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FINALISTS ANNOUNCED FOR THE 2008 ESSENCE LITERARY AWARDS
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Readers Can Vote for Their Favorite Storyteller of The Year at Essence.com
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December 19, 2007 (New York, NY)—ESSENCE magazine announces the finalists of the first-annual 2008 ESSENCE Literary Awards. (The full list of finalists is attached.) This invitation-only event, designed to celebrate established and emerging African-American authors, will take place on February 7, 2008 at Le Parker Meridien. The nominees were chosen by ESSENCE editors solely based on the criteria listed below:
• Eligible titles were published in 2007
• Entries illuminate the African-American experience throughout the Diaspora while provoking discussion about the human condition
• Demonstrates excellence and originality in concept, content and execution
• Recommended by ESSENCE readers and ESSENCE Recommended Read Book Club members
Each of the finalists—in the categories of Fiction; Non-Fiction; Children's Books; Poetry; Memoir; Inspiration; Current Affairs; and Photography—will be judged by a blue ribbon panel of influential publishing experts. All winners will be announced during the event in February.
In addition, readers will be able to go to Essence.com during January 1-January 15, 2008 to vote in the Storyteller of the Year category to choose their favorite authors who have penned the best books of 2007. ESSENCE will also announce events that will be held in conjunction with its Save Our Libraries campaign to benefit the Harlem-based Countee Cullen Branch of the New York Public Library. The purpose of the campaign is to honor the recipient’s contributions and to solicit support in order for it to maintain its services to the community.
As previously announced, acclaimed author Terry McMillan will be honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award during this event, which will be hosted by Hoda Kotb, TODAY show co-anchor, and Dr. Ian Smith, creator of The 50 Million Pound Challenge.
Sponsors for the 2008 ESSENCE Literary Awards are Avon, Superclubs Breezes Resorts, Nuvo and State Farm. Additional sponsors will be announced at a later date. For more information visit www.essence.com.
About Essence Communications Inc.:
Essence Communications Inc. (ECI) is the leading media and communications company dedicated to African-American women. With a multi-platform presence in publishing, live events, and online, the Essence brand is “Where Black Women Come First”. The company’s flagship publication, ESSENCE magazine, is the preeminent lifestyle magazine for African-American women; generating brand extensions such as the Essence Music Festival, Women Who Are Shaping the World Leadership Summit, Window on Our Women (WOW I & II) and Smart Beauty I, II & III consumer insights, the Essence Book Club, Essence.com, and ventures in digital media (mobile, television and VOD) via Essence Studios. For 37 years, ESSENCE magazine, which has a readership of 8.2 million, has been the leading source of cutting-edge information relating to every area of African-American women’s lives. Additional information about ECI and ESSENCE is available at Essence.com.
For all press inquiries send an e-mail to publicrelations@essence.com.
2008 ESSENCE LITERARY AWARDS FINALISTS
FICTION:
• Red River by Lalita Tademy/Grand Central Publishing
• Casanegra by Blair Underwood, Steven Barnes and Tananarive Due/Atria
• The Pirate's Daughter by Margaret Cezair-Thompson/Unbridled Books
• New England White by Stephen L. Carter/Knopf
• Knots by Nuruddin Farah/Riverhead
MEMOIR:
• Brother, I’m Dying by Edwidge Danticat/Knopf
• The Women Who Raised Me by Victoria Rowell/William Morrow
• Alek by Alek Wek/Amistad
• One Drop by Bliss Broyard/Little, Brown and Co.
• A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah/Farrar, Straus and Giroux
INSPIRATION:
• Reposition Yourself by TD Jakes/Atria
• From the Heart by Robin Roberts/Hyperion
• Quiet Strength by Tony Dungy/Tyndale
• Do You! by Russell Simmons/Penguin
• How Strong Women Pray by Bonnie St. John/Faith Words
NON-FICTION:
• The Bond by Sampson Davis, George Jenkins and Rameck Hunt/Riverhead
• Friends: A Love Story by Angela Bassett and Courtney B. Vance/Harlequin
• I Got Your Back by Eddie and Gerald Levert/Harlem Moon
• Foreigners by Caryl Phillips/Knopf
• Supreme Discomfort by Michael Fletcher and Kevin Merida/Doubleday
CURRENT AFFAIRS:
• Come on People by Bill Cosby/Thomas Nelson
• The Covenant in Action by Tavis Smiley/Smiley Books
• An Unbroken Agony by Randall Robinson/Basic Civitas
• Know What I Mean? By Michael Eric Dyson/Perseus Books Group
• Twice As Good by Marcus Mabry/Modern Times
PHOTOGRAPHY:
• Daufuskie Island by Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe/University of South Carolina Press
• Pop by Carol Ross/Stewart, Tabori & Chang
• Jimi Hendrix by Janie Hendrix/Atria
• Let Your Motto Be Resistance edited by Deborah Willis/Smithsonian Press
• Jewels by Michael Cunningham and Connie Briscoe/Little, Brown and Co.
CHILDREN’S BOOKS:
• Henry’s Freedom Box by Ellen Levine illustrated by Kadir Nelson/Scholastic
• Sugar Cane: A Caribbean Rapunzel by Patricia Storace and Raul Colon/Jump at
• the Sun
• Marvelous World by Troy Cle/Simon & Schuster¹s Children¹s Publishing
• The Shadow Speaker by Nnedi Okorafor-mbachu/Jump at the Sun
• Salli Gal and the Wall-a-Kee Man by Sheila P. Moses/Scholastic
POETRY:
• Duende by Tracy K. Smith/Graywolf Press
• Acolytes by Nikki Giovanni/William Morrow
• Totem by Gregory Pardlo/American Poetry Review
STORYTELLER OF THE YEAR:
• Eric Jerome Dickey
• Lori Bryant-Woolridge
• Trisha R. Thomas
• L.A. Banks
• Tananarive Due
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD:
*Terry McMillan (*previously announced) |
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