Kao Kalia Yang, a Hmong-American writer who lives in St. Paul, made Minnesota Book Award history Tuesday when she won awards in three categories at the 2025 Minnesota Book Awards ceremony at the Ordway Center in St. Paul. It is the first time in the 37-year history of the awards that an author has garnered this many awards at one time. The annual event is facilitated by Friends of the St. Paul Public Library and sponsored by Education Minnesota.

Here are the winners (an asterisk denotes a Minnesota publisher; category sponsors are in parentheses):

Anthology (new biennial award category)

“Locker Room Talk: Women in Private Spaces” edited by Margret Aldrich & Michelle Filkins (Spout Press)* >> Subverting the traditional idea of “locker room talk,” this collection illuminates the conversations women share with family, friends and strangers, whether at the sinks of the First Avenue ladies’ room, on a bus heading to the Women’s March in Washington, D.C., or in the kitchen of an elder relative. They reveal the myriad ways women care for themselves, each other and their communities. Aldrich is the author of “The Little Free Library Book,” recipient of an Innovator Award from the Book Industry Study Group, and former Princeton University Writing Fellow. She is the director of communications and media relations at the Little Free Library nonprofit organization. She is a professor and reference and instruction librarian at Metro State University.

Children’s Literature

“The Rock in My Throat” by Kao Kalia Yang; illustrated by Jiemei Lin (Carolrhoda Books/Lerner Publishing Group)* >> Kao Kalia Yang shares her experiences as a young Hmong refugee in the United States navigating two cultures and two languages. She sees what happens as her parents enter the English-speaking world and are met with rudeness and disrespect. And in a silent act of rebellion, Kalia stops speaking at school. Yang is now a four-time Minnesota Book Award winner.

General Nonfiction

“The New Science of Social Change: A Modern Handbook for Activists” by Lisa Mueller (Beacon Press) >> Mueller highlights what works when it comes to group advocacy. Incorporating interactive exercises and the voices of experienced activists with her analysis, Mueller shows how a working knowledge of social science can help activists implement more effective strategies to create the real-world changes we want to see. Mueller is associate professor of political science at Macalester College.

Genre Fiction

“Where They Last Saw Her” by Marcie Rendon (Bantam/Penguin Random House) >> Quill has lived on the Red Pine reservation in Minnesota her whole life. She knows what happens to women who look like her. So when she learns women are being stolen, she is determined to do something about it. In her quest to find justice for all the women of the reservation, Quill is confronted with the hard truths of their home and the people who purport to serve them. Rendon, citizen of the White Earth Nation, is one of O: The Oprah Magazine’s 31 Native American Authors to Read Right Now and a McKnight Distinguished Artist Award winner. Author of the acclaimed Cash Blackbear novels, she is also a playwright and poet.

Memoir/Creative Nonfiction

“Where Rivers Part: A Story of My Mother’s Life” by Kao Kalia Yang (Atria Books/Simon & Schuster) >> Kao Kalia Yang channels her mother’s saga with tenderness and clarity, beginning with a childhood in Laos marked by the violence of America’s Secret War. Yang follows her mother’s story through flight, a refugee camp in Thailand, and immigration to the United States where she enrolls in high school at 30 while providing for her family.

Middle Grade Literature

“The Diamond Explorer” by Kao Kalia Yang (Dutton Books for Young Readers/Penguin Random House) >> Malcolm is the youngest child of Hmong refugees, born over a decade after his youngest sibling, giving him a unique perspective on his complicated immigrant family. As middle school begins, we see this “quiet, slow Hmong boy” is anything but. Malcom is a gifted collector of his family’s stories and tireless seeker of his own place within an evolving Hmong-American culture. His journey toward becoming a shaman like his grandparents before him is inspiring and revelatory. This is the author’s debut middle-grade novel.

Emilie Buchwald Award for Minnesota Nonfiction

“The Minneapolis Reckoning: Race, Violence, and the Politics of Policing in America” by Michelle S. Phelps (Princeton University Press) >> The fiery protests that followed the 2020 murder of George Floyd made Minneapolis a national emblem for the failures of police reform. In response, members of the Minneapolis City Council pledged to “end” the Minneapolis Police Department. The book details the city’s struggles and shows how the dualized meaning of the police — as both the promise of state protection and the threat of state violence — creates the complex politics of policing that thwart change. Phelps is associate professor of sociology at the University of Minnesota and has been active in Twin Cities reform efforts by the Human Rights Watch and Pew Charitable Trust’s Public Safety Performance Project.

Novel/Short Story

“Obligations to the Wounded” by Mubanga Kalimamukwento (University of Pittsburgh Press) >> Explores the expectations and burdens of womanhood in Zambia and for Zambian women living abroad. The collection converses with global social problems to illustrate how girls and women manage religious expectation, migration, loss of language, death, intimate partner violence, and racial discrimination. Kalimamukwento is an award-winning Zambian lawyer and writer. Her first novel, “The Mourning Bird,” was listed among the top 15 debut books of 2019 by Brittle Paper.

Poetry

“Bluff” by Danez Smith (Graywolf Press)* >> “Bluff” is Smith’s reckoning with violence, shame, easy pessimism, their responsibility as a poet and their hometown of the Twin Cities. This book is a kind of manifesto about artistic resilience, even when time and will can seem fleeting. Smith turns to honesty, hope, rage and imagination to envision futures that seem possible. Smith is the author of three previous poetry collections, including “Homie,” winner of the Minnesota Book Award and a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the NAACP Image Award. “Don’t Call Us Dead” was a finalist for the National Book Award.

Young Adult Literature

“Where Wolves Don’t Die” by Anton Treuer (Arthur Levine/Levine Querido) >> Ezra Cloud hates living in Northeast Minneapolis and being away from the rez at Nigigoonsiminikaaning First Nation. And he hates the local bully, Matt Schroeder. Ezra gets into a terrible fight with Matt at school, and that same night, Matt’s house burns down. Ezra becomes a prime suspect. Knowing he won’t get a fair deal, Ezra’s family sends him away to his grandfather in a remote part of Canada. But the Schroeders are looking for him. Treuer is professor of Ojibwe at Bemidji State University and author of many books. He is building an Ojibwe teacher training program at Bemidji State University.

Kay Sexton Award (previously announced)

To Ann Regan, recently retired editor-in-chief at Minnesota Historical Society Press, where she worked for 45 years in several positions.

More information about the awards can be found at www.thefriends.org/winners.