Tonight I was honored to accept the Northeastern Minnesota Book Award for my book “Overburden: Modern Life on the Iron Range.” I guess they said some nice things in the judges’ comments but I don’t think I comprehended a single word after I heard the syllables “O-VER-BER…” This was my first book and the first book ever published by Lindsy O’Brien and her Red Step Press of Duluth. There were nine other nominees in our creative nonfiction/memoir category, including talented Minnesota writers, colleagues and people I grew up reading. What an incredible honor!

So (this is the pivot) catch some of the hot Iron Range whimsy action that has all the cityfolk atwitter in “Overburden: Modern Life on the Iron Range” a funny 21st century memoir of a people and a place.