SPACE Gallery in Portland will host the 2015 Maine Literary Awards on May 28 to honor the best books by Maine authors last year. The Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance confers the awards annually.
This year, nearly 170 books were considered. That number is up from 70 in 2011, said MWPA executive director Joshua Bodwell.
In addition, more than 100 manuscripts were submitted for the Short Works Competition, and 75 Maine students submitted in the youth competition.
Winners will be announced Thursday. Doors open at 6 p.m., and the ceremony begins at 7. Admission is $5 for non-MWPA members.
Here are the finalists:
Book Award for Fiction: CB Anderson, “River Talk”; Richard Ford, “Let Me Be Frank With You”; Cathie Pelletier, “A Year After Henry”; Bill Roorbach, “The Remedy For Love”
Book Award for Crime Fiction: Paul Doiron, “The Bone Orchard”; Kate Flora, “And Grant You Peace”; Vaughn C. Hardacker, “Sniper”; D.A. Keeley, “Bitter Crossing”
Book Award for Nonfiction: Murray Carpenter, “Caffeinated”; Brian Kevin, “The Footloose American: Following the Hunter S. Thompson Trail Across South America”; Kathryn Miles, “Superstorm”
Book Award for Memoir: Richard Blanco, “The Prince of los Cocuyos”; Helen Peppe, “Pigs Can’t Swim”; Robert Reilly, “Life in Prison”
Book Award for Poetry: Claire Millikin, “Motels Where We Lived”; Dawn Potter, “Same Old Story”; Betsy Sholl, “Otherwise Unseeable”; Crystal Williams, “Detroit as Barn”
Book Award for Young Adult: Megan Frazer Blakemore, “The Spy Catchers of Maple Hill”; Sashi Kaufman, “The Other Way Around”; G.A. Morgan, “The Fog of Forgetting”
Book Award for Children’s: Fran Hodgkins (photographs by Mike Taylor), “The Secret Galaxy”; Mark Scott Ricketts, “Adventures in Vacationland”; Jacqueline Tourville (illustrated by Wynne Evans), “Albie’s First Word”
Book Award for Anthology (editors): Add Verb Productions, “Out & Allied Vol. 2”; Poets of Monhegan, “Island Voices II”; The Telling Room, “The Story I Want to Tell”
John N. Cole Award for Maine-Themed Nonfiction: Jillian and Malcolm Bedell, “Eating in Maine: At Home, On the Town, and On the Road”; Kathie Fiveash, “Island Naturalist”; Anne B Gass, “Voting Down the Rose”
Excellence in Publishing: Pat Brisson, “Before We Eat” (Tilbury House); Jane Mead, “Money Money Money/Water Water Water” (Alice James Books); Suzanne Slade, “The Soda Bottle School” (Tilbury House)
Drama Award (for film, theater, and other scripts): Hugh Aaron, Delvyn C. Case Jr., Martha Rice
Short Works Competition, Fiction: CB Anderson, Daniel C. Bryant, Douglas W. Milliken, Jim Nichols
Short Works Competition, Nonfiction: Lesley Heiser, Annaliese Jakimides, Adam Nathan
Short Works Competition, Poetry: Rachel Contreni Flynn, Annaliese Jakimides, Jean Scudder
Youth Competition, Fiction: Lila Bossi, Emily Noyes, Noah Williams
Youth Competition, Nonfiction: Faris Baziga, Alyson Peabody, Omar Raouf
Youth Competition, Poetry: Alicia Thurston, Sarah Norden, Dylan Wu
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