2018 Maine literary awards finalists announced

PORTLAND — The Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance recently announce finalists for the 2018 Maine Literary Awards. The awards — honoring books published during 2017, as well as adult and youth manuscripts in drama, fiction, nonfiction and poetry brought in an incredible number of submissions.

This year, 145 books were entered across the award’s categories; compare that to the 2011 awards when 70 books total were submitted. In addition, more than 70 manuscripts were submitted into the award’s Short Works and Drama Award competitions, and nearly 40 Maine students submitted work in the same categories in the award’s Youth Competition.
The winners of the 2018 Maine Literary Awards will be revealed at a ceremony beginning at 7 p.m. Thursday, June 14, at SPACE Gallery, 538 Congress St. Doors open at 6 p.m. There will be hors d’oeuvres, and a cash bar; a bookseller will be on hand at the ceremony to sell books by the finalists.
The event is free to MWPA members with a suggested $5 donation for nonmembers.
For more information or questions about the awards, call 207-228-8263 or email director@mainewriters.org.

MAINE LITERARY AWARDS FINALISTS
(listed alphabetically by author)
Book Award for Fiction
“A Piece of the World,” Christina Baker Kline, Southwest Harbor
“What Longfellow Heard,” Jon Nappa, Camden
“The Girl of the Lake,” Bill Roorbach, Farmington

Book Award for Crime Fiction
“Solo Time” Richard J. Cass, no town available
“Death Warmed Over,” Kate Flora, Harpswell
“Wendigo,” Vaughn Hardacker, Stockholm
“Deadly Trespass,” Sandra Neily, Westport Island

Book Award for Speculative Fiction
“Ka,” John Crowley
“American Ghost,” Paul Guernsey, Warren
“Caveman at the End of the World,” Brad Rau, South Portland

Book Award for Nonfiction
“The Evangelicals” Frances Fitzgerald
“Blazing Ahead,” Jeffrey H. Ryan, Portland
“The Passion of Perfection,” June Vail, Brunswick

Book Award for Memoir
“Settling Twice,” Deborah Joy Corey, Castine
“Redeeming Ruth” Meadow Merrill, Richmond
“I Know it in My Heart: Walking Through Grief with a Child,” Mary E. Plouffe, Cumberland

Book Award for Poetry
“Work by Bloodlight,” Julia Bouwsma, New Portland
“The Unfastening,” Wesley McNair, Mercer
“Lesser Eternities,” Jim Glenn Thatcher, Yarmouth

Book Award for Young People’s Literature
“Grit,” Gillian French, Hermon
“The Rattled Bones,” S.M. Parker, no town available
“The Glass Town Game,” Catherynne M. Valente, Peak’s Island

Book Award for Children’s Literature
“Do Seals Ever?” Fran Hodgkins, Rockport
“Princess Sophie and the Six Swans,” Kim Jacobs
“Pocket Full of Colors,” Jacqueline Tourville

Book Award for Anthology
“3 Nations Anthology: Native, Canadian & New England,” Valerie Lawson (editor), Robbinston
“Northern Frights” David Price (editor), Biddeford
“Sparks” The Telling Room (editors), Portland

John N. Cole Award for Maine-themed Nonfiction
“One Man’s Maine,” Jim Krosschell, Owls Head
“Where Edges Don’t Hold,” Christina Marsden Gillis, Gotts Island
“How to Eat Green Crab,” Oliver Curtis, Telling Room

Excellence in Publishing
“Green Plate Special,” Christine Burns Rudalevige (Islandport Press)
“There Has To Be Magic,” Donna Marie McNeil & Christina Shipps (Maine Authors Publishing)
“A Man for All Oceans,” (Tilbury House Publishers)

Drama Award (for film, theater, and other scripts)
Michael D. Burke, Wilton
Kathy M. Hooke, Portland
Martha Rice, Kennebunk

Short Works Competition, Fiction
Zach Brockhouse, Portland
Anne Elliott, South Portland
Jefferson Navicky, Freeport

Short Works Competition, Nonfiction
Sarah Kilch Gaffney, Vassalboro
Penny Guisinger, Trescott
Leslie Moore, Belfast

Short Works Competition, Poetry
Jefferson Navicky, Freeport
Lee Sharkey, Portland
William Varner, South Berwick

Youth Competition, Fiction
Lexie Bugbee, Cape Elizabeth
Makena Deveraux, Cape Elizabeth
Sarah Dressel, Telling Room

Youth Competition, Nonfiction
Marisa Mizzoni, Telling Room
Ayub Mohamud, Telling Room
Mahnaz Seddiqi, Telling Room

Youth Competition, Poetry
Makena Deveraux, Cape Elizabeth
Wilson Haims, Maine Coast Waldorf
Anita Woofender, Telling Room