The U.P. Notable Books initiative from the Upper Peninsula Publishers & Authors Association (UPPAA) has received two important recognitions in the past month. The Upper Peninsula Region of Library Cooperation (UPRLC) awarded the U.P. Notable Books Club the distinction “Program of the Year” at its annual conference, which was held virtually on September 28th, 2021.
The second distinction awarded to the initiative is its inclusion on the Great Lakes Digital Libraries front page as a curated collection of winning books. Currently, 16 different editions (eBooks and audiobooks) of past U.P. Notable Books winners can be found on the home page.
Winners of the first two years of U.P. Notable Books have been asked to donate a single digital copy of their book to this lending library available to anyone in the state of Michigan with a local library card of any kind. The UPPAA expects this curated collection to eventually include all of the 20 past winners and the next batch of 10 to be announced in January 2022.
Ethnic and Cultural Diversity in the Collection
“We have a very strong bias towards inclusion of all the ethnicities and cultures that are in the diverse regions of the U.P.,” opined Victor R. Volkman, current UPPAA president. He tells the club has awarded distinction to Anishinaabe writers Phil Bellfy (Three Fires Unity) and Linda LeGarde Grover (In The Night of Memory). Other books, such as Mary Doria Russel’s Women of the Copper Country highlight the contributions of Scandinavian immigrants to the rich tapestry of U.P. life.
About the U.P. Notable Books Club
The U.P Notable Books Club is a spinoff of the original U.P. Notable books list and is the brainchild of Evelyn Gathu, Director, Crystal Falls District Community Library. Each month, the Book Club holds a Q&A session for the public with a different winner of the U.P. Notable Books award. U.P. Notable Books is an annual list of essential new books that emphasize U.P. content or have been written by U.P. authors. Each year, UPPAA consults with Upper Michigan booksellers, book reviewers, writers, and publishers to winnow down the notable books to a bare ten titles. You can find reviews of many of these books on the UP Book Review. It must be emphasized that the list is unranked; each title deserves equal merit as U.P. Notable Book. These ten books have been deemed essential reading for every U.P. lover and we highly recommend you ask your local librarian or booksellers for them today!
For more information, visit the site http://www.upnotable.com/.
