Normandale Community College Creative Writing Instructor Thomas Maltman received the Minnesota Book Award for the Novel & Short Story Category for his book Ashes to Ashes during the annual Minnesota Book Award Ceremony held at the Ordway Center for Performing Arts on Wednesday, May 6.
“The ceremony was a thrilling moment,” said Maltman. “Readers and writers from across the state of Minnesota came together to celebrate the role of libraries as a bastion of freedom and knowledge and the power of stories to build empathy in a troubled time. I was deeply honored to have my novel Ashes to Ashes selected for the Minnesota Book Award.”
Ashes to Ashes moves between characters and perspectives, exploring the stories we tell about family, community, and our larger histories, blending elements of Norse saga with a fine-grained examination of rural Midwestern life at the start of the pandemic. A feat of narrative daring and luminous empathy, this is Thomas Maltman at his most inventive and compassionate.
Maltman’s first novel, The Night Birds, won an Alex Award, a Spur Award, and the Friends of American Writers Literary Award. In 2009, the American Library Association chose The Night Birds as an “Outstanding Book for the College Bound.” Little Wolves, his second novel, won the All Iowa Reads selection in 2014. His third novel, The Land, was published in 2020. In July of 2025, Soho Press published his fourth novel, Ashes to Ashes.
The Minnesota Book Awards is a year-long program that connects readers and writers throughout Minnesota with the stories of our neighbors.
The process begins in the fall with book submissions and continues through winter with two rounds of judging. Winners are announced at the annual Minnesota Book Awards Ceremony each spring. Woven throughout the season are various activities and events that promote the authors and connect the world of Minnesota books – writers, artists, illustrators, publishers, editors, and more – to readers throughout the state.
Maltman is in his 18th year teaching at Normandale Community College.
“I was inspired by my professors as a young college student,” said Maltman. “They really got me thinking that one day I could have a book with my name on it as well. At Normandale, we have four thriving Fine Arts programs in Art, Music, Theater and Writing, and we have all of these published authors, at least a dozen. People have books in poetry, books in fiction, and we have published playwrights too. I think it is just exciting to be a part of all that, and I hope it inspires students too.”
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