2025 Nominee List

Douglas Edmonson for Norm Oakvik: The Inconspicuous Coach

This is the story of Norman Oakvik, a selfless Norwegian American who took time off each winter to help young skiers become champions. Norm Oakvik gave of himself for over 50 years, but he never took credit for these champions. He was the Inconspicuous Coach.
It is also the story of his fellow competitors and how they succeeded but also gave back to Nordic skiing. People like John Burton, Charlie Banks, Mike Marciniak, Norm Kragseth, Lars Kindem, and many others all gave of themselves. Some of them were high school coaches and some of them were just part of the small fraternity of Nordic skiers. Read about Minnesota state champions from every year of the wooden-ski era and learn about these competitors and their success. The book includes the history of Minnesota Nordic skiing from 1930s to 1980 and the state high school champions that became junior national, national champions and sometimes, Olympians, and the coaches that helped them become great

Carl Gawboy for Fur Trade Nation: An Ojibwe’s Graphic History 

This book explores the fur trade from an Ojibwe perspective, offering insights into Ojibwe life, kinship and clan systems, technologies, and puts Ojibwe women back at the heart of this remarkable era. The fur trade was the first global trading system and the Ojibwe people were key players in a historical period that has shaped the geography, social structures, and history of Minnesota, and the nation. More than 800 pen and ink drawings, connecting historical records and art, oral traditions, Western and Indigenous scholarship, family history, and contemporary artisans, tell this important history. End notes and bibliography included. 

Cary J. Griffith for Gunflint Falling: Blowdown in the Boundary Waters 

On July 4, 1999, in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW), a bizarre confluence of meteorological events resulted in the most damaging blowdown in the region’s history. Originating over the Dakotas, the midsummer windstorm developed amid unusually high heat and water-saturated forests and moved steadily east, bearing down on Fargo, North Dakota, and damaging land as it crossed the Minnesota border. Gunflint Falling tells the story of this devastating storm from the perspectives of those who were on the ground before, during, and after the catastrophic event—from first-time visitors to the north woods to returning paddlers to Forest Service Rangers.  

Darrell J. Pedersen for Who Will Carry the Fire? More Reflections from a North Woods Lake 

This book thoughtfully examines the value of human history, traditions, memories, and relationships and reiterates the importance of preserving and faithfully passing these memories and lessons to the next generation. Through a collection of essays and the retellings of his early days as a son, brother, husband, and father, Pedersen expertly weaves a book that is both a memoir and a celebration of life. 

Shane Drift for Sad Evil 

In the quiet corners of modern-day reservation life, an ancient darkness awakens. Released from his dark realm by an Evil Being, Sad Evil brings chaos and despair to a world unprepared for his malevolent presence. 

But hope is not lost. Darby, Skaw-haw, and their resilient family rise to the challenge, determined to confront this looming threat. United by bonds of love and tradition, they embark on a perilous journey to stop Sad Evil and his nefarious forces from engulfing their home in darkness. 

As ancient prophecies collide with contemporary struggles, they must harness the strength of their heritage and the power of their unity. Will they succeed in vanquishing the darkness, or will Sad Evil’s shadow consume everything they hold dear? 

Dive into a tale of courage, unity, and the timeless battle between good and evil. Sad Evil is a gripping story that weaves rich cultural heritage with thrilling fantasy, captivating readers from the first page to the last. 

Rowan Eira for Winter Getaway 

It’s three weeks until Christmas, but after losing both her job and her boyfriend in the same day, Rune Dubois feels less than celebratory. Since she isn’t one to let life take her down, Rune decides to embark on a soul-searching winter getaway in small town Minnesota. 

When a sudden snowstorm leaves her stranded on the side of the road—and at the mercy of an alarmingly handsome stranger—Rune realizes that this holiday season might be far more interesting than she’d anticipated. 

