Thirty books have been selected as finalists in ten categories for the ninth annual High Plains Book Awards. Twenty-four different publishers from Canada and the US were represented in this year’s competition. Of the 34 finalists, 13 are from Montana, (a record number!) and six are from Canada.
 
Three authors are finalists in two categories: Bryce Andrews, Badluck Way: A Year on the Ragged Edge of the West, finalist in First Book and Nonfiction; Carrie LaSeur, finalist in Woman Writer and Fiction; and Canadian Dave Margoshes is a finalist as editor for Wilf Perreault: In the Alley/Dans la Ruelle, and as a writer for his short story collection, God Telling a Joke and Other Stories.
 
One of the finalists is a past High Plains Book Award winner, Shann Ray’s book American Masculine won two awards in 2012 for Short Stories and First Book. This year his poetry collection Balefire is a finalist.
 
The 2015 finalists include:
 
Fiction – Craig Johnson, Any Other Name; Carrie La Seur, The Home Place; Laura Pritchett, Stars Go Blue
 
Nonfiction – Jerome A. Greene - American Carnage: Wounded Knee, 1890; Bryce Andrews - Badluck Way: A Year on the Ragged Edge of the West; H. Alan Day and Lynn Wiese Sneyd - The Horse Lover: A Cowboy's Quest to Save the Wild Mustangs; Ken Egan Jr. - Montana 1864: Indians, Emigrants, and Gold in the Territorial Year
 
Poetry – Shann Ray- Balefire; Erin Belieu - Slant Six; Ted Kooser - Splitting an Order
 
First Book – Bryce Andrews - Badluck Way: A Year on the Ragged Edge of the West; Mary Beth Baptiste - Altitude Adjustment: A Quest for Love, Home, and Meaning in the Tetons; Kristen Inbody and Erin Madison - Montana State Parks: Complete Guide and Travel Companion
 
Woman Writer – Carrie La Seur - The Home Place, Julene Bair - The Ogallala Road: A Memoir of Love and Reckoning; Vicki Tapia - Somebody Stole My Iron: A Family Memoir of Dementia
 
Art & Photography – Larry Len Peterson - Charles M. Russell: Photographing the Legend; Steven Gnam - Crown of the Continent: The Wildest Rockies; Wilf Perreault (artist), Dave Margoshes (editor) and Timothy Long (contributor), Wilf Perreault: In the Alley/Dans La Ruelle; Jennifer Bottomly O'Looney and Kirby Lambert - Montana's Charlie Russell: Art in the Collection of the Montana Historical Society
 
Short Stories – Dave Margoshes - God Telling a Joke and Other Stories; Rolli – I am Currently Working on a Novel; Jamie Lisa Forbes - The Widow Smalls and Other Stories
 
Young Adult Book –  Brenda Baker - Camp Outlook; Lynn Boughey & Peter Earnest - Harry Potter and the Art of Spying; Regine Haensel - Queen of Fire
 
 
Children’s Book – the late Cheryl Chad- Back to Batoche; Jean Freeman - Do Trees Sneeze?; Sandra Dallas - Red  Berries, White Clouds, Blue Sky
 
Culinary – Carole Sullivan - Gatherings: Friends and Recipes from Montana's Mustang Kitchen; Amy Jo Ehman - Out of Old Saskatchewan Kitchens; Seabring Davis - A Taste of Montana
 
Over 200 books were nominated for the 2015 High Plains Book Awards. All the nominated books were read and evaluated by community volunteers in the first round of the selection process. The finalist books in each category will be judged by writers who have significant connections to the High Plains region, many who have won in the particular category he or she will judge.
 
The Billings Public Library Board established the High Plains Book Awards in 2006 to recognize regional authors and/or literary works that examine and reflect life on the High Plains including the states of Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado, and Kansas, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan.
 
Winners in each category will receive a $500 cash prize at the Awards Banquet on Saturday, October 3, 2015 at the Yellowstone Art Museum in Billings, Montana. Single tickets and tables may be purchased for the banquet. The Awards Banquet is a signature event of the Billings Public Library. More information can be found at highplainsbookawards.org.
 
The High Plains Book Awards Banquet is held in conjunction with the 2015 High Plains BookFest. Writer’s Voice director Corby Skinner is coordinating the readings and events for the High Plains BookFest. He can be contacted at corby@skinnerbenoit.com.