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UNL professor wins Bancroft Prize

Margaret Jacobs, a professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, has been named one of three winners of Columbia University's prestigious Bancroft Prize for history.

Jacobs won for “White Mother to a Dark Race: Settler Colonialism, Maternalism and the Removal of Indigenous Children in the American West and Australia, 1880-1940” (2009, University of Nebraska Press).

She will be formally recognized at an awards dinner April 21 in New York City. She and the other two winners Linda Gordon, “Dorothea Lange: A Life Beyond Limits,” and Woody Holton, “Abigail Adams” each will receive a $10,000 cash prize.

Sandoz group sets conference theme

“Son of the Gamblin' Man: Identity on the Plains” will be the theme of the Mari Sandoz Heritage Society's annual conference Thursday through Saturday at Chadron State College.

Sandoz's novel “Son of the Gamblin' Man” was based on real people: John Cozad (founder of Cozad, Neb.) and his sons Robert Henry Cozad and Johnny Cozad.

They all changed their names when they fled Nebraska after John Cozad was indicted for murder. Robert was Robert Henri, who became a famous artist, and Johnny was Frank Southern, who became a doctor.

The keynote address will be given at 7 p.m. Thursday in the Mari Sandoz High Plains Heritage Center by Wendy Katz, associate professor of art and art history at UNL.

Other conference speakers include Jane Rohman of Lincoln; Jan Patterson, executive director of the Robert Henri Museum in Cozad; and George Watson of Chadron State.

There will be sessions on American Indian art and gambling. The “In the Spirit of Mari Sandoz” award will be presented during dinner on Friday night.

Registration fees are $65 for Sandoz Society members and $85 for nonmembers. Register online at www.marisandoz.org or at the door.

Prairie Schooner awards writing prizes

Prairie Schooner, the literary magazine published at UNL, has awarded 18 writing prizes for works published in 2009.

Winners include Robin Becker, Boalsburg, Pa., $1,500 Glenna Luschel Prairie Schooner Award; Lori Ostlund, San Francisco, $1,000 Lawrence Foundation Award; Alicia Ostriker, Princeton, N.J., $1,000 Virginia Faulkner Award for Excellence in Writing; Linda Pastan, Potomac, Md., $1,000 Edward Stanley Award; Marly Swick, Columbia, Mo., formerly of Lincoln, $500 Bernice Slote Award; Rebecca Aronson, Albuquerque, N.M., $500 Prairie Schooner Strousse Award; Stephen Dunn, Frostburg, Md., $250 Jane Geske Award; and David Graham, Ripon, Wis., Hugh J. Luke Award.

The 10 winners of $250 Glenna Luschei Prairie Schooner Awards were:

Susan Aizenberg of Creighton University; Jason Brown, Tucson, Ariz.; Breja Gunnison, Beloit, Wis.; Caitlin Horrocks, Grand Rapids, Mich.; Sarah Kennedy, Fairfield, Va.; Joy Ladin, Amherst, Mass.; Paul Lisicky, New York City; Emmanuel Moses, Paris; Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Freedonia, N.Y.; and Lee Zacharias, Greensboro, N.C.

On the calendar

** John H. Ames Reading Series: Dominique Garay and Oscar Rios, 2 p.m. Sunday, Jane Pope Geske Heritage Room of Nebraska Authors in Bennett Martin Public Library, Lincoln. Free.

** Book signing: Ralph Ekwall, author of “Tina, an Immigrant's Story,” 1:30 p.m. Sunday, the Bookworm at Countryside Village, 87th and Pacific Streets.

** World War II History Book Discussion Group: Max Hastings' “Armageddon: The Battle for Germany, 1944-1945,” 2 p.m. Monday, the Bookworm.

** Omaha's biggest poetry show of the year: Marc Smith, founder of the poetry slam movement, and local poets, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Omaha Healing Arts Center, 1216 Howard St. $7.

** College of Arts and Sciences Centennial Speaker Series: Michael Shelden, a University of Nebraska at Omaha graduate and author of “Mark Twain: Man in White,” 7 p.m. Thursday, UNO Thompson Alumni Center. Free.

** Book signing and reading: Robert Cain, author of “Crumpets, Tea and Poetry: 25 Favorite Bible Stories Set to Verse,” 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Borders, 13105 Birch Drive.

** Backwaters Press poets Jay Leeming and Sarah McKinstry-Brown, 1 p.m. Saturday, the Bookworm.

** Book signing: Ted Kooser signs copies of the his children's book “Bag in the Wind,” 3 p.m. Saturday, the Bookworm.

Compiled by Carol Bicak

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