February 6, 2011
The Black Caucus of the American Library Association, Inc. announces the winners of the 2011 BCALA Literary Awards during the Midwinter Meeting of the American Library Association in San Diego, CA. The awards recognize excellence in adult fiction and nonfiction by African American authors published in 2010, including the work of a first novelist, and a citation for Outstanding Contribution to Publishing. The recipients will receive the awards during the 2011 Annual Conference of the American Library Association in New Orleans, LA.
The winner in the Fiction category is Glorious by Bernice L. McFadden (Akashic Books).
McFadden interweaves rich historical details and vivid imaginative fiction in this riveting multi-faceted novel. Easter Venetta Bartlett, a fictional Harlem Renaissance writer, takes the reader on a journey from the Jim Crow South to the Harlem Renaissance and finally the Civil Rights movement. She battles racial oppression, betrayal, triumphs with success and ultimately finds redemption. Glorious is a brilliantly written novel and is destined to become a classic. Bernice L. McFadden is a critically acclaimed novelist and lives in Brooklyn, New York.
The winner in the Non-fiction category is The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates by Wes Moore (Random House). Honor Books for Non-fiction were also selected: In the Place of Justice: A Story of Punishment and Deliverance by Wilbert Rideau (Alfred A. Knopf) and John Oliver Killens: A Life of Black Literary Activism by Keith Gilyard (University of Georgia Press).
The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates explores the importance of family, circumstance, opportunity, and its impact on African American male identity in urban America. Wes Moore provides an in-depth look into the journey of two African American males who happen to share the same name, but take very different life paths. In an environment disproportionately affected by poverty, a failing educational system, fatherlessness, and the rise of drug culture, this book raises the question of what does it take to positively impact the lives of young African American males? Equipped with a resource guide in its’ final pages, this book is an essential read for those who champion the critical influence of adults in young people’s lives. Wes Moore is a Rhodes Scholar, former White House Fellow, combat veteran of Afghanistan and he works as an investment professional in New York City.
Sentenced to death row for the murder of a white woman at the age of nineteen, Wilbert Rideau spent forty-four years at the Louisiana State Penitentiary also known as Angola and nicknamed “The Farm”, famed for brutality, riots, escape, and murder. His memoir, In the Place of Justice, graphically and poignantly exposes his life in a place of “living hell” and his journey toward rehabilitation as a prison journalist. A saga of determination, transformation, personal integrity and redemption, his triumph over adversity is worthy of recognition and to be shared as a lesson learned. Wilbert Rideau lives in Louisiana and works as a consultant for the Federal Death Penalty Resource Counsel Project.
John Oliver Killens: A Life of Black Literary Activism delves into the life and times of an enigmatic figure considered the spiritual father of the Black Arts Movement. Killen’s life and political activism through literature are presented against a mosaic of other more well-known figures including Paul Robeson, W. E. B. Du Bois, Malcolm X and many others. Gilyard presents a well researched portrayal of Killens as novelist, teacher, essayist and founding chair of the Harlem Writers Guild. This is the first biography of John Oliver Killens and a significant contribution to the understanding of his influence as an African American writer activist. Keith Gilyard presently serves as Distinguished Professor of English at Pennsylvania State University.
The recipient of the First Novelist Award is Dolen Perkins-Valdez for Wench (HarperCollins).
Perkins-Valdez captures the complexities of the relationships between enslaved women and their masters in her debut novel Wench. The story centers around a historical resort in Ohio, where southern slave owners were said to have vacationed with their enslaved mistresses. Wench tells the story of four women whose friendship is forged by pain, yet sustained by their love for their children and the hope of freedom. Perkins-Valdez has written an engaging and thought-provoking novel which examines another aspect of complicated relationships resulting from slavery. Dolen Perkins-Valdez teaches creative writing at the University of Puget Sound and divides her time between Washington, DC and Seattle, WA.
For excellence in scholarship, the BCALA Literary Awards Committee presents the Outstanding Contribution to Publishing Citation to Unfinished Blues: Memories of a New Orleans Music Man by Harold Battiste Jr. and Karen Celestan (The Historic New Orleans Collection).
Unfinished Blues is a memoir detailing Harold Battiste’s life and career as a musician, composer, producer, arranger, and educator while championing New Orleans jazz for more than fifty years. Lavishly illustrated with personal photographs it promotes and preserves the influence of music on Louisiana culture and heritage. This book is the first of the Louisiana Musician’s Biography Series. Harold Battiste currently resides in New Orleans.
Members of the BCALA Literary Awards Jury are: Gladys Smiley Bell, Hampton University; Karen B. Douglas, Duke University Law Library; Makiba Foster, Washington University in St. Louis; Carolyn Garnes, Library Consultant, Atlanta, GA; Ernestine Hawkins, East Cleveland Public Library; John Page, University of the District of Columbia; and Joel W. White, Durham (NC) County Library.
