Publisher's Note

Three MNHS Press books have been named finalists for the Minnesota Book Award.

Congratulations to the 2025 Minnesota Book Award finalists, including Jokeda "JoJo" Bell for Red Stained: The Life of Hilda Simms, Christopher P. Lehman for It Took Courage: Eliza Winston's Quest for Freedom, and Cathy Coats for To Banish Forever: A Secret Society, the Ho-Chunk, and Ethnic Cleansing in Minnesota. Sponsored by the Friends of the St. Paul Public Library, the awards are presented at an annual event honoring Minnesota authors, artists, and presses. This year's ceremony takes place on April 22 at the Ordway Center for Performing Arts in St. Paul. 

Both Coats and Bell are first-time finalists. To Banish Forever explores the nineteenth-century history of the Ho-Chunk exile from Minnesota. Red Stained details the life of Black actress Hilda Simms, a Minneapolis native who refused to let accusations during the McCarthy era prevent her from advocating for better roles for people of color in theater, television, and film.

This is Lehman's second nomination; he won in 2020 for Slavery's Reach: Southern Slaveholders in the North Star State. His new book, It Took Courage, describes how Eliza Winston—who was enslaved by the family of President Andrew Jackson, among others—won her freedom before a Minnesota court in 1860.

MNHS Press is thrilled to have three books up for a Minnesota Book Award. We are proud to be a part of the state's vibrant publishing scene. Cheers and congratulations to all of the authors and presses represented in this year's list. 

New Releases

The paperback edition of Dear Jacob is now available! 

Dear Jacob: A Mother's Journey of Hope

Patty Wetterling with Joy Baker
Tens of thousands of readers embraced Dear Jacob: A Mother’s Journey of Hope when it was first published in hardcover in 2023. Although the 1989 kidnapping of Jacob Wetterling and the following search for answers has been widely covered by news media, this volume tells the whole story for the first time in Patty's own words. The memoir covers not only the circumstances of the crime and the prolonged investigation that followed, but also the ways the family coped with grief and, thankfully, managed to carry on with their lives. It includes the story of a remarkable friendship between two women, the coauthors of this book, and how their efforts instigated resolution for Jacob’s case and several others. The paperback features a new afterword, and links to an online reader's guide. 

Events

Twin Cities Metro

2/20/2025, 6:30 PM, Jokeda "JoJo" Bell, Red Stained, Minnesota History Center, St. Paul

3/6/2025, 6:30 PM, Jokeda "JoJo" Bell, Red Stained, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis

3/8/2025, 2:00 PM, Travis Novitsky, Spirits Dancing: The Night Sky, Indigenous Knowledge, and Living Connections to the Cosmos, North Star Voices, Minnesota History Center, St. Paul

3/9/2025, 11:00 AM, 12:00 PM, 1:00 PM, Chan Poling and Lucy Michell, The Moons, Family Day, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis

3/11/2025, 7:00 PM, Greg Gaut, The War at Home: Minnesota during the Great War, 1914–1920, Magers & Quinn, Minneapolis

3/26/2025, 8:00 PM, Patrick Strait, Home Club: Up-and-Comers and Comebacks at Acme Comedy Company, Acme Comedy Company (ticketed event), Minneapolis

Greater Minnesota

3/12/2025, 6:30 PM, Kari Lie Dorer, Muus vs. Muus: The Scandal That Shook Norwegian America, La Crescent Public Library, La Crescent

In the Media

Patty Wetterling with Joy Baker, Dear Jacob: A Mother's Journey of Hope, "Inside the friendship that resolved the Jacob Wetterling mystery and keeps bringing comfort to others," West Central Tribune, Willmar, Minnesota (article was picked up by numerous outlets).

John Coy and Chris Park, So Cold! "New children's books, award season predictions," KAXE/ KBXE

Noteworthy

MNHS Press has recently signed with Fujii Associates for sales representation to the trade in seventeen states, including North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Arkansas. This arrangement replaces our previous association with Miller Trade Book Marketing (in our last newsletter we honored Bruce Joshua Miller). Founded by Hank Fujii in 1967, Fujii Associates has been led since 2010 by Eric Heidemann. Full information about regional representation is available on our MNHS Press Book Ordering page. 

New in MNopedia

Women's Advocates

In the early 1970s, women across Minnesota calling a legal information telephone line told staffers that they were experiencing physical abuse from their partners. In response, a group of St. Paul women formed Women’s Advocates to connect these callers with emergency housing and information. In 1974, the group purchased a St. Paul house and transformed it into a groundbreaking shelter for victim-survivors of domestic violence. In the following decades, Women’s Advocates expanded the shelter, initiated education programs, and advocated for policy changes—all with the goal of breaking the cycle of domestic violence.

Draining of Glacial Lake Agassiz

About 13,000 years ago the melting glaciers that covered Minnesota and Canada created a vast lake, bigger than all the Great Lakes of today combined. Geologists later named this Lake Agassiz (AH-ga-see), for the Swiss geologist Louis Agassiz. The lake drained twice: first to the south, to form the channel of the Minnesota River and the Upper Mississippi in the Twin Cities, and then, 1,600 years later, to form the course of the Red River of the North.

Forthcoming Releases

The War at Home: Minnesota during the Great War, 1914–1920

Greg Gaut
Americans went to war in 1917 literally against Germany but also figuratively against each other. The US decision to send an army to France came during a tumultuous time when, among other social tensions, farmers and workers challenged the wealthy, African Americans struggled against Jim Crow, and women campaigned for suffrage. This book portrays a period when the North Star State witnessed bitter polarization, nativism, flagrant disregard for democratic norms, and intense, occasionally violent, confrontations.

Book launch on March 11, 7:00 PM, at Magers and Quinn, Minneapolis.

Rings of Heartwood: Poems on Growing

Molly Beth Griffin, illustrations by Claudia McGehee
Although childhood may be a happy time, sometimes the process of growing up is confusing and unsettling. In Rings of Heartwood, twelve poems about woodland, wetland, and prairie dwellers explore different kinds of growth. From bugs to bats to  bears, the natural world shows readers young and old how to embrace transformation as part of life. In words and art, this book encourages readers of all ages to appreciate the challenge of change and the seasons of life, and to feel a deep kinship with the natural world.

Book launch on March 15, 10:30 AM, at Red Balloon, St. Paul.

Home Club: Up-and-Comers and Comebacks at Acme Comedy Company

Patrick Strait
Home Club is the story of the Acme Comedy Company in Minneapolis and its owner, Louis Lee, who came from China to Minnesota as a teenager and worked his way from busboy to club owner. Lee spent years hustling, negotiating, and sometimes cutting corners just to keep the business afloat. Today, Acme is one of the most iconic comedy venues in Minnesota, and one of the most respected in the country. It launched the careers of some of Minnesota’s biggest comedians, including Mitch Hedberg, Maria Bamford, and Nick Swardson. 

Book launch on March 26, 8:00 PM, at Acme Comedy Club, Minneapolis (ticketed event).

Bestselling Backlist

The Big Leaf Leap by Molly Beth Griffin, illustrations by Meleck Davis	Slavery's Reach by Christopher P. Lehman	Funny Thing About Minnesota . . . by Patrick Strait