Finn Olson has already achieved a level of success that most authors only dream of. There’s just one problem: his creative muse seems to have abandoned him completely. With looming deadlines and impatient fans, the very last thing he needs right now is a distraction… 

But when Rune inadvertently breaks into Finn’s home and intrudes on his solitary lifestyle, the two find themselves swept up in a whirlwind of heated attraction, snowy (mis)adventures, and a looming secret that could unite or shatter them. 

Aurora Lothbrok for The Mermaid of Lake Superior 

“Wake up, mermaid. Balance has been disrupted, and we must fight. Nature as we know it needs restoration. We need our water back.” 

Lake Superior is home to hundreds of shipwrecks . . . but only one mermaid.  

“H” doesn’t know where she came from. She doesn’t even know her full name. That hasn’t stopped her from having a good time: she’s spent the last few decades evading tourists, befriending local wildlife, and sharing spectral martinis with shipwrecked spirits. But there are whispers in the waters, rumors of a strange new threat killing whitefish by the hundreds. Out of the deep blue nowhere, H finds her North Shore paradise under attack. H must unravel her origins and harness long-dormant powers to lead Gitchi-Gami’s residents (furred, finned, and ectoplasmic alike) in the fight to reclaim their waters. It will take unexpected allies, divine intervention, and pie . . . lots of pie. 

Includes maps as well as numerous charming black-and-white illustrations by artist Jill Myer. 

R. T. Lund for The Ghost, a Lake Superior Mystery 

The Lincoln Barnes story continues in the second installment of the Lake Superior Mystery Trilogy. Barnes has left the Minneapolis PD and begins a new chapter of her life in Lake County, Minnesota, as Sheriff Sam MacDonald’s chief detective. The bizarre murder of a young man on the shores of Lake Superior sets off a series of seemingly unrelated crimes that challenge Barnes and MacDonald and include the kidnapping of a mining executive and the use of deadly chemical weapons. Despite the FBI’s involvement, Barnes takes center stage with a lively cast of new characters who will keep the reader guessing and second guessing. And, of course, Barnes is still obsessed with Judge Robin Gildemeister. Is he a murderer, the man of her dreams, or both? 

Kristina Shuey for The Day the World Burned 

HINCKLEY, 1894. Anna Andersson, a spirited teenager, dreams of freedom and adventure outside of the rough and tumble logging town where she grew up. Karl Sundvquist, her neighbor and close friend, also hopes to leave town—but only if he secures a position as a “shanty boy” in a winter logging crew. As September approaches, Anna witnesses a scandalous kiss that threatens her sister’s reputation. She recruits Karl in a plan to safeguard her sister, but as they navigate societal norms and expectations, they notice a spark between them. Then the unthinkable happens. The Great Hinckley Fire roars in, incinerating everything they once knew. In a single day, the fire obliterates an area twice the size of Chicago, claiming over four hundred lives and leaving thousands homeless. Forced to fight for their lives, Karl and Anna must learn that survival isn’t just about life and death, but also the courage to face grief, loss, and the immense task of starting over. 

Candace Simar for Sister Lumberjack 

Bottle fever has Nels Jensen by the throat. Swindled out of his summer’ s pay, he heads to the logging camps of Northern Minnesota, only to discover he is blacklisted at reputable operations. He is neither a thief nor a liar, but he cannot prove his innocence. Widow Solveig Rognaldson is left alone with heartache and a mortgage. Without a well-paying job, she will lose her Foxhome farm. Her son marries and moves away. Though she feels too old, she musters courage to strike out on her own. She has to save the farm by herself. She has no one else. Trouble follows Sister Magdalena, a jolly nun who struggles with rules. A giant of a woman, she is sent to sell hospital tickets to lumberjacks working the forests of Minnesota. It is dangerous work, and those with a ticket receive free health care if they are injured. She travels alone to isolated logging camps in the dead of winter, sometimes by snowshoes. The jacks call her Sister Lumberjack. These three lives intersect at Starkweather Timber, a haywire logging camp, where everything goes wrong. Their unique friendship turns their lives in unexpected directions. 

