“Where Wolves Don’t Die,” the debut novel from Dr. Anton Treuer, professor of Ojibwe at Bemidji State University, is a finalist for the 2025 Minnesota Book Awards.

Treuer’s novel is one of four nominees in the Young Adult Literature category, joined by “Dispatches from Parts Unknown” by Bryan Bliss, “Rules for Camouflage” by Kristin Cronn-Mills and “We Got the Beat” by Jenna Miller.

“Where Wolves Don’t Die” is a coming-of-age tale following Ezra Cloud, a kid struggling with his life in Northeast Minneapolis. One day he’s involved in a brutal fight at school, a fight later linked to an arson — and Cloud is sent to a remote region in Canada to live with his grandfather while the investigation ensues. There, he learns his family and tribal history and begins to understand his place in nature and in a community that has undergone centuries of violence and oppression.

Treuer is a renowned author with nearly 20 books to his credit, with “Where Wolves Don’t Die” marking his debut as a fiction novelist. His other books are rooted in his educational and equity work and his passion for language and culture preservation. They include “Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians But Were Afraid to Ask,” “Warrior Nation,” “The Language Warrior’s Manifesto,” and “The Assassination of Hole in the Day.”

“Where Wolves Don’t Die” gives Treuer his fifth Minnesota Book Awards nomination, and he is seeking his first win. Previous nominations and categories were:

• “The Language Warrior’s Manifesto: How to Keep Our Languages Alive No Matter the Odds,” General Nonfiction, 2021.
• “Warrior Nation: A History of the Red Lake Ojibwe,” Minnesota, 2016.
• “The Assassination of Hole in the Day,” General Nonfiction, 2011.
• “Living Our Language: Ojibwe Tales & Oral Histories,” as editor and translator; Anthology & Collections, 2002.

The Minnesota Book Awards is a year-long program of The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library connecting “readers and writers throughout the state with the stories of our neighbors.” Books are submitted in the fall each year and go through two rounds of judging, with winners announced at an annual spring ceremony. The awards also promote the writers, artists, illustrators, publishers, editors and others involved in the process of developing and producing books in Minnesota at various events throughout the state. The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library has been designated as Minnesota’s Center for the Book by the Library of Congress.

This year’s Minnesota Book Award winners will be announced April 22, 2025, at the Minnesota Book Awards Ceremony at the Ordway Center for Performing Arts in Minneapolis. Tickets to the ceremony are $27 and are available at www.thefriends.org/mnba.