Nebraska as Place: Nourishing Waters,
Comforting Sky: Thirty-Five Years at a Sandhills Oasis by Stephen R.
Jones. Publisher: Bison Books.
Nonfiction Solidarity: Dirt Persuasion: Civic
Environmental Populism and the Heartland’s Pipeline Fight by Derek
Moscato. Publisher: University of Nebraska Press.
Poetry: A Crazy Little Thing by Lucy Adkins.
Publisher: Wayne State College Press.
Poetry Honor: Cord Blood by Bonnie
Johnson-Bartee. Publisher: Sandhills Press.
The Celebration of Nebraska Books, on October 14th, will also
honor winners of the 2023 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 2023 One Book One Nebraska selection, The Mystery of Hunting’s
End by Mignon Eberhart (Bison Books, 1998) will be featured in a
keynote presentation. The introduction of the 2024 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.”
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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.