Up There Wins 2024 Minnesota Indie Author Project Contest

Up There has been fortunate this year. It is the winner of the 2024 Minnesota Indie Author Project Contest. This award is curated and presented by the Minnesota Library Association. The Indie Author Project includes public libraries, authors, curators, and readers from around the country working together to connect library patrons with great indie-published books. Being a state winner, Up There will be submitted for the national award in 2025.

Up There also was named a finalist in the literary fiction category of the 34th annual Midwest Book Awards, which is one of the longest running literary recognition programs in the country. I am excited and honored to be a part of these awards.

Up There explores family life, mother-daughter love, small-town relationships, and environmental issues—issues we all are facing in these changing times. I hope readers can see a bit of themselves in Ariel Lee and are encouraged to find their own paths to self-discovery.

“A magical story in which the wind is a living thing and speaks to young Ariel, causing her nothing but trouble. In Up There, Sherry Roberts spins an enchanting tale of self-discovery that climaxes in a literal cataclysmic whirlwind as the adult Ariel finally comes to terms with the person she was always meant to be. Roberts’s vivid imagery almost lifts off the page to float away in the breeze.”

—Michael Allan Mallory, author of the award-winningThe Lost Dragon Murder

“Up There is stunning, with beautiful writing and a magical story that is heart-wrenching at times but mostly heart-warming, amusing, smart, and fast-paced. Up There is ideal for book clubs and readers who have loved novels such as Remarkably Bright Creatures and All The Light You Cannot See and Plainsong. Such novels take one’s breath away and Up There did that for me. As soon as I finished it I wanted to experience it again. . . Highly recommended novel!”

—Christine DeSmet, author, writing instructor

“Sherry Roberts is stunningly gifted in braiding together the world as we know it with what it could be. Her world-making vibrates with believability, and in Up There she enchants us again. Ariel Lee is Robert’s most endearing character yet. Your heart will break for Ariel as she navigates coming of age as well as coming to terms with what makes her unlike anyone else, and how much one will sacrifice for the people we love.”

—Susan Thurston-Hamerski, MALS, author of Sister of Grendel