LINCOLN – Two generational family novels by Nebraska authors, a nonfiction work on POW camps in Nebraska, and a mystery set in the Sand Hills —all stories with ties to Nebraska and the Great Plains—are the finalists for the 2023 One Book One Nebraska statewide reading program. The finalists are:
- Haven’s Wake by Ladette Randolph, Bison Books, 2013.
- The Mystery of Hunting’s End by Mignon Eberhart, Bison Books, 1998.
- Nebraska POW Camps: A History of World War II Prisoners in the Heartland by Melissa Amateis Marsh, The History Press (Arcadia Publishing), 2014.
- The Plain Sense of Things by Pamela Carter Joern, Bison Books, 2008.
The “One Book One Nebraska” reading program, now in its nineteenth year, is sponsored by the Nebraska Center for the Book, Humanities Nebraska, and Nebraska Library Commission. It encourages Nebraskans across the state to read and discuss the same book, chosen from books written by Nebraska authors or that have a Nebraska theme or setting.
A Nebraska Center for the Book committee selected the three finalists from a list of twenty-eight titles nominated by Nebraskans. In the coming weeks, Nebraska Center for the Book board members will vote on the 2023 selection.
Nebraskans are invited to take part in the Celebration of Nebraska Books on October 22nd, at the Nebraska History Museum in downtown Lincoln, where the choice for the 2023 One Book One Nebraska will be announced. This year’s One Book One Nebraska selection will be featured in a keynote presentation by author Jonis Agee on her novel The Bones of Paradise.
The Celebration of Nebraska Books will include readings by the winners of the 2022 Nebraska Book Awards, with book signings by the authors after the event. A list of Nebraska Book Award winners is posted here.
The Nebraska Center for the Book is housed at the Nebraska Library Commission and brings together the state’s readers, writers, booksellers, librarians, publishers, printers, educators, and scholars to build the community of the book, supporting programs to celebrate and stimulate public interest in books, reading, and the written word. The Nebraska Center for the Book is supported by the National Center for the Book in the Library of Congress and the Nebraska Library Commission.
