Minnesota Book Awards

Now in its 15th year of honoring the best wordsmiths our state has to offer, the Book Awards have expanded to honor publishers, booksellers, and others in the local literary world. The winners will be announced at a free public ceremony at the Fitzgerald, which will also be televised June 1 on TPT-17. (Rumors that the National Guard will be on hand to blockade Joan and Melissa Rivers remain unconfirmed at press time.) Related events will be going on throughout the week of May 14-21 in the Twin Cities and Duluth. Finalists in fiction, poetry, memoir and children’s fiction will read May 15 at an Open Book event hosted by the Loft and Minnesota Literature; Susan Power, Anna Meek, Ray Gonzalez, Mary Winstead, Madelon Sprengnether and Mary Casanova are confirmed to appear. And on May 16-17, the Loft hosts its Festival of Children’s Literature, intended for writers and those currently working in the book biz or hoping to break into it. The complete list of nominees can be found at www.thinkmhc.org/Book/awards .htm. Fitzgerald, 10 E. Exchange St., St. Paul, (651) 290-1221, www.fitzgeraldtheater.org; Open Book, 1011 Washington Ave. S., (612) 215-2575, www.openbookmn.org