FAW Chicago, IL Est. 1922
FAW Chicago



2021 Award Authors

Tiffany McDaniel

Tiffany McDaniel photo Betty the Novel

Tiffany McDaniel is an Ohio native whose writing is inspired by the rolling hills and buckeye woods of the land she knows. She is also a poet and a visual artist. Her debut novel was The Summer That Melted Everything.

Betty is a lyrical coming of age story about a girl's tough childhood in southern Ohio. Betty has a Cherokee father and a white mother. She and her family experience violence, racism and poverty. As she grows up, she discovers painful secrets about her family. These difficulties are balanced by the loving care and wisdom of her Cherokee father. Her father tells stories that help Betty understand her Cherokee heritage and help her see her own beauty and worth. The book is infused with her father's mystical tales as well as descriptions of the natural beauty of southeast Ohio. Committee members loved Betty's power to endure and prevail. They praised this book for its strong, unique voice. This is a book that members enjoyed rereading, finding something new each time they picked it up.




Elizabeth Wetmore

Elizabeth Wetmore photo Valentine the novel

Elizabeth Wetmore is a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop. She is the recipient of a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and fellowships from the Illinois Arts Council. Before devoting herself to writing, Elizabeth variously tended bar, taught English, drove a cab, edited psychology dissertations, painted silos at a petrochemical plant and was a classical music announcer. A native of West Texas, she is most at home in the desert, near the sea, or on the side of a mountain. She lives in Chicago, but she dreams of being bicoastal (Lake Michigan and Lake Travis).

Valentine by Elizabeth Wetmore tells the story of the aftermath of a brutal crime from the alternating points of view of several women living in Odessa during the west Texas oil boom. Odessa is a tough place to live in the 1970's, especially tough for women. Wetmore describes the physical landscape with searing specificity. The fully realized characters reflect Wetmore's knowledge of the human heart. Committee members admired the reality and strength of these characters as well as Wetmore's extraordinary descriptions of the human and physical landscape of west Texas.




Lindsay Currie

Lindsay Currie photo Scritch Scratch Book

Lindsay Currie is the author of spooky middle grade novels, perhaps because her favorite holiday is Halloween. Lindsay enjoys researching her city's forgotten history and learning about the events that shaped the many ghost legends in Chicago. Her titles include The Peculiar Incident on Shady Street (2017) and Scritch Scratch (2020) and the forthcoming What Lives in the Woods (2021) and Curses of Eastport (2022). Her books have all sold audio rights and foreign rights, as well as having earned a glowing blurb from the master of children's mystery/horror himself, R.L. Stine. "This is a teeth-chattering, eyes bulging, shuddering-and-shaking, chills-at-the-back-of-your-neck ghost story. I loved it!"-R.L. Stine, author of the Goosebumps series

Scritch Scratch by Lindsay Currie is more than a ghost story; it is a story about Chicago and its forgotten history. Claire is a young girl struggling with the embarrassment of her father's ghost tour business. Claire doesn't believe in ghosts—she has a scientific mind based on facts and hard evidence. However, when she is obliged to help her dad out one night on one of his bus ghost tours, she cannot deny the fact that a ghost has followed her home. After several terrorizing days and nights, Claire realizes that she must put her scientific methods to the test and figure out why her ghost is haunting her. With the help of her brother and friends, she soon discovers her ghost died in the sinking of the passenger ship the SS Eastland on the Chicago River on July 24, 1915, claiming at least 844 lives, ranking it one of the worst maritime disasters in American history.




Carole Lindstrom

Carole Lindstrom photo Water Protectors Book

Carole Lindstrom was born and raised in Nebraska, and currently makes her home in Maryland. She is Anishinabe/Metis and is tribally enrolled with the Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe. While growing up, you could usually find her at the library lost in the book stacks. It wasn't until she had her son, that she discovered her love of writing for children. Carole's first children's book, Girls Dance, Boys Fiddle (2013), was inspired by the fiddle and its importance to her Anishinabe/Metis culture. We Are Water Protectors (2020)is a picture book inspired by Standing Rock, and all Indigenous Peoples fighting for clean water. We Are Water Protectors is the Winner of the 2021 Caldecott Medal and a New York Times Bestseller.

We Are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom is a powerful picture book that is more than an entertaining story. It is a push for activism even from its young readers. It is a reminder that we must fight for what is right and promise to protect what is beautiful and good in our world. The book focuses on the Indigenous Peoples' battle against the Dakota Access Pipeline that threatened to contaminate the water, making it unfit for healthy usage. With its lyrical writing and breathtaking illustrations, We Are the Water Protectors is truly a winner.




Lindsay Metcalf

Lindsay Metcalf photo Beatrix Potter Book Farmers Unite Book

Lindsay Metcalf grew up on a Kansas farm, then moved to the city to become a journalist for The Kansas City Star. Lindsay later returned to her hometown to raise her two boys and write stories, stating, "My mission is to tell stories that encourage children to appreciate and care for the world and all its creatures." She is the author of Beatrix Potter, Scientist, (2020) and Farmers Unite! Planting a Protest for Fair Prices (2020) and a co-editor of No Voice Too Small: Fourteen Young Americans Making History (2020).

Beatrix Potter, Scientist by Lindsay Metcalf is a nonfiction picture book that focuses on the little-known early life of the beloved creator of the classic children's books, Peter Rabbit. Before her writing career even began, Beatrix Potter was a lover of science. She collected nature specimens and intensely researched mushrooms and other fungi which she presented to England's foremost experts. Unfortunately, like many women of her day, she remained unacknowledged by the scientific community. Thankfully, Beatrix Potter didn't allow the limitations of her time to stop her from demonstrating her genius through her creativity and imagination.

Farmers Unite! Planting a Protest for Fair Prices by Lindsay Metcalf is a nonfiction picture book that shares the rarely told story of grassroots perseverance and economic justice. In 1979, US farmers traveled to Washington, DC to protest unfair prices for their products. Farmers wanted fair prices for their products and demanded action from Congress. After police corralled the tractors on the National Mall, the farmers and their tractors stayed through a snowstorm and dug out the city. Americans were now convinced they needed farmers, but the law took longer. Boldly told and highlighted with stunning archival images, this is the story of the struggle and triumph of the American farmer that still resonates today.




2020 Award Authors

Seth Fried

Seth Fried photo The Municipalists

Seth Fried grew up in Ohio. He is author of the acclaimed short story collection The Great Frustration. He is a recurring contributor to The New Yorker's "Shouts and Murmurs" and NPR's "Selected Shorts."

The Municipalists is a science fiction, buddy story about Henry Thompson, a city planning employee, and his side kick, Owen, the supercomputer with more personality that his human partner. When a terrorist plot threatens the city, Henry and Owen set out to save the metropolis. Comedy, chaos and an ending with a message of unity follows. The Municipalists is a thrilling, funny, and touching adventure story, a tour-de-force of imagination that explores our relationships to the cities around us and the technologies guiding us into the future.




Andrew Ridker

Andrew Ridker photo The Altruists

Andrew Ridker grew up in Boston and attended Washington University in St. Louis, which is the primary setting for his novel. He is the editor of Privacy Policy: The Anthology of Surveillance Poetics and his writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Paris Review, Guernica, Boston Review, The Believer, St. Louis Magazine, and elsewhere.

