Nebraska Book Award winners to attend event

Nebraska Book Award winners will present their work at the Celebration of Nebraska Books, 3:30-6:30 p.m. Saturday Oct. 22 at the Lied Center for Performing Arts, 12th and R streets, on the University of Nebraska campus in downtown Lincoln. The event, free and open to the public, will also highlight the 2011 One Book One Nebraska, honor the 2011 Jane Geske Award winner, and announce the 2012 selection for One Book One Nebraska. The Nebraska Book Awards honor authors and publishers who published books with Nebraska connections in 2010. The following winners or their representatives are expected to attend. Some will read from their work and sign copies of their books. Robert Vivian, fiction award winner for “Lamb Bright Saviors” (University of Nebraska Press) Sarah McKinstry-Brown, poetry award winner for “Cradling Monsoons” (Blue Light Press) David Bristow, young adult non-fiction award winner for “Sky Sailors: True Stories of the Balloon Era” (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) N.L. Sharp, Tim Hantula and Lynn Gibney, cover/design/illustration award winners for “The Flower Girl/The Ring Bear” (Prairieland Press) Marsha Gallagher and Stephen Witte, editors of the non-fiction honor recipient, “North American Journals of Prince Maximilian of Wied: Volume 2, April-September 1833” (University of Oklahoma Press) Greg Kosmicki will accept the Jane Geske Award on behalf of The Backwaters Press, a publishing non-profit he founded to raise awareness about Nebraska writers. The Geske Award recognizes a Nebraska association, organization, business, library, school, or other group for exceptional contributions to literacy, books, reading, libraries, or literature in Nebraska. To highlight the 2011 One Book One Nebraska selection, “Local Wonders: Seasons in the Bohemian Alps” by Ted Kooser, the Lied Center will offer six performances of “Local Wonders: A Musical,” Oct. 19 – 23, in the Johnny Carson Theater. A 2 p.m. performance will precede the Oct. 22 celebration and another performance will follow at 7:30 p.m. These performances, produced by the Nebraska Repertory Theatre, are ticketed events. Tickets are available at www.liedcenter.org/events. The choice for the 2012 One Book One Nebraska will be announced at 5:30 p.m. This year’s Celebration of Nebraska Books is sponsored by the Nebraska Center for the Book, Nebraska Humanities Council, and Nebraska Library Commission, in partnership with the Lied Center for Performing Arts, Nebraska Repertory Theatre, and University of Nebraska Press. Nebraska Book Awards are sponsored by the Nebraska Center for the Book and Nebraska Library Commission in partnership with the following organizations: The Apollon, a collaborative arts venue; The Braided River Series of Wednesday Words, a collaboration between the Nebraska Arts Council and Backwaters Press; Great Plains Writers’ Tour at Mount Marty College; Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts; Northeast Community College’s Visiting Writers Series; and University of Nebraska at Kearney’s Reynolds Series. For more information, contact Mary Jo Ryan at 402-471-3434, 800-307-2665, or visit http://centerforthebook.nebraska.gov/. Schedule for 2011 Celebration of Nebraska Books: 2:00 p.m. Performance of “Local Wonders: A Musical” in the Lied Center’s Johnny Carson Theater (ticketed event) 3:30 p.m. Nebraska Center for the Book annual membership meeting 4:00 p.m. Presentation of 2011 Jane Geske Award and Nebraska Book Awards, with remarks and readings by award winners (free and open to the public) 5:30 p.m. Announcement of the 2012 One Book One Nebraska book selection 5:45 p.m. Reception and author signings 6:30 p.m. Closing 7:30 p.m. Performance of “Local Wonders: A Musical” in the Lied Center’s Johnny Carson Theater (ticketed event)