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NIU Press celebrates recent awards

July 16, 2015

Book cover of "When Bad Things Happen to Rich People"Several publications from Northern Illinois University Press received awards in 2015.

“When Bad Things Happen to Rich People,” by Chicago-based author Ian Morris, was named a finalist in the Midwest Independent Publishing Association’s 2014 Midwest Book Awards in the contemporary fiction category. The darkly comic novel was published by NIU Press’s fiction imprint, Switchgrass Books.

The International Skiing Association presented the 2015 Ullr Award to William D. Frank, author of “Everyone to Skis!: Skiing in Russia and the Rise of Soviet Biathlon,” for his outstanding contribution to skiing’s historical record.

Ursula Phillips was awarded the 2015 Found in Translation Award by the Polish Book Institute, Polish Cultural Institute London, and Polish Cultural Institute New York for her translation of early feminist writer Zofia Nałkowska’s modernist novel “Choucas.”

“Senator Benton and the People: Master Race Democracy on the Early American Frontiers,” Ken S. Mueller’s fascinating portrait of the Missouri senator, was selected as a finalist for the Society of Midland Authors’ best biography/memoir of 2014.

“The press is honored that our authors have received these awards,” said Linda Manning, director of NIU Press. “These titles represent the breadth of subject areas in which we publish and the excellence we strive to achieve.”

NIU Press publishes books on a variety of topics in the areas of US history, Russian studies, religion, Southeast Asian studies and regional studies. Fiction imprint Switchgrass Books publishes dynamic, original voices of Midwestern literary fiction.