St. Paul writer Kao Kalia Yang won three Minnesota Book Awards (MBA) on Tuesday night, for three different books.

She's the first person ever to win a trio of prizes at one MBA ceremony, recognition for a busy year in which Yang published four books (plus a late-in-the-year e-book) and was chosen as the Minnesota Star Tribune's artist of the year. The 2025 awards Yang won were for "Where Rivers Part," a book about her mother's story of survival in Laos and the U.S., in the memoir category; autobiographical "The Rock in My Throat" in children's literature; and "The Diamond Explorer," in which a Hmong American boy explores his heritage, in middle grade literature.

Marcie Rendon, who published three books last year, received the prize for genre fiction for "Where They Last Saw Her‚" a Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women-themed mystery in which three Native women investigate the disappearance of a friend. The general fiction prize was given to Mounds View's Mubanga Kalimamukwento for "Obligations to the Wounded," short stories influenced by her Zambian heritage.

"The New Science of Social Change: A Modern Handbook for Activists" by Lisa Mueller took home the prize for general nonfiction. "The Minneapolis Reckoning: Race, Violence, and the Politics of Policing in America," by University of Minnesota professor Michelle S. Phelps, won for nonfiction about Minnesota.

Danez Smith won the poetry prize for "Bluff." It's Smith's second poetry win at the MBAs. The anthology winner is "Locker Room Talk: Women in Private Spaces," Margaret Aldrich and Michelle Filkins' collection of conversations women share with each other. The young adult prize went to Anton Treuer for "Where Wolves Don't Die," the tale of a Native boy exploring his ancestry after he's forced to leave Minneapolis because he's being questioned for a murder he didn't commit.

At Tuesday's ceremony, a special award was presented to Ann Regan for her 45 years at Minnesota Historical Society Press. She had numerous titles at MNHS, retiring last year as the press' editor in chief. The Minnesota Book Awards are a program of the Friends of the St. Paul Public Library.