Finalists for the High Plains Book Awards diverse group
Finalists for the 2024 High Plains Book Awards have been released, with winners to be announced at an awards event Oct. 5, at MSU-Billings.
All nominated works — 209 of them this year — were read and evaluated by community readers. Winners in each category will be determined by a judging panel of experts, educators, and published writers with connections to the High Plains region.
This year, nine of the finalists hail from Canada, and 12 are from Montana, including Big Sky Award finalists Bryce Andrews, Mark Hummel, and Allen Morris Jones, whose books were also 2023 Montana Book Award Honor Books. Notably, Shirley Steele, another Montanan, is the oldest finalist in HPBA history at 98, with her first collection of poetry "West of Town," represented in both the poetry and first book categories.
Nominated books must have been published for the first time in 2023. Each winner will receive a $500 award. The finalists in each of the 13 categories are listed below.
Art & Photography
"Prairie Interlace: Weaving, Modernisms, and the Expanded Fram, 1960-2000" by Michele Hardy, Timothy Long, and Julia Krueger
"On the Way to Somewhere Else" by Tim Keane (Todd Forsgren ed.)
Living River: The Promise of the Mighty Colorado by Dave Showalter
Children's Picture Book
"Let Me Tell You About My Mom" by Casey Rislov, photos by Ron Hayes
"Lily and Maia: A Dinosaur Adventure" by Jack Horner, illustrated by Grace Hattrup
"Border Crossings" by Sneed B. Collard III, illustrated by Howard Gray
Young Reader/Middle Grade
"A Sky Full of Song" Susan Lynn Meyer
"Coyote Queen" by Jessica Vitalis
"The Umbrella House" by Colleen Nelson
Young Adult
"A Twist in Time" by Janet Muirhead Hill
"Bat Cave: A Fable of Epidemic Proportions (Critter Chronicles #2)" by Scott Bischke
"Spirit of Denendeh Vol. 2: As I Enfold You in Petals" by Richard Van Camp
Memoir/Creative Nonfiction
"Holding Fire" by Bryce Andrews
"The Cost of Free Land" by Rebecca Clarren
"The Definition of Beautiful" by Charlotte Belows
Fiction
"A Council of Dolls" by Mona Susan Power
"Man, Underground" by Mark Hummel
"Go As a River" by Shelley Read
First Book
"West of Town" by Shirley Steele
"Through the Wilderness" by Brad Orsted
"The Definition of Beautiful" by Charlotte Belows
Indigenous Writer
"A Council of Dolls" by Mona Susan Power
"Bad Cree" by Jessica Johns
"Truth Telling: Seven Conversations about Indigenous Life in Canada" by Michelle Good
Nonfiction
"The Girl Prince: Virginia Woolf, Race and the Dreadnought Hoax" by Danell Jones
"Tenacious Beasts: Wildlife Recoveries That Change How We Think About Animals" by Christopher J. Preston
"Truth Telling: Seven Conversations about Indigenous Life in Canada" by Michelle Good
Poetry
"West of Town" by Shirley Steele
"Mumblecusser" by Allen Morris Jones
"The Currency of His Light" by Roy J. Beckemeyer
Short Stories
"Men Behaving Badly" by Tim O'Leary
"This Is Salvaged" by Vauhini Vara
"Shoot the Horses First" by Leah Angstman
Woman Writer
"A Council of Dolls" by Mona Susan Power
"Shoot the Horses First" by Leah Angstman
"A Sky Full of Song" Susan Lynn Meyer
Big Sky Award
"The Girl Prince: Virginia Woolf, Race and the Dreadnought Hoax" by Danell Jones
"Holding Fire" by Bryce Andrews
"Mumblecusser" by Allen Morris Jones
"Man, Underground" by Mark Hummel