Novelist Lesley Nneka Arimah, poet Bao Phi, cartoonist Steve Sack win Minnesota Book Awards

It is a mark of how accomplished Minnesota's writing community is that many of the winners of this year's Minnesota Book Awards were honored for books that had already won major national awards.

Lesley Nneka Arimah, who won the Minnesota Book Award for fiction on Saturday night, had already won the Kirkus Prize for her debut collection of stories.

Poet Bao Phi, who won in the children's literature category, recently won the Charlotte Zolotow Award for that book; the book was also a Caldecott Medalist.

And the Star Tribune's Steve Sack won the award for general nonfiction for his collection of editorial cartoons, many of which were among the group that won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize.

Here are all the award winners:

Children's Literature, sponsored by Books for Africa: Bao Phi, "A Different Pond," illustrated by Thi Bui, published by Capstone Young Readers.

General Nonfiction, sponsored by the College of St. Benedict/St. John's University: Steve Sack, "The First and Only Book of Sack: 36 Years of Cartoons for the Star Tribune," published by Star Tribune Media Co.

Genre Fiction, sponsored by Macalester College: Wendy Webb, "The End of Temperance Dare," published by Lake Union.

Memoir and Creative Nonfiction, sponsored by Faegre Baker Daniels: Linda LeGarde Grover, "Onigamiising: Seasons of an Ojibwe Year," published by University of Minnesota Press.

Middle Grade Literature, sponsored by Education Minnesota: Nicole Helget, "The End of the Wild," published by Little, Brown.

Minnesota Nonfiction, sponsored by St. Mary's University of Minnesota: Andrea Swensson, "Got to Be Something Here: The Rise of the Minneapolis Sound," published by University of Minnesota Press.

Novel & Short Story, sponsored by Fitzgerald in St. Paul: Lesley Nneka Arimah, "What It Means When a Man Falls From the Sky," published by Riverhead Books.

Poetry, sponsored by Wellington Management, Inc.: Heid E. Erdrich, "Curator of Ephemera at the New Museum for Archaic Media," published by Michigan State University Press.

Young Adult Literature, sponsored by Brainfuse: Andrew DeYoung, "The Exo Project," published by Boyds Mills Press.

Also presented on Saturday night were three previously announced awards. Erica Spitzer Rasmussen received the Book Artist Award for her mixed-media project, "The Love Affair." Gary Kaunonen received the Hognander Minnesota History Award for his book, "Flames of Discontent: The 1916 Minnesota Iron Ore Strike."

And Kathryn Haddad received the Kay Sexton Award, which goes to a person or institution that has been instrumental in supporting literature in Minnesota.

The winners of the Minnesota Book Awards were chosen from 256 books submitted, which was whittled down to 36 finalists.

Laurie Hertzel • 612-673-7302 @StribBooks