Announcing The 2023 Thorpe Menn Literary Excellence Award Nominees

You’re Invited!

Thorpe Menn Literary Excellence Annual Awards Luncheon on Saturday, October 7 at The Auditorium at Woodneath Library Center (8900 NE Flintlock Road, Kansas City, MO 64157). Registration and social time will begin at 11:30 a.m. with lunch and program at 12:00 noon. Welcome by Mark Livengood, Story Center Director, Mid-Continent Public Library.

Reservations are requested by September 23rd.

$43 by check / $45 online payment

(Luncheon table seats seven)

Please mail checks payable to AAUW-KC: AAUW-KC Thorpe Menn, P.O. Box 8831, Kansas City, MO 64114

Or email Jane McClain for reservations: thorpemenn@gmail.com

Please include guest names when making reservations. If making reservations online, you will receive an email confirmation and request for guest names.

Free and ample parking.


Congratulations to these authors nominated for the 2023 Thorpe Menn Literary Excellence Award.

My Brother Speaks in Dreams: Of Family, Beauty & Belonging by Catherine Anderson

The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy by Megan Bannen

By the Side of the Road by Marla Bernard

The Fall of Faith by Jeff Berney

Orion O’Brien and the Ghost of Samuel Grayhawk by Fran Borin

Salt Holds No Secret But This by Steve Brisendine

To Dance with Cassiopeia and Die by Steve Brisendine

Resurrection City: Stories from the Disaster Zone by Catherine Browder

made of earth by Alisha Christensen

Ripple: A Long Strange Search for a Killer by Jim Cosgrove

Home is the Road: Wandering the Land, Shaping the Spirit by Diane Glancy

Love of Ornamental Fish by Beth Gulley

Travel North Black Girl: A 3,000-Mile Journey in Search of Love, Peace, and Home by Olivia Hill

The Fork Who Ate Cake by Alyssa Suzanne Hodges

The Thread by Andrew Michael Johnson

Invisible Storm: A Soldier’s Memoir of Politics and PTSD by Jason Kander

One-Match Fire by Paul Lamb

The Undead Truth of US by Britney S. Lewis

Stealing Chaos by Sarah Leyton

Bindle Punk Bruja by Desideria Mesa

Comets: Relationships That Wander by Annie Klier Newcomer

From the Heart of the Hood to the Pinnacle of Paris by Steve Penn

An Old Woman Walks into a Bar by Deborah Shouse

The Salt of My Tears by Latonya Stephens

Memory Box by John L. Swainston

Call Me Fool by William Trowbridge