Wyoming Humanities announced its selection for the 2023 National Book Festival: “The Day the Earth Rose Up” by Alfreda Beartrack Algeo and “In a Land of Awe” by Chad Hanson. Selection of these books was coordinated through the Wyoming Center for the Book, now housed with Wyoming Humanities. A panel was selected to read and consider several Wyoming-related books for this year’s event.
The books will be Wyoming’s “Great Reads from Great Places” selections at the annual festival, which highlights youth and adult books representing all 50 states. This literary event brings together best-selling authors and thousands of book fans for author talks, panel discussions, book signings and other activities. This year’s event takes place August 12 in Washington, D.C. Later this summer, Wyoming Humanities will hold events honoring these authors and their selection.
“The Day the Earth Rose Up” is a children’s book written and illustrated by Alfreda Beartrack Algeo. She is an enrolled citizen of the Oceti Sakowin, Kul Wicasa Oyate, Lower Brule, South Dakota where she was born and raised. She utilizes her oral traditions and cultural wisdom to create art as well as children’s picture books and teen novels. The book is a Lakota version of the story of the Pleiades star constellation, and ultimately the story of Devils Tower.
In a Land of Awe is this year’s selection for adult readers. Author Chad Hanson serves as faculty in sociology and religion at Casper College. He is co-founder of the Wyoming Mustang Institute, which works through research and advocacy to ensure healthy and stable wild horse populations on public land. In the book, he uses the lens of the wild mustang to give us new ways to see and meaningfully engage our world as we enter new considerations about how we understand animals and our landscapes, our history, and ourselves.
For more information about Wyoming Humanities and its programs, visit thinkwy.org. Information about the Wyoming Center for the Book may be directed to Lucas Fralick at lucas@thinkwy.org or 307.660.0729.