The Altruists is a family saga, structured around a family reunion. The characters and plot are hyper-realistic, for satirical effects. They are still recognizable individuals who are deeply flawed as they attempt to be "good" people. On the verge of losing the family home, Arthur invites his children back to St. Louis under the guise of a reconciliation. He is sure he can fix it all if he can get his son and daughter to come and visit. He'll convince them to give him the money they inherited from their mother. Though during this weekend with his children, they all come to learn things about themselves as they are pushed to their emotional limits.




Jessie Ann Foley

Jessie Ann Foley photo Sorry For Your Loss Book

Jessie Ann Foley loves to read and write. She reads about a book a week. Before becoming a professional writer of young adult novels, she spent ten years as a high school English literature and creative writing teacher. She holds an MFA in Fiction Writing from Columbia College Chicago. Her debut novel, THE CARNIVAL AT BRAY, was a Printz honor book, a William C. Morris Award finalist, a YALSA Top Ten Best Fiction for Young Adults title and a Kirkus Best Teen Book of 2014.

Jessie lives in Chicago and was born and raised on the Northwest Side of Chicago (where the cops live). In fact, her great-great uncle killed John Dillinger. Her family sold his gun at auction in 2009 for a modest sum. Her husband is from Ireland, and she knew she was going to marry him halfway through their first date. Together, they have three young daughters, each born a year apart.

Sorry For Your Loss is both a heartfelt and hilarious story about a teenage boy from Chicago who is the youngest of eight children dealing with the loss of his beloved brother through photography and young love. As the youngest of eight, painfully average Pup Flanagan is used to flying under the radar and under performing. The only person who ever made him think he could be more was his older brother Patrick, but when he suddenly dies, Pup aimlessly drifts along trying to come to terms with his loss. Pup's teacher put a camera in his hands which gave him a new way to see things and share his feelings and pain via his art. His new-found talent helps Pup reconcile and understand many typical YA day-to-day issues and relationships.




Ann Schoenbohm

Ann Schoenbohm photo Rising Above Shepherdsville

Born in Ohio, Ann Schoenbohm began her journey toward becoming a storyteller. "The bookmobile that traveled once a week to my rural elementary school-a converted van-transformed into a moving library-its insides lined with shelves that were filled with books. I waited impatiently every week for its arrival-having already read the two or three books allowed - often in one sitting - so that I could check out more."

These days Ann lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with her husband and two children. When she is not writing, she is teaching writing, or advocating for literacy by volunteering in community schools. Ann holds an MFA in writing for children and young adults from Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota, and a BFA in acting from Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. Rising Above Shepherdsville is her debut novel.

Rising Above Shepherdsville is a powerful story of a young girl who goes mute after the death of her mother by suicide, and only through the healing element of nature and others does she regain her voice.

In the summer of 1977, twelve-year-old Dulcie Louise Dixon arrives on the doorstep of her Aunt Bernie's farmhouse in Shepherdsville, Ohio, with no voice, a spelling bee trophy, a Webster's Dictionary, and a box full of ashes. She tries to adjust to her new situation but can't forget the words she left behind or the mother she's lost to suicide. But in her new home in Shepherdsville, she'll find new family, new friends, and a nest of swans that will teach her more than words ever will. The vocabulary word featured at the beginning of each chapter is exceptional. All the characters have unique, different personalities that positively impact Dulcie. This debut book will play over and over in your mind and will make your heart ache for Dulcie.




Jasmine Warga

Jasmine Warga photo Other Words For Home

Growing up, Jasmine Warga loved to read. She read about every book she could get her hands on. She also loved to tell stories. She comes from a long line of storytellers. Jasmine only met her paternal grandmother twice because she lived in Jordan, but one of her most distinct childhood memories was of her grandmother telling her a story about the mermaids that live in the Dead Sea.

Jasmine graduated with a degree in Art History and History. After graduation, she found a job teaching 6th grade science! While teaching, she began writing. She is now the author of three novels. Her books have received multiple starred reviews and have been published in over twenty-five countries. Other Words for Home was awarded the John Newberry Honor. Jasmine grew up outside of Cincinnati, Ohio, but currently lives in the Chicago area with her husband and two little girls.

Other Words for Home is an enchanting story written in poetic form that reads like prose about a young Muslim girl from Syria who moves to Ohio to live with relatives where she must learn to navigate her new world with bravery. The reader is introduced to Jude, a Syrian girl who, with her mother, escapes to America when things at home in Syria are growing tense, violent, and uncertain and unfolds in beautiful verse. This is a story about many things, but central themes are immigrating, growing new roots, finding yourself, and the gnawing ache of separation. Readers of all levels and abilities will find this a new favorite.




2019 Award Authors

Ling Ma

Ling Ma photo Severance: A Novel

Ling Ma was born in Sanming, China, and grew up in Utah, Nebraska, and Kansas. She attended the University of Chicago and received an MFA from Cornell University. Prior to graduate school she worked as a journalist and an editor. Her writing has appeared in Granta, VICE, Playboy, Chicago Reader, Ninth Letter, and other publications. A chapter of Severance received the 2015 Graywolf SLS Prize. In her twenties, she worked a corporate job at a company that was in the midst of down sizing. Severance began as a short story, which she wrote in her office, during her last months there, and it became a novel after she was laid off and continued writing while living on severance pay. She lives and teaches in Chicago.

Severance occurs in a post-apocalyptic world that goes back and forth between a woman in the world after an epidemic wipes out most of humanity and everything in her life leading up to it. Candace's life in New York might not be what she dreamed of, but it's not all that bad. She has a respectable job at a publishing production firm, where she out sources printing jobs to facilities in China. But then things start to get complicated. A mysterious pandemic disease called Shen Fever, starts to move through the country, turning its victims into a non-violent zombies condemned to repeat rote tasks over and over again until they slip into fatal unconsciousness. Candace is one of the few survivors but is her outcome much different than the zombie-stricken workers? Severance goes back and forth in time, contrasting Candace's tedious office job with her travels across post-apocalyptic America. It's a technique Ma uses to great effect, making the horror of her new circumstances all the more intense.




Alice Hatcher

Alice Hatcher photo The Wonder that Was Ours Book

A former academic historian, ALICE HATCHER turned her attention from footnotes to fiction several years ago. Her studies took her to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and University of Michigan. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Alaska Quarterly Review, The Beloit Fiction Journal, Notre Dame Review, Lascaux Review, Fourth Genre, Contrary, Chautauqua and Gargoyle, among other journals. Her novel The Wonder That Was Ours won Dzanc Books’ 2017 Prize for fiction and will be published in 2018. Hatcher lives in Tucson, AZ. Her work can be found at www.alice-hatcher.com.

