Award Winners to be Honored at October 26 Celebration of Nebraska Books

An awards presentation ceremony will highlight the Nebraska Center for the Book’s Celebration of Nebraska Books on October 26 at the Nebraska State Historical Society’s Museum of Nebraska History, 15th and P Streets, in downtown Lincoln. Winners of the 2013 Nebraska Book Awards will be honored and the celebration will include readings by some of the winning authors. And the winners are: 2013 Nebraska Book Award Winners Anthology: Artifacts & Illuminations: Critical Essays on Loren Eiseley edited by Tom Lynch and Susan N. Maher, University of Nebraska Press Children’s Picture Book:  House Held Up by Trees by Ted Kooser, Candlewick Press Cover/Design/Illustration: Nebraska’s Post Office Murals: Born of the Depression, Fostered by the New Deal by L. Robert Puschendorf, Design by Nathan Putens, Nebraska State Historical Society Books Cover/Design/Illustration Book Arts Award: In Times of Considerable Wars and Interludes by Don Welch, Design, Illustration and Production by Elysia Mann, All Along Press Fiction: Hell or High Water by Joy Castro, Thomas Dunne Books Fiction Honor: Lake Country: A Novel by Sean Doolittle, Bantam Books Nonfiction Autobiography: Called to Justice: The Life of a Federal Trial Judge by Hon. Warren K. Urbom and William Jay Riley, Law in the American West, Bison Books, University of Nebraska Press and                                                                        Backstage: Stories from My Life in Public Television by Ron Hull, Bison Books, University of Nebraska Press Nonfiction Biography: Free Radical: Ernest Chambers, Black Power, and the Politics of Race by Tekla Agbala Ali Johnson and Quintard Taylor, Texas Tech University Press Nonfiction Essay: What the River Carries: Encounters with the Mississippi, Missouri, and Platte by Lisa Knopp, University of Missouri    Nonfiction History: Standing Firmly by the Flag: Nebraska Territory and the Civil War, 1861-1867 by James E. Potter, Bison Books, University of Nebraska Press Nonfiction Nebraska as Place: Nebraska’s Post Office Murals: Born of the Depression, Fostered by the New Deal by L. Robert Puschendorf, Nebraska State Historical Society Books Poetry: Stray Cat Blues by Hal Sirowitz, The Backwaters Press Young Adult Fiction: The Miseducation of Cameron Post by emily m. danforth, Balzer + Bray Youth Nonfiction: Light on the Prairie: Solomon D. Butcher, Photographer of Nebraska’s Pioneer Days by Nancy Plain, Bison Books, University of Nebraska Press The celebration, free and open to the public, will also feature presentation of the Nebraska Center for the Book’s Jane Geske Award to the Nebraska Library Commission for exceptional contribution to literacy, books, reading, libraries, or literature in Nebraska. The Jane Geske Award commemorates Geske’s passion for books, and was established in recognition of her contributions to the well-being of the libraries of Nebraska. Jane Pope Geske was a founding member of the Nebraska Center for the Book, former director of the Nebraska Library Commission, and a long-time leader in Nebraska library and literary activities. This year the Celebration marks the ninth year of One Book One Nebraska, selecting and promoting a book title for Nebraskans to read to celebrate the literary richness of our state. O Pioneers! is the 2013 One Book One Nebraska and Nebraska libraries and other literary and cultural organizations across the state are hosting activities and events to encourage all Nebraskans to read and discuss the same book (see http://onebook.nebraska.gov.) The Nebraska Center for the Book Annual Meeting will be held at 2:30 p.m.—just prior to the 3:30-6:30 p.m. Celebration. An Awards Reception honoring the winning authors, book signings, and announcement of the 2013 One Book One Nebraska book choice will conclude the festivities. The Celebration of Nebraska Books is sponsored by Nebraska Center for the Book, Humanities Nebraska, and Nebraska Library Commission, in partnership with the Nebraska State Historical Society, Museum of Nebraska History, and the Friends of the University of Nebraska Press. 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 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.