January 12, 2011
LITERATURE CATEGORIES
Outstanding Literary Work -Fiction
• ‘A Taste of Honey’ – Jabari Asim (Broadway Books)
• ‘Getting to Happy’ – Terry McMillan (Penguin Group)
• ‘Glorious’ – Bernice L. McFadden (Akashic Books)
• ‘Till You Hear From Me’ – Pearl Cleage (Ballantine Books/One World)
• ‘Wench’ – Dolen Perkins-Valdez (Amistad)
Outstanding Literary Work -Non-Fiction
• ‘Brainwashed: Challenging the Myth of Black Inferiority’ – Tom Burrell (SmileyBooks)
• ‘Hands on the Freedom Plow: Personal Accounts of Women in SNCC’ – Editors: Faith
S. Holsaert, Judy Richardson, Martha Prescod Norman Noonan, Betty Garman
Robinson, Jean Smith Young, Dorothy M. Zellner (University of Illinois Press)
• ‘Surviving and Thriving 365 Days in Black Economic History’ – Dr. Julianne Malveaux
(Last Word Productions, Inc.)
• ‘The History of White People’ – Nell Irvin Painter (W.W. Norton & Company)
• ‘The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness’ – Michelle
Alexander (The New Press)
Outstanding Literary Work -Debut Author
• ‘Wench’ – Dolen Perkins-Valdez (Amistad)
• ‘The Girl Who Fell from the Sky’ – Heidi Durrow (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill)
• ‘The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration’ – Isabel
Wilkerson (Random House)
• ‘Beneath the Lion’s Gaze’ – Maaza Mengiste (W.W. Norton & Company)
• ‘Forest Gate’ – Peter Akinti (Free Press/Simon & Schuster)
Outstanding Literary Work -Biography/Auto-Biography
• ‘Conversations with Myself’ – Ruth Hobday, Nelson Mandela (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
• ‘Decoded’ – Jay-Z (Spiegel & Gran, a division of Random House)
• ‘Extraordinary, Ordinary People’ – Condoleezza Rice (Crown Archetype)
• ‘I’m Still Standing: From Captive U.S. Soldier to Free Citizen – My Journey Home’ -
Shoshana Johnson (Touchstone, An Imprint of Simon & Schuster)
• ‘You Don’t Know Me: Reflections of My Father, Ray Charles’ – Ray Charles Robinson,
Jr. (Crown)
Outstanding Literary Work -Instructional
• ‘A Boy Should Know How to Tie a Tie: And Other Lessons for Succeeding in Life’ -
Antwone Fisher (Touchstone, An Imprint of Simon & Schuster)
• ‘Diet-Free for Life: A Revolutionary Food, Fitness and Mindset Makeover to Maximize Fat Loss’ – Robert Ferguson (Penguin Group USA, Perigee Hardcover)
• ‘If it Takes a Village, Build One: How I Found Meaning Through a Life of Service and 100+ Ways You Can Too’ – Malaak Compton-Rock (Crown Archetype)
• ‘The Blueprint: A Plan for Living Above Life’s Storms’ – Kirk Franklin (Gotham Books)
• ‘The Little Black Book of Success: Laws of Leadership for Black Women’ – Elaine Meryl Brown, Rhonda McLean, Marsha Haygood (Ballantine Books/One World)
Outstanding Literary Work -Poetry
• ’100 Best African-American Poems’ – Nikki Giovanni (Sourcebooks MediaFusion)
• ‘Hard Times Require Furious Dancing’ – Alice Walker (Author), Shiloh McCloud (Illustrator) (New World Library)
• ‘Holding Company’ – Major Jackson (W.W. Norton & Company)
• ‘Suck on the Marrow’ – Camille T. Dungy (Red Hen Press)
• ‘White Egrets’ – Derek Walcott (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Outstanding Literary Work -Children
• ‘Grandma’s Gift’ – Eric Velasquez (Bloomsbury USA Children’s Books)
• ‘Mama Miti: Wangai Maathai and the Tree of Kenya’ – Donna Jo Napoli (Author), Kadir Nelson (Illustrator) (Paula Wiseman Books, Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing)
• ‘My Brother Charlie’ – Holly Robinson Peete, Ryan Elizabeth Peete (Scholastic Press)
• ‘Side by Side/Lado a Lado: The Story of Delores Huerta and Cesar Chavez’ – Monica Brown (Author), Joe Cepeda (Illustrator) (Harper Collins Children’s Books)
• ‘The Great Migration: Journey to the North’ – Eloise Greenfield (Author), Jan Pivey Gilchrist (Illustrator) (Harper Collins Children’s Books)
Outstanding Literary Work -Youth/Teens
• ‘Condoleezza Rice A Memoir of My Extraordinary, Ordinary Family and Me’ – Condoleezza Rice (Random House Children’s Books)
• ‘Lockdown’ – Walter Dean Myers (Harper Collins Children’s Books)
• ‘Malcolm X: I Believe in the Brotherhood of Man, All Men’ – Jeff Burlingame (Enslow Publishers, Inc.)