The Wonder That Was Ours is a humorous conglomeration of social politics, history and human folly of a mythical Caribbean island that runs parallel to political movements throughout history. The history of this fictional island is brought to life by an assortment of quirky characters—most notably the unfortunate cabbie/bartender Wynston Cleave and a group a group of sharp-witted cockroaches which commence with the story-telling. When Wynston picks up two fares, a man and woman, who've been kicked off a visiting cruise ship, an outbreak of illness maroons the cruise ship in the harbor. The Caribbean island setting becomes a cauldron for issues of race, capitalism, privilege, marshal law and the loss of dignity in a chaotic world. Wynston struggles to make sense of his own existence and the island's troubled history. Meanwhile, the roaches entertain us with their ongoing commentary, which is humorously informed by their deep and unblinking insights into human nature.




Gloria Chao

Gloria Chao photo American Panda Book

Gloria Chao is the critically acclaimed author of American Panda and Our Wayward Fate. Her wayward journey to fiction included studying business at MIT, then becoming a dentist. Gloria was once a black belt in kung-fu and an avid dancer, but nowadays you can find her teaming up with her husband on the curling ice.

American Panda by Gloria Chao is both a heartfelt and hilarious story about a Taiwanese-American teen whose parents rigid expectations force her to decide between a future of her own making that may or may not include her parents or a lifetime of unhappiness. Mei should be in high school, but skipping fourth grade was part of her parents' master plan. Now a freshman at MIT, she is on track to fulfill those ambitious plans. But that is not exactly what Mei sees for herself. This is a book anyone can relate to - it's all about the struggle of wanting to be who you are while also being what your family expects of you.




Adib Khorram

Adib Khorram photo Darius The Great is Not Okay Book

Adib Khorram was born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri. An after-school writing lab was his first experimentation with writing and had him hooked but he went on to university to study theater and film school in Vancouver, BC. Although Adib did try writing plays and two short films, he felt the youthful exuberance of the writing lab return during the creation of his novel, Darius the Great is Not Okay. When he is not working at his day job as a graphic designer, Adib enjoys swimming, tea, ice skating, food, wine, video games, board games, and Kansas City barbecue.

Darius the Great Is Not Okay is a powerful story of Darius Kellner, a teenage boy, navigating family dynamics, teen social angst, clinical depression, and now his first-ever trip to Iran. In Iran, he gets to know his ailing but still formidable grandfather, his loving grandmother, and the rest of his mom's family for the first time. And he meets Sohrab, the boy next door who changes everything. Sohrab calls him Darioush--the original Persian version of his name--and Darius has never felt more like himself than he does now that he's Darioush to Sohrab. Darius has never had a true friend before but Sohrab helps him discover who he really is and maybe be okay with not being okay all the time. When it's time to go home to America, he'll have to find a way to be Darioush on his own. It was hilarious, and heartbreaking, and gorgeous.




Oge Mora

Oge Mora photo Thank You Omu Book

Oge Mora is a painter residing in Providence, RI. Oge grew up in Columbus, Ohio and graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) with a degree in Illustration. She's a fan of all things colorful, patterned, or collaged, and she enjoys creating warm stories that celebrate people coming together.

Oge is the author and illustrator of her first picture book, Thank You, Omu!, a Caldecott Honor, Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award winner, Ezra Jack Keats Book Award recipient, and a New York Times Notable Book and Editors' Choice. Thank You, Omu is a remarkable children's story about community and sharing delivered to us by a generous grandmother and her delicious stew. The rich illustrations that compliment the story are a colorful collage and capture the imagination of the reader.




2018 Award Authors

Lesley Nneka Arimah

What it Means When A Man Falls From the Sky book

Lesley Nneka Arimah was born in the UK and grew up in Nigeria and wherever else her father was stationed for work. She has been a finalist for a National Magazine Award and the Caine Prize, and a winner of the African Commonwealth Short Story Prize and an O. Henry Award, and other honors. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper's, GRANTA and has received support from The Elizabeth George Foundation, The Jerome Foundation, and MacDowell, among others. She was selected for the National Book Foundation's 5 Under 35 and her debut collection WHAT IT MEANS WHEN A MAN FALLS FROM THE SKY won the 2017 Kirkus Prize and the 2017 New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award.

A dazzlingly accomplished debut collection of short stories that explores the ties that bind parents and children, husbands and wives, lovers and friends to one another and to the places they call home. Lesley is a masterful storyteller and with stories that embrace magical-realist elements while deploying a powerful understanding of character and circumstance. You will be mesmerized and captivated.




Nickolas Butler

The Hearts of Men book

Nickolas Butler was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania, raised in Eau Claire, Wisconsin and educated at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Iowa Writer's Workshop. He is the winner of France's prestigious PAGE Prix America, the 2014 Great Lakes Great Reads Award, the 2014 Midwest Independent Booksellers Award, the 2015 Wisconsin Library Association Literary Award, the 2015 UW-Whitewater Chancellor's Regional Literary Award, and has been long-listed for the 2014 Flaherty Dunnan Award for First Novel and short-listed for France's FNAC Prix. This is his third book, a novel.

Told in four parts, spanning 1962 to 2019, The Hearts of Men follows two families through three generations. Camp Chippewa in Northern Wisconsin, in all its smoky, woodsy glory serves as the crucible through which they all must pass as they struggle to understand their relationships with one another and seek to find meaning in the wake of war and tragedy. The Hearts of Men has much to say about goodness and its opposite; about honor; and about manhood, its difficulties and precise texture. It will make you think about how influential we are as parents to our children - for good or bad.




David Barclay Moore

The Stars Beneath Our Feet book

David Barclay Moore was born and raised in Missouri. After studying creative writing at Iowa State University, film at Howard University in Washington, DC, and language studies at l'Université de Montpellier in France, David moved to New York City, where he has served as communications coordinator for Geoffrey Canada's Harlem Children's Zone and communications manager for Quality Services for the Autism Community. He has received grants from the Ford Foundation, the Jerome Foundation, Yaddo, and the Wellspring Foundation. He was also a semi-finalist for the Sundance Screenwriters Lab. David now lives, works, and explores in Brooklyn, NY. Watch for the film version of The Stars Beneath Our Feet by actor/director Michael B. Jordan.

The Stars Beneath Our Feet is a powerful story of an African American boy living in Harlem who discovers the healing power of Art through the construction of Legos. Lolly Rachpaul tries to steer a safe path through the projects in Harlem in the wake of his brother's death in this outstanding debut novel that celebrates community and creativity. With writing that is as much raw as it is honest, Moore draws the reader into a Harlem family rampant with issues. Divorce, gang activity, loss of a child, autism, and poverty thread throughout the book, but this is not a bleak read. No, it encourages the reader to do what is right even if it is hard. It reminds the reader that though it may feel as if you are alone, we really are all connected.




Tamara Bundy

Tamara Bundy photo Walking with Miss Millie Book

Even as a young girl, Tamara Bundy recognized the power of the right word at the right time and dreamed of becoming a writer. She attended Ohio State University and taught high school English. While raising four children Tamara started writing newspaper columns for the Cincinnati Post about being a mom. As her family grew up Tamara began teaching again and completed a Master's degree in writing and decided it was time to write a fiction book that kids, teen and even adults would love to read. Walking with Miss Millie is her debut novel. She lives in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Walking with Miss Millie is a poignant story set in the 1960's South. It is a beautifully written story about friendship and how it can span age differences and backgrounds. There is nothing like friendship to lighten one's load, and make anyplace a home. Ten year old Alice is devastated about making a move to Rainbow, Georgia. Then she gets put in charge of walking her elderly neighbor's dog. But Clarence won't budge without Miss Millie, so Alice and Miss Millie walk him together. Strolling with Miss Millie quickly becomes the highlight of Alice's day, as she learns about the town's past and meets a mix of its catty and kind residents. Along the way she learns what they have in common is a whole lot more important that what makes them different.




