Joy Lintelman, a 1980 alumna of Gustavus Adolphus College, received a Minnesota Book Award on Saturday, April 17 at St. Paul’s Crowne Plaza Hotel. Lintelman won in the General Nonfiction category for her book I Go to America: Swedish Women and Life of Mina Anderson.
Lintelman was one of 37 nominees and four finalists in the General Nonfiction category. Other finalists included Drink This: Wine Made Simple by Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl; Journeywell: A Guide to Quality Aging by Trish Herbert; and Richard Parkes Bonington: The Complete Paintings by Patrick Noon.
Lintelman’s I Go to America traces the story of writer Mina Anderson, who emigrated from Sweden to Wisconsin and then to the Twin Cities where she worked as a domestic servant. It explores her move to rural Mille Lacs County where she and her husband worked a farm, raised seven children, and contributed widely to rural Swedish community life through her poetry, fiction, and letters to Swedish American newspapers.
Lintelman came to Gustavus in late February this year to deliver a public lecture titled “Having Things Better: Swedish Immigrant Women in America.” Lintelman has served as a Professor of History at Concordia College, Moorhead since 1989.
The Minnesota Book Awards were created in 1988 by The Friends of the St. Paul Public Library as part of a larger “Festival of the Book.” Books created by writers, illustrators, or book artists who are Minnesotans are eligible for Minnesota Book Awards. The Book Awards process begins with nominations, which are received from authors, publishers, and others from throughout the state. From the nominated works, finalists are chosen by panels of preliminary round judges. Award winners are then selected by different, final round judging panels. Awards are given in eight different categories including Children’s Literature, General Nonfiction, Genre Fiction, Memoir & Creative Nonfiction, Minnesota, Novel & Short Story, Poetry, and Young People’s Literature.
Click here to visit the Minnesota Book Awards website to see a list of this year’s nominees, finalists, and winners.
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