{"id":26134,"date":"2014-07-09T08:07:04","date_gmt":"2014-07-09T14:07:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/?p=26134"},"modified":"2025-11-20T08:29:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T15:29:13","slug":"2014-15-bytes-book-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/2014-15-bytes-book-awards\/","title":{"rendered":"2014 15 Bytes Book Awards"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"bookawards\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We are pleased to announce the 2014 15 Bytes Book Awards. The 15 Bytes Book Awards, currently in its second year, celebrates exceptional books of poetry, fiction and visual art published in the previous calendar year based on each book\u2019s quality\/craftsmanship of writing, level of engagement and how it uniquely represents the state of Utah (nominated works must be by a Utah author or have as its theme or location a Utah connection). Judges were select staff writers at 15 Bytes Magazine, published by Artists of Utah. Winners receive a modest cash award.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s winner in fiction is The Legend\u2019s Daughter<\/em> (Torrey House Press) by Salt Lake City author David Kranes.\u00a0In this exceptional collection of stories set mostly in Idaho in the deep backwoods along river banks and lonely county roads, Kranes\u2019 characters are all thrown out of their comfort zones. And so is the reader. Richly drawn and complex, these stories challenge the intellect. Kranes has managed to somehow dam the river of souls these stories possess. They do not lie still, however, between the covers but rather spin in far-reaching whirlpools of genuine humanity and mortality.<\/p>\n

In the poetry collection division, the winner is\u00a0Topaz<\/em><\/span> (Four Way Books) by San Francisco-based Brian Komei Dempster. In his debut collection titled after the Japanese relocation camp established outside Delta, Utah, Dempster braids the tragic past of his own ancestors unjustly incarcerated by the American government during World War II with the residual effects in the poet\u2019s contemporary life. Dazzling, often raw and pleasingly dis-jointed, Dempster\u2019s poetry unpacks the devastation, endurance and residual hauntings of Topaz in a bracing collision course with contemporary Japanese American life, particularly its youth.<\/p>\n

Short-listed for the poetry prize\u00a0are\u00a0Door of Thin Skins<\/em>\u00a0(CavanKerry Press) by Shira Dentz and\u00a0The Earth is Not Flat<\/em><\/span>\u00a0(Red Hen Press) by Katharine Coles. In Dentz\u2019s fever dream of abuse in a patient\/doctor relationship, the typographical and prose poetry mirrors the disintegration of the confused mind of the patient in a tour de force that is as curiously ennobling as it is shocking.\u00a0Coles\u2019 meditation on life and nature in\u00a0Antarctica\u00a0is an elegantly crafted work whose subjects, reflected in the ice at the bottom of the globe, are history, science, art, the mind, and\u00a0\u00a0the heart, and whose forms range from the generation of spare lists to experiments in erasure.\u00a0 Our judges were delighted to<\/span>\u00a0find the former Utah Poet Laureate at her most\u00a0refined\u00a0in this volume.<\/p>\n

For Art Book, 15 Bytes has chosen to honor Final Light: The Life and Art of V. Douglas Snow<\/em>, edited by Frank McEntire and published by the University of Utah Press. Grounded by a number of essays by local writers, critics and friends, and a plethora of fine reproductions of the artists magnificent abstract celebrations of the western landscape, the book is a testament to the accomplishment and influence of the long-time University of Utah professor.<\/p>\n

Short-listed for the Art Book award is Kenvin \u2014 An Artist’s Kitchen: Food, Art & Wisdom of a Bohemian Cowboy,<\/em> published by Gibbs Smith. Published posthumously, and a dozen years in the making, the book deftly blends the artist’s vivid paintings of farmers, produce and products with over 125 recipes.<\/p>\n

Find the 15 Bytes review of The Legend\u2019s Daughter<\/em> here:
\nhttps:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/david-kraness-the-legends-daughter\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Find the 15 Bytes review of The Earth is Not Flat<\/em> here:
\nhttps:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/death-in-the-present-katharine-coles-the-earth-is-not-flat\/<\/a>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Find the 15 Bytes review of Final Light: The Life and Art of V. Douglas Snow<\/em> here:
\nhttps:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/final-light-the-life-and-art-of-v-douglas-snow\/<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Find the 15 Bytes review of Kenvin \u2014 An Artist’s Kitchen here:
\nhttps:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/kenvin-lymans-cookbook\/<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We are pleased to announce the 2014 15 Bytes Book Awards. The 15 Bytes Book Awards, currently in its second year, celebrates exceptional books of poetry, fiction and visual art published in the previous calendar year based on each book\u2019s quality\/craftsmanship of writing, level of engagement and how […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":834,"featured_media":26135,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_piecal_is_event":false,"_piecal_start_date":"","_piecal_end_date":"","_piecal_is_allday":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,30,35,14],"tags":[2033,1408,99,1294,2032,547],"class_list":["post-26134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-15-bytes","category-book-reviews","category-literary-arts","category-visual_arts","tag-brian-komei-dempster","tag-david-kranes","tag-frank-mcentire","tag-katharine-coles","tag-shira-dentz","tag-v-douglas-snow"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/bookawards.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-27 19:30:51","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/834"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26134"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26134\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":99272,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26134\/revisions\/99272"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}