2017 Award Authors

Lisa Fenn

Lisa Fenn photo

Lisa Fenn was working as a features producer for ESPN in February of 2009. Her father knew she was always looking for a good story, so when he saw an article in his local Cleveland paper about two high school wrestlers with an unusual bond, he told her she should check it out. She did, and she was awestruck by the friendship she found between these two young men, Leroy Sutton and Dartanyon Crockett, each working to overcome the incredible roadblocks life had thrown in their way. Ms. Fenn's book, Carry On is about the lives of Leroy and Dartanyon and about how her own life has been changed by these two remarkable young men.

Many of us on the awards committee approached the book with trepidation: the description suggested a spiritual and sentimental account of how a privileged white woman made a difference in the lives of two very underprivileged boys-noble indeed, but not likely to win a literary award. However, we were all quickly drawn into the story, which is told with great insight and honesty and contained many surprises. It was a hard book to put down, and by the end, all of us were both moved and amazed by the determination of Dartanyon, Leroy, and Lisa Fenn.




Michelle Pretorius

Michelle Pretorious photo The Monsters Daughter by Michelle Pretorius

Michelle Pretorius was born and raised in South Africa and received a B.A. at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein. She has lived in London, New York, and the Midwest and holds an MFA in Fiction Writing from Columbia College Chicago. She is currently a doctoral candidate in creative writing at Ohio University.

Disgraced Johannesburg police officer Alet Berg has been banished to the small, seemingly sleepy town of Unie in South Africa. An opportunity to earn her way back as an officer in the elite special forces in Johannesburg presents when a gruesome murder with no clear leads is committed within the Unie jurisdiction. Although she is not officially on the case, Alet begins investigating the crime using the resources and connections she accrued in Johannesburg, as well as her family name-her father was a legendary retired police officer. The crime soon leads her back 100 years, into her country's violent past at the height of the Boer War, where a doctor at a British concentration camp conducts a series of grim experiments on Boer prisoners. The novel skillfully weaves the past and the present together and transports you into the history and places of South Africa.




Nathan Hill

Nathan Hill photo

Nathan Hill's brilliant debut novel, The Nix, is a big, ambitious, deliciously sprawling novel that centers on a complicated mother-son relationship rooted in Samuel's childhood but also in his mother Faye's own mysterious past.

With a tight rein on a complex plot, Hill takes readers from Samuel's present-day conundrum back to the summer of 1998, when his mother left; and then further back to 1968, the year his mother left her dysfunctional family on their farm in Iowa and enrolled at the University of Illinois at Chicago Circle, just in time for the protests-turned-riots at the Republican National Convention.

Each step of the way, Hill delves deep into the details of his characters' daily lives, taking readers into the characters through gorgeously written, precise language.

Hill's vivid imagination seamlessly mixes in enough historical fact to ground the story in realism. The novel explores a wide range of ideas and situations, from the relatively mundane (video games, Choose Your Own Adventure books, senior proms, young love and the power of advertising) to the seriously heartbreaking (vengeance and anger, betrayal, childhood trauma, abandonment, child abuse and broken spirits) to the sublime (the possibilities of understanding, healing and positive change). The book's brilliance and strong Chicago setting propelled it to the top of our list right away.




Kate Hoefler

Kate Hoefler photo Real Cowboys by Kate Hoefler

Kate Hoefler Hoefler, received her MFA in Poetry from the University of Michigan, where she studied as a Colby fellow. She has taught writing courses at the University of Michigan, as well as at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. Kate developed a love for writing at a young age and loved the Western landscape.

This is a realistic and poetic picture book about the American West, the myth of rough riding cowboys and cowgirls. Writing in prose with the plainspoken poetry of a classic cowboy song, debut author Hoefler makes a winning case that those who are home on the range are self-aware, empathic, conscientious, "as many different colors as the earth," and include "girls, too." Hoefler's text blends the everyday life of cowboys with a sense of wonder. "Real cowboys are good listeners," she writes. "They're always listening to their trail boss and to the other cowhands. Sometimes they listen for trucks, and wolves, and rushing water. And sometimes they just listen to the big wide world and its grass song."




Sharon Biggs Waller

Sharon Biggs Waller photo The Forbidden Orchid book

Sharon Biggs Waller lives on a farm outside of Chicago with her husband Mark and a menagerie of animals. Sharon loves horses and nature in general and has owned a riding school in San Diego. Her writing credits include three non-fiction books on horses and horsemanship, a blog, and features in magazines (Horse Illustrated, The Horse, Hobby Farms, Urban Farm, Hobby Farm Home, Chickens, and USDF Connection).

The Forbidden Orchid tells the story of a young British girl in China hunting for the orchid that will save her family. Staid, responsible Elodie Buchanan is the eldest of ten sisters growing up in a small English market town in 1861. The girls barely know their father, a plant hunter usually off adventuring through China, more myth than man. Then disaster strikes: Mr. Buchanan reneges on his contract to collect an extremely rare and valuable orchid. He is thrown into debtors' prison while his daughters are sent to the orphanage and the workhouse.

To save her family, Elodie persuades her father to return to China and once more hunt down the flower-only this time, Elodie goes with him. She has never before left her village, but what starts as fear turns to wonder as she adapts to seafaring life aboard the tea clipper The Osprey and later to the new sights, dangers, and romance of China.




Ruta Sepetys

Ruta Sepetys Photo

Ruta Sepetys (Ruta Šepetys) is the daughter of a Lithuanian refugee. Born in Michigan, she was raised in a family of artists, readers, and music lovers. Ruta attended college to study opera but instead graduated with a degree in International Finance. Prior to publishing her first novel, she spent twenty years in the music industry. Sepetys is considered a "crossover" novelist as her books are read by both students and adults worldwide. Her previous novels, Between Shades of Gray and Out of the Easy are both New York Times bestsellers, international bestsellers, and Carnegie Medal nominees. Ruta was recently bestowed the Cross of the Knight of the Order by the President of Lithuania for her contributions to education and memory preservation. She is intensely proud to be Lithuanian, even if that means she has a name no one can pronounce.

This is a story of four individuals in World War II who make their way to the ill-fated MV Wilhelm Gustloff. As the war is drawing to a close in East Prussia, thousands of refugees are on a desperate trek toward freedom, many with something to hide. Among them are Joana, Emilia, and Florian, whose paths converge en route to the ship that promises salvation, the Wilhelm Gustloff. Forced by circumstance to unite, the three find their strength, courage, and trust in each other tested with each step closer to safety. Just when it seems freedom is within their grasp, tragedy strikes.

Told in alternating points of view this outstanding work of historical fiction is inspired by the real-life tragedy that was the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff - the greatest maritime disaster in history. Author Ruta Sepetys unearths a little-known casualty of this gruesome war and proves that humanity and love can prevail, even in the darkest of hours.




