“Standing Place,” 2012, artist book by Fred Hagstrom, this year’s Minnesota Book Artist Award-recipient.

On Saturday, January 24, the Friends of Saint Paul Public Library and 3M Library Systems announced the finalists in all eight categories for the 26^th Annual Minnesota Book Awards. The finalists were chosen by a panel of 24 readers this year, among them librarians and educators, booksellers, writers and others from the state’s literary community. In addition, Fred Hagstrom was named recipient of this year’s Minnesota Book Artist Award. Besides naming the Minnesota Book Award-winners in each category, the Friends will offer special recognition to two others in the gala ceremony to come April 5: the Kay Sexton Award for “lifetime contributions to the literary community,” and the biennial Hognander Minnesota History Award for “the most outstanding scholarly work by an author on a topic of Minnesota history” published in the last two years.

A few initial, scattershot thoughts on this year’s Minnesota Book Award finalists:

It’s striking, the degree to which the list is dominated by established writers, and in particular, by previous years’ award-winners and nominees. Local literary presses, Coffee House and Graywolf, as well as regional publishers like Minnesota Historical Society Press and Adventure Publications are well represented in the 2014 list. But it’s a very good year indeed for University of Minnesota Press, which picked up a whopping six nominations.

In Children’s Literature, a previous award-winner, David LaRochelle, will be hard to beat: he scooped up two of the category’s four slots this year. Another Minnesota Book Award alum, Jack El-Hai (who previously won for “The Lobotomist”), is on the short-list for General Nonfiction again, with another book investigating the human contradictions behind the great evil men do, “The Nazi and the Psychiatrist.” (Interestingly, another behind-the-war crimes title is also in the running for the General Nonfiction award this year, “Evil Men” by James Dawes.)

Looking through the list of regional titles, I’m pleased to see that the gorgeous exhibition catalog for (Knight Arts grantee) Minnesota Museum of American Art’s touring retrospective show, “Modern Spirit: The Art of George Morrison,” is a nominee in the “Minnesota” category. Conversely, I have to admit disappointment that “Original Local”— Heid Erdrich’s lyrical book of personal stories, poems and indigenous recipes — didn’t make it past the long list of semi-finalists this year. (And while I’m complaining,  it’s a crying shame that Andy Sturdevant’s charming collection of essays, “Potluck Supper with Meeting to Follow,” wasn’t even in the running.)

Nothing but familiar names in Genre Fiction this year – Cary Griffiths, Erin Hart, William Kent Krueger, Brian Freeman – and all are established favorites, so it’s anyone’s game. But there’s an interesting horse race in the categories for Novel & Short Story, Poetry, and Memoir & Creative Nonfiction: the contenders are all strong, many of them previous award-winners, but their ranks include a some high-achieving newcomers who just might sweep the field: National Book Award-finalist, poet Matt Rasmussen (“Black Aperture”); first-time author Rachael Hanel , whose quirky and touching book, “We’ll Be the Last One’s to Let You Down: Memoir of a Gravedigger’s Daughter,” could be a dark horse; and short fiction writer Ethan Rutherford whose debut collection, “The Peripatetic Coffin” was a critical darling.

The full list of finalists:

Children’s Literature: The Case of the Missing Donut by Alison McGhee, illustrated by Isabel Roxas (Dial Books for Young Readers/Penguin Young Readers) How Martha Saved Her Parents from Green Beans by David LaRochelle, illustrated by Mark Fearing (Dial Books for Young Readers/Penguin Young Readers) Moo! by David LaRochelle, illustrated by Mike Wohnoutka (Walker Books for Young Readers/Bloomsbury Children’s Books) Peep Leap by Elizabeth Verdick, illustrated by John Bendall-Brunello (Two Lions/Amazon Children’s Publishing)

General Nonfiction: Evil Men by James Dawes (Harvard University Press) Harriman vs. Hill: Wall Street’s Great Railroad War by Larry Haeg (University of Minnesota Press) The Nazi and the Psychiatrist: Hermann Göring, Dr. Douglas M. Kelley, and a Fatal Meeting of Minds at the End of WWII by Jack El-Hai (PublicAffairs Books/Perseus Books Group) Soda Shop Salvation: Recipes and Stories from the Sweeter Side of Prohibition by Rae Katherine Eighmey (Minnesota Historical Society Press)

Genre Fiction: The Book of Killowen by Erin Hart (Scribner/Simon & Schuster) The Cold Nowhere by Brian Freeman (Quercus) Tamarack County by William Kent Krueger (Atria Books/Simon & Schuster) Wolves by Cary J. Griffith (Adventure Publications)

Memoir & Creative Nonfiction: The Girl Who Sang to the Buffalo: A Child, an Elder and the Light from an Ancient Sky by Kent Nerburn (New World Library) Prairie Silence by Melanie Hoffert (Beacon Press) Thunder of Freedom: Black Leadership and the Transformation of 1960s Mississippi by Sue [Lorenzi] Sojourner with Cheryl Reitan (University Press of Kentucky) We’ll Be the Last Ones to Let You Down: Memoir of a Gravedigger’s Daughter by Rachael Hanel (University of Minnesota Press)

Minnesota: A Love Affair with Birds: The Life of Thomas Sadler Roberts by Sue Leaf (University of Minnesota Press) Minneapolis Madams: The Lost History of Prostitution on the Riverfront by Penny A. Petersen (University of Minnesota Press) Modern Spirit: The Art of George Morrison by W. Jackson Rushing III and Kristin Makholm (University of Oklahoma Press) Survival Schools: The American Indian Movement and Community Education in the Twin Cites by Julie L. Davis (University of Minnesota Press)

Novel & Short Story: Let the Dark Flower Blossom by Norah Labiner (Coffee House Press) Little Wolves by Thomas Maltman (Soho Press) The Peripatetic Coffin and Other Stories by Ethan Rutherford (Ecco/HarperCollins Publishers) Vacationland by Sarah Stonich (University of Minnesota Press)

Poetry: Black Aperture by Matt Rasmussen (Louisiana State University Press) The First Flag by Sarah Fox (Coffee House Press) It Becomes You by Dobby Gibson (Graywolf Press) Slip by Cullen Bailey Burns (New Issues Poetry & Prose)

Young People’s Literature: Chasing Shadows by Swati Avasthi with graphics by Craig Phillips (Alfred A. Knopf/Random House Children’s Books) The Real Boy by Anne Ursu (Walden Pond Press/HarperCollins Publishers) Sex & Violence by Carrie Mesrobian (Carolrhoda Lab/Lerner Publishing Group) Wild Boy: The Real Life of the Savage of Aveyron by Mary Losure, illustrated by Timothy Basil Ering (Candlewick Press)

The 2014 Minnesota Book Award winners will be announced at a gala scheduled for Saturday, April 5, at the Union Depot, 214 Fourth Street East, Saint Paul. The opening reception begins at 7 p.m., followed by the awards ceremony at 8 p.m. Tickets are $45, and available at www.thefriends.org or by calling 651-222-3242.