By The Society of Midland Authors
The Society of Midland Authors will present its annual awards May 14 in Chicago, honoring its choices for the best books by Midwest authors published in 2012, in the LaSalle Room at Holiday Inn Chicago Mart Plaza.
The master of ceremonies will be Steve Bertrand, a morning anchor on WGN-AM radio and host of the video podcast “Steve Bertrand on Books,” which features his interviews with leading writers.
Tickets are $75 each. A cash bar opens at 6 p.m., followed by dinner and the awards ceremony at 7 p.m. Reservations can by made by PayPal or check at www.midlandauthors.com.
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ADULT FICTION
(Two winners in this category.)
WINNERS:
Nick Dybek, When Captain Flint Was Still A Good Man, Riverhead. (Dybek grew up in Kalamazoo, Mich.; his father, Chicago author Stuart Dybek, is a two-time winner of the same award.)
Jack Driscoll, The World of a Few Minutes Ago, Wayne State University Press. (Author lives in Interlochen, Mich.)
FINALISTS:
Peter Geye, The Lighthouse Road, Unbridled Books. (Author lives in Minneapolis.)
Richard Babcock, Are You Happy Now, Amazon Publishing. (Author lives in Chicago.)
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ADULT NONFICTION
WINNER: Neil Steinberg, You Were Never in Chicago, University of Chicago Press. (Author lives in Northbrook, Ill.)
FINALISTS:
Mark Binelli, Detroit City Is the Place to Be: The Afterlife of an American Metropolis, Metropolitan Books. (Author was raised in the Detroit area and now lives in New York City.)
Benjamin Busch, Dust to Dust: A Memoir, Ecco. (Author lives in Reed City, Mich.)
Gregory Harms, It’s Not About Religion, Perceval Press. (Author lives in Joliet, Ill.)
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BIOGRAPHY
WINNER: David Von Drehle, Rise to Greatness: Abraham Lincoln and America’s Most Perilous Year Henry Holt and Co. (Author lives in Mission Hills, Kan.)
FINALISTS:
Steven Lubet, John Brown’s Spy: The Adventurous Life and Tragic Confession of John E. Cook, Yale University Press. (Author lives in the Chicago area.)
Rich Cohen, The Fish That Ate the Whale: The Life and Times of America’s Banana King, Farrar, Straus and Giroux. (Author grew up in Glencoe, Ill., and now lives in Ridgefield, Conn.)
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CHILDREN’S FICTION
WINNER: Shelley Pearsall, Jump Into the Sky, Knopf Books for Young Readers. (Author lives in Silver Lake, Ohio.)
FINALISTS:
Polly Carlson-Voiles, Summer of the Wolves, Houghton Mifflin Books for Children. (Author lives in Ely, Minn.)
Tim Shoemaker, Code of Silence: Living a Lie Comes With a Price, Zonderkidz. (Author lives in Rolling Meadows, Ill.)
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CHILDREN’S NONFICTION
WINNER: Mary Losure, The Fairy Ring: Or Elsie and Frances Fool the World, Candlewick. (Author lives St. Paul, Minn.)
FINALISTS:
Rebecca L. Johnson, Zombie Makers: True Stories of Nature’s Undead, 21st Century. (Author lives in Sioux Falls, S.D.)
Ann Bausum, Marching to the Mountaintop: How Poverty, Labor Fights and Civil Rights Set the Stage for Martin Luther King Jr.’s Final Hours, National Geographic Children’s Books. (Author lives in Janesville, Wis.)
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POETRY
WINNER: Dan Gerber, Sailing Through Cassiopeia, Copper Canyon Press. (Author grew up in Fremont, Mich., later lived in Traverse City, Mich., and now lives in Santa Ynez, Calif.)
FINALISTS:
Joe Wilkins, Notes From the Journey Westward, White Pine Press. (Author lives in Forest City, Iowa.)
John Koethe, ROTC Kills, Harper Perennial. (Author lives in Milwaukee.)
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JAMES FRIEND MEMORIAL AWARD FOR LITERARY CRITICISM
WINNER: Jonathan Messinger, former books editor at Time Out Chicago.
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The Society, founded in 1915 by a group of authors including Hamlin Garland, Harriet Monroe and Vachel Lindsay, has given out annual awards since 1957. The juried competition is open to authors who live in, were born in, or have strong ties to Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota or Wisconsin.
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Comments welcome.
Posted on April 5, 2013