2016 Award Authors

George Hodgman

George Hodgman photo Bettyville: A Memoir by George Hodgman
George Hodgman is a veteran magazine and book editor who has worked at Simon & Schuster, Vanity Fair, and Talk magazine. His writing has appeared in Entertainment Weekly, Interview, W, and Harper's Bazaar, among other publications. He lives in New York City and Paris, Missouri.

It all started as a temporary move back home to Paris, Missouri to take care of his ageing Mother after discovering things were not all well in Bettyville. Bettyville is A witty, tender memoir of a son's journey home to care for his irascible mother-a tale of secrets, silences, and enduring love.




Andrew Malan Milward

Andrew Malan Milward photo I Was A Revolutionary by Andrew Malan Milward
Andrew Milward is a native of Lawrence, Kansas, and a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop. He was a finalist for the National Magazine Award in 2008, and his first book, The Agriculture Hall of Fame, was awarded the Juniper Prize in Fiction and issued by the University of Massachusetts Press, 2012. He has served as the McCreight Fiction Fellow at the University of Wisconsin, a Steinbeck Fellow at San Jose State University, and has received fellowships and awards from the Lannan Foundation, the Santa Fe Art Institute, the Norman Mailer Colony, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and the Corporation of Yaddo.

Grounded in place, spanning the Civil War to the present day, the stories in I Was a Revolutionary capture the roil of history through the eyes of an unforgettable cast of characters: the visionaries and dreamers, radical farmers and socialist journalists, quack doctors and protestors who haunt the past and present landscape of the state of Kansas.




Judith Claire Mitchell

Judith Claire Mitchell photo A Reunion of Ghosts by Judith Claire Mitchell
Judith Claire Mitchell is the author of the novels The Last Day of the War and A Reunion of Ghosts. She teaches undergraduate and graduate fiction workshops at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she is a professor of English and the director of the MFA program in creative writing. She has received grants and fellowships from the Michener-Copernicus Society of America, the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing, the Wisconsin Arts Board, and Bread Loaf, among others. She lives in Madison with her husband, the artist Don Friedlich.

As the sisters gather in the ancestral Upper West Side apartment to close the circle of the Alter curse, an epic story of four generations of one family-inspired in part by the troubled life of Fritz Haber, Nobel Prize winner and inventor of chlorine gas-unfolds. A Reunion of Ghosts is a magnificent tale of fate and blood, sin and absolution; partly a memoir of sisters unified by a singular burden, partly an unflinching eulogy of those who have gone before; and above all, a profound commentary on the events of the 20th century.




David Arnold

David Arnold photo Mosquitoland by David Arnold
David Arnold is the author of Mosquitoland (Viking/Penguin, 2015). Previous jobs include freelance musician/producer, stay-at-home dad, and preschool teacher. He is a fierce believer in the power of kindness and community.

A touching story about Mim Malone, a quirky young girl with a different way of thinking, on a journey to find herself both mentally and physically. Mim has been uprooted from her home in Ohio and ushered off to Mississippi. When she hears of her Mother's illness, she ditches her new life and hops aboard a northbound Greyhound bus to Ohio and her Mother. This is a modern American Odyssey, as hilarious as it is heartbreaking.




Aimée Bissonette

Aimee Bisonette photo North Woods Girl by Aimee Bisonette
Aimée Bissonette was born in New Kensington, Pennsylvania, the sixth of seven children. She grew up with her suitcase never fully unpacked-her family moved many times and she attended 8 different schools before graduating from high school. Aimée earned her Bachelor's degree from Colorado State University and her Law degree from the University of Minnesota Law School. She has worked as an occupational therapist, teacher, lawyer, and small business owner. In her legal practice, she works with numerous children's book authors and illustrators. In addition to her books for children, Aimée has published a book for K-12 teachers and administrators on the legal issues associated with technology in the schools. She lives with her husband, family, and dogs in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Aimée Bissonette's new picture book, North Woods Girl explores the rich relationship between a grandmother and granddaughter, and their shared relationship with the North Woods. Time with Grandma teaches about quiet observation, generous sharing of resources, the beauty of the forest and pond at any hour. Grandma is the quintessential north woods girl, breathing deep the piney scents, relishing the chirping activity of her animal neighbors. Small wonder that her admiring granddaughter is inspired to follow in her footsteps. With a tale as understated as Grandma herself, Aimée Bissonette shares a message of appreciating the treasures of our natural surroundings.




Christine Hayes

Christine Hayes photo Mothman's Curse by Christine Hayes
Christine Hayes grew up loving stories about the creatures that curl your toes, and the legends that send a shiver down your spine. Now she loves writing about them, too. She lives in Utah with her family, her dog Chewie, and a collection of vintage finds that hopefully are not cursed.

In Mothman's Curse, Josie and her brothers uncover a haunted camera, while helping their dad at an estate that is about to go up for auction. This spooky camera prints pictures of the ghost of local recluse John Goodrich, and they are drawn into a mystery dating back over a hundred years. A desperate spirit, cursed jewelry, natural disasters, and the horrible specter of Mothman all weave in and out of the puzzle that Josie must solve to break the curse and save her own life.




2015 Award Authors

Celeste Ng

Celeste Ng image Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
Celeste Ng, has published many short stories and won a Pushcart Prize. Everything I Never Told You is her first novel. She attended Harvard and has an MFA from the University of Michigan. She now lives in Cambridge, Mass. with her husband and son.

Everything I Never Told You is a suspenseful page turner, even though we are told in its first sentence that a missing girl, sixteen-year old Lydia Lee, is dead. But what happened to this beautiful straight-A student? The story unwraps in layers, like an onion, revealing the secrets and conflicts inside each member of Lydia's Chinese-American family. Searching for truth about Lydia's death forces her mother, father, and brother to confront the lies and omissions of their own lives. The book exposes the complicated relations between parents and children, spouses, and siblings, as well as issues of race and gender.



Rebecca Rotert

Rebecca Rotert image Last Night at the Blue Angel by Rebecca Rotert
Rebecca Rotert, a singer and songwriter, has published poetry and essays and received an Academy of American Poets Prize. She received her MA from Hollins College in Virginia. A visit to her website shows that she's a gifted painter and photographer as well. Rebecca currently lives in Omaha.

Last Night at the Blue Angel brings to life the lives and world of people from a bygone era. Narrated by Naomi Hill, a jazz singer struggling for stardom in mid 1960's Chicago, and her precocious 10 year old daughter Sophia. Sophia lives in the shadow of her mother and tries to make sense of Naomi's mysterious relationships and frequent poor choices. An engaging and incredibly loyal group of supporting characters include a former nun and her cross dressing brother, another brother and sister who are both in love with Naomi, and the photographer whose spread in Look magazine has given Naomi a real shot at making it to the top. Naomi and Sophia's voices alternate telling this tale, at once a train wreck in the waiting and a heartrending story of the meaning of love and family.



Stuart Rojstaczer

Stuart Rojstaczer image The Mathematician's Shiva by Stuart Rojstaczer
Stuart Rojstaczer, is a retired professor of geophysics at Duke University. He gained some fame as an expert on grade inflation and has been on CNN, ESPN, and NPR on the subject. He also recently won the National Jewish Book award for Outstanding Debut Fiction, The Mathematician's Shiva. Stuart's first book, a memoir about his days as a professor was published in 1999.

