Keith Ellison, TD Mischke and Kate DiCamillo among Minnesota Book Award nominees

The attorney general of Minnesota and one of the world’s most beloved writers for young people are among the nominees for this year’s Minnesota Book Awards.

The Friends of the St. Paul Public Library announced the contenders, including Keith Ellison’s “Break the Wheel” and Kate DiCamillo’s “The Puppets of Spelhorst,” as well as podcaster TD Mischke’s “Winter’s Song” and National Book Award-longlisted “A Council of Dolls,” by Mona Susan Power. Presented this year by Education Minnesota, awards will be handed out May 7 at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets, which are $22, can be purchased at thefriends.org.

The nominees:

Novel & Short Story, sponsored by Minnesota Humanities Center:

“Brotherless Night,” by V.V. Ganeshananthan (Penguin Random House); “A Council of Dolls,” by Mona Susan Power (Mariner Books); “Power and Light,” by Will Weaver (Calumet Editions); “The Sky Vault,” by Benjamin Percy (William Morrow).

“The Greatest Summer in Baseball History: How the ‘73 Season Changed Us Forever,” by John Rosengren (Sourcebooks); “Lessons on the Road to Peace,” by John Noltner (self-published); “The Needle and the Lens: Pop Goes to the Movies From Rock ‘n’ Roll to Synthwave,” by Nate Patrin (University of Minnesota Press); “Smoke on the Waterfront: The Northern Waters Smokehaus Cookbook,” by Ned Netzel, Nic Peloquin, Mary K. Tennis, Greg Conley & Eric Goerdt; photographs by Jacob Swanson, Florencia Matamoros, Stephen Pestalozzi, & Zac Bentz (University of Minnesota Press).

Emilie Buchwald Award for Minnesota Nonfiction:

“Break the Wheel: Ending the Cycle of Police Violence,” by Keith Ellison (Twelve Books); “Making the Carry: The Lives of John and Tchi-Ki-Wis Linklater,” by Timothy Cochrane (University of Minnesota Press); “Minescapes: Reclaiming Minnesota’s Mined Lands,” by Pete Kero (Minnesota Historical Society Press); “Winter’s Song: A Hymn to the North,” by TD Mischke (Skywater Publishing Cooperative).

Poetry, sponsored by Wellington Management Inc.:

“The Fight,” by Jennifer Manthey (Trio House Press), “Meltwater,” by Claire Wahmanholm (Milkweed Editions); “Songs, Blood Deep,” by Gwen Nell Westerman (Holy Cow Press); “Wail Song: or wading in the water at the end of the world,” by Chaun Webster (Black Ocean).

Genre Fiction, sponsored by Macalester College:

“Citadel,” by C.M. Alongi (Blackstone Publishing); “Ink Blood Sister Scribe,” by Emma Törzs (William Morrow); “Liberty’s Daughter,” by Naomi Kritzer (Fairwood Press); “Native Love Jams,” by Tashia Hart (self-published).

Memoir & Creative Nonfiction, sponsored by Bradshaw Celebration of Life Centers:

”The Crystal Gavel: How I Put My Heart Into the Body of Law,” by Sue Cochrane (Wise Ink Media); “Half-Life of a Secret: Reckoning With a Hidden History,” by Emily Strasser (University Press of Kentucky); “In the Company of Grace: a Veterinarian’s Memoir of Trauma and Healing,” by Jody Lulich (University Minnesota Press); “Trauma Sponges: Dispatches From the Scarred Heart of Emergency Response,” by Jeremy Norton (University of Minnesota Press).

Young Adult Literature, sponsored by Minnesota Humanities Center:

”The Girl I Am, Was and Never Will Be,” by Shannon Gibney (Dutton Books); “Just Do This One Thing for Me,” by Laura Zimmermann (Dutton Books); “Reimagining Police: The Future of Public Safety,” by Artika Tyner (Twenty-First Century Books); “The Roof Over Our Heads,” by Nicole Kronzer (Amulet Books).

Middle Grade Literature, sponsored by Education Minnesota:

”Dear Brother,” by Alison McGhee; illustrations by Tuan Nini (Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books); “The Kitchen Pantry Scientist: Ecology for Kids,” by Liz Lee Heinecke (Quarry Books); “The Puppets of Spelhorst,” by Kate DiCamillo (Candlewick Press); “Shannon in the Spotlight,” by Kalena Miller (Delacorte Press).

Children’s Literature:

”Beneath,” by Cori Doerrfeld (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers); “Can We Please Give the Police Department to the Grandmothers?” by Junauda Petrus; illustrations by Kristen Uroda (Dutton Children’s Books); “Finding Family: The Duckling Raised by Loons, by Laura Purdie Salas; illustrations by Alexandria Neonakis (Carolrhoda Books); “Looking for Happy,” by Ty Chapman; illustrations by Keenon Ferrell (Beaming Books).