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.”