The Mathematician's Shiva is a literary romp through the world of the mathematically obsessed, with secret plots, geopolitical rumblings, and a remarkable parrot. The story begins as Rachela Karnokovitch, world-famous mathematician who defected to the United States after living through Soviet hell, dies in Wisconsin, surrounded by her son, ex-husband, and brother. It is rumored, in the mathematics world, that with her last remaining brain activity she solved the elusive Navier-Stokes equation. Her son, Sasha, is infuriated when fifteen mathematicians from around the world badger their way into his mother's shiva, ostensibly to grieve the passing of their renowned colleague, but really (and with incompetent subterfuge) to ransack Rachela's home in search of the Navier-Stokes proof on paper. Seven days of hijinks ensue.



Eleanor Glewwe

Eleanor Glewwe image Sparkers by Eleanor Glewwe
Eleanor Glewwewas born in Washington, D.C. and grew up in Maryland and Minnesota, with a brief interlude in Paris. She attended Swarthmore College, where she majored in Linguistics and Languages and worked in the music library. In addition to being a writer, Eleanor is a folk dancer and a Sacred Harp singer. She currently lives in Los Angeles, where she is a graduate student in linguistics.

SPARKERS, takes place in a fantasy world strictly divided by class, where magicians are the elite and the non-magician "sparkers" are the lower caste. Marah Levi is a sparker, who's special talents are wasted until a mysterious disease hits the city of Ashara. Marah makes an unexpected alliance with Azariah, a wealthy magician boy. Together, they search for a cure for the deadly disease, but their research uncovers uncomfortable secrets the Asharian government hopes to keep hidden.



Adriana Brad Schanen

Adriana Brad Schanen image Quinny and Hopper by Adriana Brad Schanen
Adriana Brad Schanenwas born in Romania, raised in Chicago, and now lives in the vibrant, diverse town of Montclair, NJ with her husband, two daughters and a shaggy 60-pound lap dog named Oliver. Quinny & Hopper is her first early middle-grade novel.

Quinny & Hopper makes us laugh as we read about two eight-year olds who become friends despite their very different backgrounds and personalities. Their differences from one another and their alternating narration allows their thoughts, feelings and views on a situation to shine. The story celebrates being a kid and doing what makes you happy instead of what other people think you should do.



2014 Award Authors

Abby Geni

Abby Geni image The Last Animal by Abby Geni
Abby Geni, author of the short story collection The Last Animal, is one of two first-place prize winners chosen by the FAW Adult Literary Awards Committee. Geni is a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop and a recipient of the Iowa Fellowship. She currently teaches at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and StoryStudio Chicago. Her stories have appeared in Glimmer Train, Flaunt Magazine, Chautauqua, The Indiana Review, Confrontation, New Stories from the Midwest, The Fourth River, Iron Horse, and Crab Orchard Review, among others. Geni's work has also received awards in the Glimmer Train Fiction Open and the Chautauqua Contest, and The Last Animal was selected for the November 2013 Indie Next List and the Debut Dozen. Geni lives in Chicago with her husband. She is hard at work on a novel about loss, recovery, and great white sharks.

The Last Animal is a collection of remarkable, insightful stories unified by the presence of animals: ostriches and octopi, manatees and butterflies, dogs and cats. Geni intertwines the lives of people and animals in a way that illuminates our relationship with the wild - be it in animals, in other people, or in ourselves. Her stories are about families coping, mysterious disappearances, loneliness, loss, and love. Abby Geni's collection has been called "ambitious yet heartfelt," and we agree. The committee was impressed by her skill with language and imagery, the depth of her characters, and the range of perspectives she successfully renders - from a young boy to an elderly woman.



Ethan Rutherford

Ethan Rutherford image The Peripatetic Coffin by Ethan Rutherford
Ethan Rutherford, author of the short story collection The Peripatetic Coffin and Other Stories, has also been awarded a first-place prize by the FAW Adult Literary Awards Committee. Born in Seattle, Rutherford received his MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Minnesota and now lives in Akron, Ohio, with his wife and son. His fiction has appeared in Ploughshares, One Story, American Short Fiction, and The Best American Short Stories. The Peripatetic Coffin and Other Stories was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, a finalist for the John Leonard Award, received honorable mention for the PEN/Hemingway Award, was a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection, and was the winner of a Minnesota Book Award. In addition to being a writer, Rutherford is a songwriter and musician.

The Peripatetic Coffin and Other Stories is a collection of unique, eclectic, and wildly inventive stories. Rutherford takes his readers on a variety of journeys: we go aboard the first Confederate submarine, to the world's worst summer camp, through snow-covered meadows, on a sailing vacation with a dangerous stranger, and down into a basement with two obsessive grade-school friends. Packed with satire, humor, and horror, Rutherford's imaginative collection moves seamlessly from suburban family turmoil to polar expeditions. The committee chose The Peripatetic Coffin for its originality and craft, for its ability to surprise us, and for the lasting impression it has made on us.



Pat Zietlow Miller

Pat Zietlow Miller image Sophie's Squash by Pat Zietlow Miller
Pat Zeitlow Miller,the author of Sophie's Squash, is a children's book lover and the creative force behind the blog Read, Write, Repeat; where she reviews books for young readers. Sophie's Squash, her first picture book, is based on a true story—her own daughter, Sonia, once loved a squash. She pulled it from the grocery cart and cradled it. By the time they got home Sonia had named it and painted a face on it. They never did get to eat it. But the incident inspired Pat to write a story about it.

On a trip to the farmers' market with her parents, Sophie chooses a squash, but instead of letting her mom cook it, she adopts it and names it Bernice. From then on, Sophie brings Bernice everywhere, despite her parents' gentle warnings that Bernice will begin to rot. As winter nears, Sophie does start to notice changes. What's a girl to do when the squash she loves is in trouble? Read this charming book and find out.




Clare Vanderpool

Clare Vanderpool image Navigating Early by Clare Vanderpool
Clare Vanderpool, recipient of the 2011 Newbery Award, is a resident of Wichita, Kansas. She has a degree in English and Elementary Education and enjoys reading, going to the pool with her children, the television show Monk, and visiting the bookstores in her town. Her imagination and resulting stories grew from the influence of family stories, relationships, long road trips, and many many books.

At the end of World War II, Jack Baker, a landlocked Kansas boy, is suddenly uprooted after his mother's death and placed in a boy's boarding school in Maine. There, Jack encounters Early Auden, the strangest of boys, who reads the number pi as a story and collects clippings about the sightings of a great black bear in the nearby mountains. Newcomer Jack feels lost yet can't help being drawn to Early. When the boys find themselves unexpectedly alone at school, they embark on a quest on the Appalachian Trail in search of the great black bear. But what they are searching for is sometimes different from what they find. They will meet truly strange characters, each of whom figures into the pi story Early weaves as they travel, while discovering things they never realized about themselves and others in their lives.