• ‘Out of My Mind’ – Sharon Draper (Atheneum Young Reader)
• ‘One Crazy Summer’ – Rita Williams-Garcia (Harper Collins Children’s Books)
December 13, 2009
The Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Foundation, announces the winners and finalists of the 2009 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for their outstanding contribution to literature in the categories of Fiction, Nonfiction and Poetry.
The Hurston/Wright Legacy Award recognizes and honors before the national community of Black writers the work of their peers, thus, speaking to the world at large and the nominated writers, about the profound significance, necessity, and genius of Black writers and the stories they tell. A panel of published authors in each genre reviewed submissions and selected one winner from each category.
The Hurston/Wright Legacy Award 2009 Recipients are:
- Fiction
WINNER: Uwem Akpan
Say You’re One of Them (Little, Brown and Company)
FINALIST: Jeffery Renard Allen
Holding Pattern (Graywolf Press)
FINALIST: Jesmyn Ward
Where the Line Bleeds (Bolden Books)
- Non Fiction
WINNER: Frank Wilderson
Incognegro (South End Press)
FINALIST: Ta-Nehisi Coates
The Beautiful Struggle (Spiegel & Grau)
FINALIST: Paula J. Giddings
Ida: Sword Among Lions (Amistad)
- Poetry
WINNER: Myronn Hardy
The Headless Saints (New Issues Poetry & Prose)
Hurston/Wright is the nation’s resource center for writers, readers, and supporters of Black literature. And thanks to the generosity of organizations such as Random House, Simon & Schuster, and Penguin Group USA, we provide services and guidance for Black writers and readers at every stage of their development. Our annual programs include the nation’s only multi-genre summer residency workshop for writers of African descent with a tuition free component for high school students; the first national award presented to published writers of African descent by their peers; an award for excellence to Black college writers; community awards to businesses, educators or cultural leaders that have demonstrated their commitment to African American literature; and a three week tuition-free writers workshop for high school students followed by monthly classroom and online instructions during the academic school year.
Once again we wish to give special thanks to our many supporters who include Random House, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins Publishers, Penguin Group USA, Maryland State Senator David C. Harrington, The Morris & Gwendloyn Cafritz Foundation, Prince George’s County Council Member Andrea Harrision, and a host of individual donors for their generous support. For more information about Hurston/Wright visit our website at www.hurstonwright.org.
Mahogany Books
February 2, 2009
American Library Association’s Reference and User Services Association (RUSA) division presented a number of awards, including the inaugural Zora Neal Hurston Award recognizing an individual RUSA member who demonstrated leadership in promoting African American literature. The initial winner is Miriam Rodriquez, assistant director, Public Services/Community Integration of the Dallas PL. Rodriguez won the prize for her role in “Tulisoma,” a community-based literary festival highlighting African American authors and artists.
January 2, 2009
Here are the nominees and winners (in bold) from the 2008 African American Literary Awards Show
Fiction
- Eric Jerome Dickey – PLEASURE
- Victoria Christopher Murray – Too Little Too Late
- Karen E. Quinones Miller – Passin
- Kimberla Lawson Roby – One In A Million
Science Fiction
- Tananarive Due – Blood Colony
- Stefanie Worth – Where Souls Collide
- LA Banks – Bad Blood (Crimson Moon Novels)
- Brandon Massey – The Other Brother
Magazine – Non Literary
- (Oprah) Magazine
- Uptown Magazine
- Black Enterprise
- Upscale Magazine
Magazine – Literary
- Booking Matters
- SLR
- Mosaic Literary
- Harlem World
Mystery
- Walter Mosley – The Tempest Tales
- Jean Holloway – Ace Of Hearts
- Angela Henry – Diva’s Last Curtain
- Valerie Wilson Wesley – Of Blood and Sorrow: A Tamara Hayle Mystery
Romance
- Francis Ray – Only You (St. Martin’s Press)
- Brenda Jackson – Her Little Black Book (St. Martin’s Griffin)
