On March 15, the nominees for this year's Minnesota Book Awards got together with the general public--not for the award ceremony, which isn't till April, but for some informal reading, book-buying and pressing of the flesh  in our state-of-the-(literary)-art Open Book Center in Minneapolis. Free (or mostly free) of the award-night jitters, it was a chance to celebrate our extremely vibrant literary community by hobnobbing with some of our very best putters of pen to paper. Nonfiction, poetry, fiction, young adult books, and children's lit were all represented--for a full list of this year's nominees, go here. For a visual sense of the vibe last Friday, check out our man Kelley's images below.