Cathy LaForge Tonkin for Echoes of an Eta 

Rebecca Foust for You Are Leaving the American Sector: Love Poems 

But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought…Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows….If you can feel that staying human is worthwhile, even when it can’t have any result whatever, you’ve beaten them. —George Orwell, 1984 

Inspired by a rereading of 1984 during the pandemic and the turbulent years of the 2016-20 Trump administration, Rebecca Foust’s new chapbook, You Are Leaving the American Sector: Love Poems, explores the disturbing parallels between George Orwell’s totalitarian dystopia and America’s emerging political landscape. Julia and Winston’s love story beats at the heart of Orwell’s book, where a declaration of personal love becomes an act of rebellion and a way to preserve privacy, personal identity, and even reality. These poems believe that holds true now, as well.  

Sandra Hisakuni for The Northland Beckons: An Illustrated Haiku Journey 

Journey to the beautiful Boundary Waters of Minnesota and Canada. This sweet collection of haiku poetry allows readers to explore nature and meet the animals who call this treasured wilderness home.  

In our busy, tech-filled lives, author and illustrator, mother-daughter team Sandra and Sofia Hisakuni, invite you to slow down and explore the wonders of nature through the ancient art of haiku. They draw upon their extensive experience of living in Japan and camping through the canoe country of Northern Minnesota and Canada. Through creative haiku, vibrant illustrations and author commentary, readers learn of this treasured land. For those who are familiar with the Northlands canoe country, it is a reminder to come home to our shared wilderness.  

Patrick Stevens for Natural Wonders 

Natural Wonders follows the author, Patrick Stevens, teacher and naturalist through his ramblings in each of the distinct seasons of the Minnesota year. He begins his journey in winter, the longest season, dealing with dying plants, frost, frozen lakes, major snowfalls, animal tracks and habitat, moving on to spring and the welcomed rebirth of the area with both wild and domesticated plants bursting forth in the splendor and energy of living. Summer is his joyous time bringing in the long days and longer rambles in the sweetness and light of warmth. Stevens ends the year in autumn moving toward the inevitable death of all that lives, but not without appreciation of the process and glory of that season. All those whose breath has been snatched away by any particular seasonal beauty–stepping out the back door to the full sweet air on a certain May morning, for instance–will resonate to Stevens’s shart and telling observations on nature and its changes throughout the year. 

Bart Sutter for Cotton Grass: New and Selected Poems of the North 

The natural world has been a major source of inspiration for Bart Sutter’s poetry for more than half a century, during which he has explored the backroads, trails, rivers, lakes, and bogs of the North, returning with vivid reports of otters eating golden walleyes, a big bull moose groaning for love, and the memorable music of a field full of bobolinks. 
Cotton Grass also bears witness to the allure of nature in urban settings. Sutter has drawn beauty and insight from the woodsy environs of his home overlooking Lake Superior: a fox appears at a summer big-band concert; a raccoon relaxes in the hole he’s ripped through a roof, gazing round “like a soldier from the turret of a tank”; a pair of lovers find an emblem for their daring as they watch a falcon fold its wings and hurtle headlong toward the pavement. 

This retrospective collection reveals that, all along, Bart Sutter has resisted contemporary trends and gone his own way, listening for what each poem wanted to be, mastering a remarkable range of tones and forms from celebration to lamentation, from long-lined free verse to haiku, from love lyrics to prophecy, from ballad to sonnet, from story to song. 
 

Peggy Trojan for Ma 

Ma is Peggy Trojan’s eighth chapbook, recounting her mother’s long and busy life, from childhood on a Minnesota homestead to a talented artist and writer, as well as a devoted wife and mother for sixty-nine years.  
 

Erin Soderberg Downing for Just Keep Walking 

Two years after her parents’ surprising and painful split, twelve-year-old Jo and her mom find themselves on the 100-mile hike on the Superior Hiking Trail along Lake Superior’s north shore-a journey that Jo had always looked forward to hiking with her dad. It’s not a situation that either of them ever predicted they’d find themselves in, yet here they are in the wilderness with their entire lives stuffed into a pair of thirty-pound packs. Along the trail, they’ll suffer through endless aches and pains, scorching heat, and crippling self-doubt. They’ll encounter bears, moose, and other wildlife and meet and collect an assortment of unlikely friends. Day after day, Jo will battle the incessant thoughts that come in and out of her head. But as one obstacle after the next continue to test her strength and ultimate survival, Jo will have to confront her greatest fears head on and learn how to be alone.  

