By The Society of Midland Authors
The Society of Midland Authors will present its annual awards May 8 in Chicago, honoring its choices for the best books by Midwest authors published in 2011. (Links added.)
ADULT FICTION
WINNER: Paula McLain, The Paris Wife, Random House. (Author lives in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.)
FINALISTS: Donald Ray Pollock, The Devil All the Time, Doubleday. (Author lives in Chillicothe, Ohio.) Patricia Ann McNair, The Temple of Air, Elephant Rock Books. (Author lives in Chicago.)
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ADULT NONFICTION
WINNER: B.J. Hollars, Thirteen Loops: Race, Violence, and the Last Lynching in America, University of Alabama Press. (Author lives in Eau Claire, Wis.)
FINALISTS: Barbara Oakley, Cold-Blooded Kindness: Neuroquirks of a Codependent Killer, or Just Give Me a Shot at Loving You, Dear, and Other Reflections on Helping That Hurts, Prometheus Books. (Author lives in Rochester, Mich.) Steven A. Riess, The Sport of Kings and the Kings of Crime: Horse Racing, Politics, and Organized Crime in New York, 1865-1913, Syracuse University Press. (Author lives in Skokie, Ill.)
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BIOGRAPHY
WINNER: Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith, Van Gogh: The Life, Random House. (Smith grew up in Columbus, Ohio. Naifeh and Smith both currently live in Aiken, S.C.)
FINALISTS: Philip Freeman, Alexander the Great, Simon & Schuster. (Author lives in Decorah, Iowa.) Richard C. Lindberg, Whiskey Breakfast: My Swedish Family My American Life, University of Minnesota Press. (Author lives in Chicago.)
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CHILDREN’S FICTION
WINNER: Trent Reedy, Words in the Dust, Arthur A. Levine Books. (Author grew up in Dysart, Iowa, attended the University of Iowa in Iowa City and later taught school in Riverside, Iowa. He currently lives in Spokane Valley, Wash.)
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CHILDREN’S NONFICTION
WINNER: Donna Latham, Garbage: Investigate What Happens When You Throw It Out, Nomad Press. (Author lives in Batavia, Ill.)
FINALIST: Andrea Warren, Charles Dickens and the Street Children of London, Houghton Mifflin Books for Children. (Author lives in Prairie Village, Kan.)
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POETRY
WINNER: Susanna Childress, Entering the House of Awe, New Issues Press. (Author lives in Holland, Mich.)
FINALIST: Rob Griffith, The Moon from Every Window, David Roberts Books. (Author lives in Evansville, Ind.)
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JAMES FRIEND MEMORIAL AWARD FOR LITERARY CRITICISM
WINNER: Elizabeth Taylor, Chicago Tribune literary editor.
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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.
The Annual Awards Dinner will take place Tuesday, May 8, in the LaSalle Room at Holiday Inn Chicago Mart Plaza, 350 N. Orleans St., Chicago. The master of ceremonies will be Jay Bonansinga, a screenwriter, filmmaker, and a New York Times bestselling author of 14 books.
Tickets are $75 each. A cash bar opens at 6 p.m., followed by a dinner and awards ceremony at 7 p.m. Reservations can by made by PayPal or check at www.midlandauthors.com.
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Comments welcome.
Posted on April 20, 2012