2013 Award Authors

Christopher Hebert

Christopher Hebert image The Boiling Season by Christopher Hebert
Christopher Hebert, author of the novel The Boiling Season and this year's top winner, is a graduate of Antioch College, where he also worked at the Antioch Review. He earned his MFA in creative writing from the University of Michigan and was the recipient of its prestigious Hopwood Award for Fiction. Hebert has spent time in both Guatemala and Mexico, but now lives in Knoxville, Tennessee, with his son and wife, the novelist Margaret Lazarus Dean.

The Boiling Season, which is set on an unnamed Caribbean island, is a novel of ideas featuring the self-deluding protagonist, Alexandre, a young man who desperately wants to escape the poverty of his youth. Starting as a valet for an important politician, he quickly becomes the manager of an Eden-like resort that caters to jet-setters and is owned by an American businesswoman. Feeling "safe" inside its protective walls, Alexandre is able to distance himself from his father, his former friends--and even from himself. Though he tries to ignore Cite Verd, the slum that springs up just outside the resort's gates, the country is ripe for revolution, and Alexandre soon finds that he can no longer ignore what's going on around him. His struggles to protect the resort are at odds with the needs of his own people, however, a dilemma which reflects the situations of many third-world countries.

In choosing The Boiling Season as its winner, the Literary Awards Committee cited its density, careful construction, and the way its themes resonate with the political issues of our day. In addition, Hebert's use of language was commended for being both eloquent and accessible.



Marjorie Celona

Marjorie Celona image Y:The Novel by Marjorie Celona
Marjorie Celona, the author of the novel Y, is one of our two second-place winners. She received her MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, where she was an Iowa Arts Fellow and recipient of the John C. Schupes Fellowship. Her stories have appeared in Glimmer Train and the Harvard Review, as well as other literary journals. She grew up on Vancouver Island, but now makes her home in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Y tells the story of Shannon, a foster child who was left on the steps of the YMCA hours after her birth by her teenage mother. Though the book chronicles the abuse and neglect Shannon suffers at the hands of her foster parents, she is able to find a true home with Miranda, a kind but no-nonsense single mother with a free-spirited daughter of her own. Shannon is not content, however: she wants to find and get to know her real mother, no matter how difficult or disappointing the quest may be. Though the story of a foster child seeking his/her birth parents is a familiar one, Celona gives it a new twist by alternating the points of view between Shannon and her biological mother, Yula.

The committee, in selecting Y as one of its winners, praised Celona's fresh and engaging treatment of an oft-told story. The originality of her writing was also applauded by the committee, who found it not just compelling but mesmerizing.



Nick Healy

Nick Healy imageIt Takes You Over by Nick Healy
Nick Healy, the author of It Takes You Over, a collection of short stories, has been published in North American Review, Water-Stone Review, Minnesota Monthly and numerous other journals. His stories have been anthologized in The Robert Olen Butler Prize Stories (Del Sol Press) and elsewhere. His story "And Other Delights" was chosen for the 2005 Speakeasy Prize from The Loft Literary Center/Speakeasy magazine. It Takes You Over was published by New Rivers Press after it won the 2011 Many Voices Project contest, which is sponsored yearly by the Press. Healy lives in Mankato, Minnesota, with his wife and their two children.

It Takes You Over is a wide-ranging collection of short fiction, all of which is set in Minnesota. Included in this collection are stories about an Armistic Day blizzard in 1940; a retiree arrested for hiring a prostitute; a Korean adoptee who helps her adoptive father through his last days; and a letter-writer whose words are spun out of control by the media of a small town.

It Takes You Over was chosen in recognition of the craft Healy demonstrates in all his stories and because his characters, in spite of their quirkiness, convey a sense of authenticity that makes them seem like people the reader actually knows. In addition, Healy is an engaging writer who makes liberal use of both wit and wisdom.




Lutricia Clifton

Lutricia Clifton image Freakie Fast Frankie Joe by Lutricia Clifton
Lutricia Clifton, the author of the young adult (YA) book Freaky Fast Frankie Joe, was born in southeastern Oklahoma. By the time she'd finished third grade, however, she'd lived in a total of four different states, which was the beginning of her own wanderlust. Clifton, who earned a BA and MA in English from Colorado State University, now lives in Illinois. She says it was the Midwestern landscape, as well as her own rootless upbringing, that inspired Freaky Fast Frankie Joe, a book which has enjoyed widespread success, including: a starred review in Kirkus Reviews, a slot on the Chicago Public Library's list of the Best of the Best 2013 Books for Great Kids, and a nomination for South Carolina's Children's Book Award.

Freaky Fast Frankie Joe features an eleven-year-old protagonist named Frankie Joe Huckaby, who is forced to live in Illinois with the father he never knew, as well as a stepmother and four stepbrothers. To finance his escape back to his mother in Texas, Frankie Joe starts a delivery service, not realizing that with this initiative he is making a better life for himself than he'd ever had with his mother.




W.H. Beck

W.H Beck image Malcolm at Midnight by W.H. Beck
W.H. Beck(Rebecca Hogue Wojahn), the author of the YA book Malcolm at Midnight, is an elementary school librarian who has always loved reading, writing, and drawing. As a child, Beck entertained herself during family fishing excursions by reading books and daydreaming, which eventually led her to write her own stories. After earning an elementary teaching degree from the University of Wisconsin, Beck went on to get a master's degree in information studies from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Though her job and family keep her busy, Beck still manages to squeeze in writing time early in the morning, late in the evening, and on weekends.

Malcolm at Midnight is the delightful story of Malcolm, a small rat who, much to his chagrin, finds himself mistaken for a mouse. As the new pet at McKenna School, he falls in with the Midnight Academy, a secret society of classroom pets which includes a spelling fish, a nasty cat, and a glasses-wearing iguana. When the Academy's iguana leader is kidnapped, however, Malcolm is on the spot: he must prove his innocence-and demonstrate that even rats can be good guys!



2012 Award Authors

Kevin Fenton

Kevin Fenton Merit Badges the Novel by Kevin Fenton
Kevin Fenton won the FAW Literary award for MERIT BADGES (New Issues Poetry & Prose). He will receive $2000.
Four high school friends are growing up during the 1970's in the blue collar town of Minnisapa, Minnesota, just across the border from Wisconsin. Each must deal with hardships through the years - loss of a parent, becoming a teenage father, etc. - but the gang remains friends. Each chapter cleverly uses a particular Boy Scout merit badge to frame the story. The novel evokes a wonderful sense of place and memorable characters.



Chad Harbach

Chad Harbach
Chad Harbach's book, THE ART OF FIELDING (Little, Brown and Company) was selected for a FAW Literary award. He will also receive $2000.
This sprawling multiple-story saga follows the coming-of-age crises of five characters at a small liberal-arts college in Wisconsin. At the book's center is Henry Skrimshander, a baseball shortstop of phenomenal ability whose skill on the field doesn't matched his relationships with friends, teammates and girls. His problems eventually put the entire team in jeopardy. This page turner is remarkable. FAW members liked the mature writing, the strong plot lines and vivid characters.