What begins as a journey to prove to her father that she and her mom can make it on their own turns into a quest to rediscover their strength, build resilience, and prove that they can survive-both for themselves and for each other. 

Staci Lola Drouillard for A Family Tree 

A modern-day twist to The Giving Tree, this book chronicles the changes brought upon a beloved family tree that must be uprooted and planted on new land. This debut picture book by Staci Lola Drouillard (Grand Portage Band of Ojibwe descendant) celebrates resiliency, family bonds, and our deep connection to and responsibility for nature.  

Grandma’s garden was not just any garden. It was where a spruce tree, only as tall as baby Francis, reached her roots into the soil and stretched her branches toward the sky. Here, on the shore of Gichigaming, is where Francis and the sapling felt right at home. 

But when Grandma and Grandpa decide to move away, Francis wants to take the tree with them—can they? 

Brimming with tenderness, this story from Staci Lola Drouillard (Grand Portage Band of Ojibwe descendant), with illustrations by Kate Gardiner (Chaubunagungamaug band of Nipmuck Indians), traces the journey of one family, and a little tree, as they adapt to change by drawing on the strength of their roots. 

James L. Freeman for The Classy Lumberjack Bar and Lounge: Stories of Life and Fantasy in Northern Minnesota 

This is a book of 29 mostly unrelated stories that range from wilderness adventures, mental health issues, personal essays and life in northern Minnesota. Fantasy happens periodically. You will meet a blue rat/cat, preacher magician and a former heavyweight boxing champion in the Classy Lumberjack Bar and Lounge. A teenage boy will see unexpected strength in his father during a canoe trip. 

A fisherman becomes afraid of his comforting fantasies. A black bear from Ely, Minnesota flies to Arizona. A van driver takes odd passengers to rehab and medical appointments in Duluth. A young male schizophrenic panhandler stays positive. An obnoxious cigarette smoker mysteriously vanishes on a Lake Superior dinner cruise. A Charles Russell painting travels a zig zag path. 

Minda Gomez for Treasure of the North: A Bilingual Minnesota Adventure 

Welcome back, hijos. Did you run into Don Toño in virtual reality?” 

“Yeah! He said we get to do a treasure hunt!” 

On the last rainy day of vacation, a mysterious puzzle appears at the Martinez family’s cabin. Rico, Diego, and Araceli quickly discover that it can turn them into animals through virtual reality! Even more exciting: It contains a treasure hunt through the Northwoods of Minnesota.  

From the birthplace of the Mississippi River to the remote Boundary Waters, Minnesota’s unique beauty and diverse wildlife carry many new experiences. The kids must work together to solve riddles and help the local animals… some of whom have their own complicated personalities.  

As the siblings continue their hunt, they begin to understand that the biggest treasure may not be the physical reward at the end, but the lessons of kindness learned along the way. But… is it possible there’s an actual treasure as well? 

Katharine Johnson for Belzi’s Blizzard  

My name is Belzi. 

I was angry to the max. 

My parents were leaving me with a grandma I’d never met. My own mother had run away from that grandma the first chance she got. Fifteen years ago! 

Worse yet, Mom was leaving me for six months while she and Dad went to Indonesia to help people recover from the disaster left by a tsunami. 

What about me and the disaster they were leaving me in? 

I made a plan. Like my mom, I would run away. Little did I know that a fierce blizzard would isolate me and Grandma for days. I wouldn’t be able to run away from it—or from Grandma. 

As long as I was stuck there, I wanted to find out why my mother had run away. What was so bad? What secret was Mom hiding? 

Blizzard or no blizzard. Grandma or no Grandma. I was going to find what that secret was.