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Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts (R) this week said he won't sign a proclamation honoring a book about a farming family, saying the author, who has criticized President Trump, is a “political activist.”

Ricketts told reporters that he would not sign a proclamation honoring “This Blessed Earth: A Year in the Life of an American Family Farm,” by journalist and writer Ted Genoways, The Omaha World-Herald reported Tuesday.

The book, which Ricketts said he has not read, follows the life of a York County farmer named Rick Hammond.

“If you just go look, this author has been a political activist, has been very critical of our national leaders and so forth, and not really saying things that are going to bring Nebraskans together, but really trying to be somebody who is more divisive,” Ricketts said.

The book was selected for the 2019 “One Book One Nebraska” honor by The Nebraska Center for the Book, an affiliate of the Library of Congress.

The state's governor has recognized the group's selection by issuing an annual proclamation since 2005.

Ricketts said the organizers of “One Book One Nebraska” are free to choose any author they wish, while adding, “I also decide who I’m going to do proclamations for.”

Genoways, a Lincoln-based writer, has been critical of Trump, the Keystone XL pipeline and Nebraska’s all-Republican delegation in Congress, The Associated Press reported.

The author tweeted on Monday, the day the proclamation had been expected, to vent his frustration over the governor's decision.

"All I can say for sure is that @GovRicketts is politicizing the naming of a One Book One Nebraska selection by demanding that the panel apply a political litmus test, only picking books that match with his goals or remain silent about them," Genoways wrote.