Kansas Notable Book Award

"I'm ready for my close up, Mr. DeMille." has segued to what non-winners always say: "It was an honor to be nominated."

My Name is Esther Clara didn't make the list of winners for the 2007 Kansas Notable Book Award. My publisher and devoted fans were shocked and disappointed. Fortunately, my heart had not been set on winning. After all, I AM a native Kansan and know the state slogan means exactly what it says. AD ASTRA PER ASPERA -- To the stars through difficulty -- personifies life in general and the writing life in particular. This wasn't the first, or even largest, award my books have failed to win and if I keep writing it probably won't be the last.

So don't despair, friends and fellow travelers. I'll simply keep doing what I do until the next award nomination comes along. For now, check out the list of books and writers who DID win the Kansas Notable Book Award. I've copied and pasted them below from the Kansas Center for the Book website:

2007 Kansas Notable Books
Ashworth, William Ogallala Blue: Water and Life on the High Plains
Bertels, Alice S. John Steuart Curry: The Road Home
Brandsberg, George Afoot: A Tale of the Great Dakota Turkey Drive
Carter, Ally I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You
Dean, Virgil (editor) John Brown to Bob Dole: Movers and Shakers in Kansas DeArment, Robert Ballots and Bullets: The Bloody County Seat Wars of Kansas History
Eickhoff, Diane Revolutionary Heart: The Life of Clarina Nichols and the Pioneering Crusade for Women’s Rights
Hind, Steven The Loose Change of Wonder
Hoy, James Flint Hills Cowboys: Tales of the Tallgrass Prairie
Johnson, Stephen T. My Little Yellow Taxi
Jost, Lora & Dave Loewenstein Kansas Murals: A Travelers Guide
Lerner, Ben Angle of Yaw
Low, Denise Words of a Prairie Alchemist
Miner, Craig Next Year Country: Dust to Dust in Western Kansas,1890-1940
Pickard, Nancy The Virgin of Small Plains
Pitzer, Susanna Not Afraid of Dogs
Ruby, Lois Shanghai Shadows
Taylor, Rudy Light on Main Street