Brynne Barnes

Brynne Barnes Photo Colors of Me Book by Brynne Barnes
Byrnne Barnes was selected as a FAW winner in the Juvenile Literary category for COLORS OF ME (Sleeping Bear Press). She will receive $1500.
Intriguing collage illustrations frame this playful rhyme told through the eyes of a curious, creative young child who determines the whole world is full of color. "Would I climb a tree striped orange and blue? Does the rain have a color when it makes a puddle?" The child comes to realize and appreciate a world filled with all colors that paint the earth and sky--and decides she'd like to be them all. (Picture Book)



Delia Ray

Delia Ray Photo Here Lies Linc Book by Delia Ray
Delia Ray also was selected as a FAW winner in the Juvenile Literary category for HERE LIES LINC (Alfred A. Knopf). She will receive $1500.
Homeschooled 12-year-old Lincoln Crenshaw transfers to public school, hoping to find "regular" kids like himself. Linc is mortified when he learns that his class is starting an Adopt-a-Grave Project, and his mother, an expert on burial customs, is leading a tour of the graveyard. Embarrassed, Linc tries for coolness by researching the Black Angel, the scariest grave in the cemetery, and discovers a mystery about his own family. (Ages 9 - 12)



2011 Award Authors

Christie Hodgen

Christie Hodgen Christie won the Fiction Literary Prize and $2000 for her novel, Elegies for the Brokenhearted (Norton). Her book is five elegies introducing people whose lives shaped the main character, Mary Murphy, including a seedy uncle, an overweight college roommate, and a failed gay composer. Hodgen, an Alabama native, recalls such individuals she knew in her youth. She said that she rarely gets feedback from her readers which made this prize so memorable.




Heather Sellers

Heather Sellers Heather Sellers won the Nonfiction Literary Prize and $2000 for her memoir, You Don't Look Like Anyone I Know (Riverhead Press). Ms Sellers has face blindness, a disorder in which she can't remember what anyone looks like, even her own mother. She can only recognize people by their walk, their clothes, etc. According to Heather, she has "worked on this book all my life. I wanted to write about my crazy, chaotic family" including a drunken father and a schizophrenic mother.




Rebecca Barnhouse

Rebecca Barnhouse Image Rebecca Barnhouse Book Rebecca Barnhouse writes books about-and inspired by-the Middle Ages. She earned her doctorate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she studied Anglo-Saxon manuscripts and medieval literature written in Old and Middle English, Old Norse, and other fascinating languages. A native of Vero Beach, Florida, she now lives in Ohio, where is a professor of English at Youngstown State University.

Rebecca received $1200 for The Coming of the Dragon (Random House). In this reimagining of the last section of the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf, 16-year-old Rune must find the courage within himself and come to the aid of his king when a dragon attacks the kingdom. Children and adults will find this a beautifully written, thrilling adventure.




Kat Falls

Kat Falls Book Kat Falls grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland and attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, then received an MFA in screenwriting at Northwestern University. She now teaches at NU, and received $800 from FAW for her book, Dark Life (Scholastic Press). This is a story for the young adult and is a deep sea adventure. She wanted to write a book "that was so fast that a reader would ignore the pings of the IM texting." She tried to find the creepiest cool animals under the sea. Every animal in the book has been researched and is real. The movie rights have been sold to Disney and the sequel is coming out in August.




Marianne Malone

Marianne Malone Marianne Malone received $1200 for her juvenile novel, The Sixty-Eight Rooms (Scholastic Press), a fantasy about two children who are able to shrink themselves to explore the Thorne Rooms at the Art Institute. Having gone to the museum many times all through her childhood, Ms Malone loved the rooms and this story came to her fully formed. She enjoys writing fiction where "you can write anything you want, like an artist. You can be creative without being necessarily accurate."





2010 Award Authors

Nick Reding

Nick Reding Nick Reding was born in Saint Louis, Missouri, and received his B.A. in Creative Writing and English Literature from Northwestern University in 1994. He has an MFA in Creative Writing from N.Y.U., where he was a University Fellow from 1995 til 1997. He lived in New York City for thirteen years, where he worked as a magazine editor, a graduate school professor, and a freelance writer. His first book, The Last Cowboys at the End of the World, was published by Crown in 2002. Methland is his second book. He has written for Harper's, Food and Wine, Outside, Fast Company, and Details. He lives with his wife and son in Saint Louis.




Bich Minh Nguyen

Bich Minh Nguyen picture Bich Minh Nguyen was born in Saigon in 1974. On April 29, 1975, the night before the city fell, her family fled Viet Nam by ship. Her family finally settled in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She received an MFA in creative writing from the University of Michigan and currently teaches nonfiction, fiction and Asian American Literature at Purdue University. She lives in Chicago and West Lafayette, Indiana with her husband, writer Porter Shreve. Her memoir-in-essays, Stealing Buddha's Dinner, was published by Viking Penguin in 2007. Short Girls was published by Viking Penguin in 2009 and was named a best book by LIBRARY JOURNAL.




J. Adams Oaks

J. Adams Oaks picture J. Adams Oaks is the author of Why I Fight (A Richard Jackson Book, Simon and Schuster), which won both the National Society of Arts and Letters regional competition and an Illinois Arts Council Fellowship Award. He is a graduate of Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota and has a MFA in Fiction Writing from Columbia College Chicago. Having lived all over (including New Orleans, Madison, Madrid, D.C., and Denver), Oaks finally settled in Chicago, where he is currently a curator and editor for the Serendipity Theater Collective's storytelling series, 2nd Story, and hard at work on his second novel.




Barbara Olenyik Morrow

Mr Mosquito Puts on His Tuxedo Book A St. Louis native, Barbara Olenyik Morrow is a transplanted Hoosier. She attended Indiana University in Bloomington, where she received her bachelor's and master's degrees in journalism. She worked for newspapers for many years, and in 1986 she and two coworkers at The Fort Wayne(IN) Journal Gazette were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize in editorial writing. She is the author of two children's picture books – the spirited read-aloud Mr. Mosquito Put on His Tuxedo (Holiday House, 2009, illustrated by Ponder Goembel) and A Good Night for Freedom (Holiday House, 2004, illustrated by Leonard Jenkins). She lives in Auburn, Indiana with her husband Douglas. They have four sons.




Joan Donaldson

Book Joan Donaldson earned her Master in Fine Arts from Spalding University, Louisville, KY, with a major in creative nonfiction and a minor in writing for children. Joan not only writes for children, but has published essays in The Christian Science Monitor, Ideals Magazine and Rosebud Magazine, and won the Ann Ricco Second Place Award for essay St. George and the Dragon. Learn more about Joan Donaldson and her organic blueberry farm.







Reading Resources

Reccomendations by Jenny Riddle 2018

Capital Dames: The Civil War and the Women of Washington, 1848-1868 by Cokie Roberts
Leonardo Da Vinci by Walter Isaacson
Jackie, Janet & Lee: The Secret Lives of Janet Auchincloss and Her Daughters, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Lee Radziwill by J. Randy Taraborrelli
My Ex-Life by Stephen McCauley
Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Caroline Fraser
Something in the Water: A Novel by Catherine Steadman
Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin
Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar by Cheryl Strayed
Two Girls Down: A Novel by Louisa Luna
Whiskey in a Teacup: What Growing Up in the South Taught Me About Life, Love, and Baking Biscuits by Reese Witherspoon