- Trice Hickman – Unexpected Interruptions
- Beverly Jenkins – Jewel (Avon Books)
Christian Fiction
- Kendra Norman Bellamy – Battle of Jericho
- Dwan Abrams – Divorcing The Devil (Urban Books)
- Sherri Lewis – My Soul Cries Out (Urban Books)
- Jacqueline Thomas – Jezebel (NAL Hardcover)
Street Fiction
- J.M. Benjamin – Ride Or Die Chick
- Jason Poole – Victoria’s Secret
- Mikal Malone – Pitbulls In A Skirt
- Dutch – Dutch: The Finale
Erotica
- Zane – Honey Flava
- Allison Hobbs – Climax
- Risque – The Sweetest Taboo: A Novel
- Hazel Mills – Bare Necessities: Sensuous Tales of Passion
Biography/Memoir
- C. Vivian Stringer – Standing Tall
- DaShaun “Jiwe” Morris – War of the Bloods in My Veins: A Street Soldier’s March Toward Redemption
- Felicia “Snoop” Pearsons – Grace After Midnight: A Memoir
- Stacey Patton – That Mean Old Yesterday
Non-Fiction
- Mayme Hatcher Johnson – Harlem Godfather: The Rap on my Husband, Ellsworth “Bumpy” Johnson
- Lily Ratliff – The Life of a Lily: Growing in His Strength, Blooming in His Love
- Sampson Davis, Rameck Hunt and George Jenkins – The Bond
- Tony Dungy – Quiet Strength: The Principles, Practices, & Priorities of a Winning Life
Children’s /Young AdultBooks
- Denene Milner & Mitzi Miller – Hotlanta No. 1
- Sharon M. Draper – November Blues
- Stephanie Perry Moore – Pressing Hard: Perry Sky Jr. Series #2
- L. Divine – Frenemies
Poetry
- Valerie Washington – Soul Passion
- Alice Walker – Why War Is Never a Good Idea
- Jill Scott – The Moments, the Minutes, the Hours: The Poetry of Jill Scott
Self-Help
- Hill Harper – Letters To A Young Sister
- Dawn Marie Daniels & Candace Sandy
- Terrie M. Williams – Black Pain
- Bill Cosby and Alvin F. Poussaint – Come on People
Cookbooks
- G. Garvin – Make It Super Simple
- Willey Mullins – Salad Makes The Meal
- Wilbert Jones – Smothered Southern Foods
Humorist Award of the Year (Stand Up Comic)
- Sherri Sheppard
- Katt Williams
- Steve Harvey
- Mike Epps
Comedy Book Author of the Year
- Pat G’Orge-Walker – Somewhat Saved
- Finesse Mitchell – Your Girlfriends Only Know So Much: A Brother’s Take on Dating and Mating for Sistas
- Tamara A. Johnson-George – Player HateHer: How to Avoid the Beat Down and Live in a Drama-Free World
- Henri Edmonds – The Georgia Avenue Bus
Break-out Author Of The Year
- Darn Oldham – Scent Of An Angel
- Carleen Brice – Orange Mint and Honey: A Novel
- Terrance Dean – Hiding In Hip Hop
- Dutch – Dutch: The Finale
Short stories/Anthologies
- Stacy Hawkins Adams, Kendra Norman-Bellamy, Linda Hudson-Smith – THIS FAR BY FAITH
- Renee Alexis, Sydney Molare and Fiona Zedde – Satisfy Me Again -
- Zane – Succulent: Chocolate Flava II
- Tracy Price-Thompson, TaRessa Stovall, Elizabeth Atkins and Desiree Cooper- Other People’s Skin: Four Novellas
Comic Strip
- Keith Knight – The K Chronicles
- Ray Billingsley – Curtis
- Robb Armstrong – Jump Start
- Stephen Bentley – Herb & Jamaal
Author of the Year - Female
- Victoria Christopher Murray – Too Little Too Late
- Nikki Turner – Black Widow: A Novel (Nikki Turner Original)
- Diane McKinney-Whetstone – Trading Dreams at Midnight- Harper Collins
- Virginia DeBerry & Donna Gant – Gotta Keep on Tryin’
Author Of the Year – Male
- Eric Jerome Dickey – Pleasure
- Walter Mosley – The Tempest Tales
- Shannon Holmes – Bad Girlz 4 Life
- J.D. Mason – You Gotta Sin to Get Saved
Self-published Author of the Year
- Brittani G. Williams – Sugar Walls
- Elissa Gabrielle – The Triumph Of My Soul
- Shani Greene-Dowdell – Mocha Chocolate: Taste A Piece of Ecstasy
- Dutch – Dutch: The Finale
Independent Publishing House of the Year
- KNB Publications
- The Cartel Publications
- Urban Books
- Xpress Yourself Publishing
Publishing House of the Year
- Simon & Schuster
- Random House
- Kimani Press
- HarperCollins
Book Club of the Year
- OOSA
- Sugar & Spice
- The Virtuous Women Book Club
- Black Expressions
Television Writer of the Year
- Angela Nissel – Scrubs
- Shonda Rhimes – Grey’s Anatomy
- Mara Brock Akil – The Game
- Ali LeRoi – Everybody Hates Chris
Screenwriter of the Year
- Tyler Perry – Meet The Browns
- Malcolm D. Lee – Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins
- David E. Talbert – First Sunday
The African American Literary Awards Show
