The 23rd Annual Oklahoma Book Awards were held on April 14 in OKC, and the meteorologists’ dire predictions didn’t keep some 200 or so folks from gathering to celebrate Oklahoma authors and the best of Oklahoma books. During the evening, a theme for the night developed as presenters and medalists ascended to the podium.

“Storytellers” at the Oklahoma Book Awards: Wilkinson, Gensler, Galvan, Squires and Myers

It started when Master of Ceremonies Jay Wilkinson told stories about his father, Bud Wilkinson. (Jay’s new book revolves around 47 letters that his father sent him while the young Wilkinson was away at college and graduate school.) This prompted presenters Glenda Carlile and Revere Young to tell their own stories about the legendary OU football coach. (Carlile’s funny story was about accidentally disconnecting a call between Wilkinson and President Kennedy when she was a switchboard operator at OU.)

Sonia Gensler, Book Award Medalist in the Young Adult Category for The Revenant, talked about the culture and history of Oklahoma being a fertile ground for storytelling. Children’s Medalist Glenda Galvan was honored for her book on traditional Chickasaw stories.  Constance Squires, Fiction Medalist for Along the Watchtower, told a story about the first time she attended an Oklahoma Book Award dinner—as a worker for the catering company servicing the event. And now, here she was at the same event, in very different circumstances.

Stories are the creative conversion of life itself into a more powerful, clearer, more meaningful experience. They are the currency of human contact.” — Robert McKee

When 2011 Poetry medalist Ben Myers introduced 2012 Arrell Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award winner Anna Myers (his mom), the theme of story was front and center. Anna is an award-winning author of historical fiction for children and young adults, and she excels at making history relatable to young readers by telling her tales through the eyes of young protagonists. Anna knows that history is really made up of the stories of people who were alive to experience and play a part in the monumental events of our nation and our world.

In her acceptance speech, Anna cemented the theme of the evening by telling a story. When the author was discussing her book Assassin (about the conspiracy to kill President Abraham Lincoln) during a school visit, she noticed a girl who seemed to want to ask a question, but who held back. When the girl found a moment to speak to Anna one-on-one, she said, “I knew Lincoln had to die, but I kept hoping for a way out.” That, said Anna, is the power of story.

It’s easy to believe writer Robert McKee’s assertion that stories “are the currency of human contact.” Think of the stories we tell each other in day to day conversation, the family stories we each own that tell a history of events both odd and grand about our particular little tribe.

We are all storytellers; but when art meets storytelling, either through performance or the written word, whether fictional or historical, it has the power to transform us and our vision of the world. It can even make a little girl wonder if there is any way for Mr. Lincoln to survive.

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2012 Oklahoma Book Award Winners

The Book Awards inspire the Journal Record’s Ted Streuli to create an impromptu  book week

Chickasaw Press celebrates its medalists

We’ll be honoring Young Adult author Anna Myers with the Center’s Arrell Gibson Award for Lifetime Achievement, and we’ll also present an award to Friends of Libraries in Oklahoma for their Oklahoma Literary Landmarks project. And, of course, we’ll have the medalists in our five book categories. Gonna be a fun night!

Here’s the official press release…

Finalists Announced for 2012
Oklahoma Book Awards

Chandler Author Anna Myers is Lifetime Achievement Award Winner

Thirty-five books have been chosen as finalists in the 23rd annual Oklahoma Book Award competition.  Winners in the categories of fiction, poetry, design/illustration, children/young adult and non-fiction will be announced at the Oklahoma Book Awards banquet on Saturday, April 14, at the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame and Jim Thorpe Museum in Oklahoma City. Author Jay Wilkinson, son of the University of Oklahoma’s legendary football coach, Bud Wilkinson, will serve as master of ceremonies.

Sponsored by the Friends of the Oklahoma Center for the Book, the awards recognize books written the previous year by Oklahomans or about Oklahoma.  Of the 35 book finalists, 25 are by authors, designers or illustrators who reside in Oklahoma. This year some 121 books were submitted in the competition.

In addition to the literary awards, Chandler resident and children’s book author Anna Myers will be presented with the Arrell Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award. The award is named for Norman historian Arrell Gibson, who served as the first president of the Oklahoma Center for the Book.

Myers is the author of 19 novels for young people, all published by Walker Books of New York. Most of her books are historical fiction. The recipient of countless honors over the years, Myers’ awards include four Oklahoma Book Awards, New York Public Library’s Best Books for the Teenaged, New York Public Library’s Best 100 Books to Read and Share, Bank Street College’s Best Children’s Books, Parent Choice Awards, the Crown Award by Christian Schools, the American Library Association’s Quick Pick List, Independent Book Sellers Pick of the List and being included more than 20 times on children’s choice lists for various states.

Born in White Face, Texas, Myers was the sixth child of an Oklahoma oilfield-worker father who had been temporarily transferred to west Texas. When Myers was only a few months old, the family moved back to Oklahoma.

Myers attended what is now the University of Central Oklahoma and became an English teacher, but always dreamed of being a writer. In 1969, she married Paul Myers, a poet whom she credits with having a great influence on her writing. The couple had three children, all born within four years, which Myers acknowledges somewhat slowed her journey to becoming a published author.

It took Myers seven years to sell her first book, which was published in 1992. Since then, she has produced a book a year.

In 1999, after 30 years of marriage, her husband Paul died of cancer.

But with the encouragement of her family, which now includes seven grandchildren, the resilient Myers has continued her writing. In 2002, she married John Calvin, a man with whom she had gone to high school. The couple now lives in a house, built in 1925, in Chandler.

The following books are finalists for the 2012 awards:

CHILDREN/YOUNG ADULT 

“Stealing Kevin’s Heart,” by M. Scott Carter of Oklahoma City, and published by The RoadRunner Press, Oklahoma City.

“Chikasha Stories, Volume 1: Shared Spirit,” by Glenda Galvan of Sulphur, and published by Chickasaw Press, Ada.

“The Revenant,” by Sonia Gensler of Norman, and published by Alfred A. Knopf, New York City.

“Hereafter,” by Tara Hudson of Choctaw, and published by HarperCollins Children’s Books, New York, N.Y.

“The Grave Robber’s Secret,” by Anna Myers of Chandler, and published by Walker & Co., New York, N.Y.

“The Snow Blew Inn,” by Dian Curtis Regan of Colorado Springs, Colorado, and published by Holiday House, New York, N.Y

“Mr. Duck Means Business,” by Tammi Sauer of Edmond, and published by Simon & Schuster, New York City.

DESIGN/ILLUSTRATION

“The Eugene B. Adkins Collection,” designed by Eric Anderson of Norman, and published by the University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.

“Shooting from the Hip: Photographs and Essays by J. Don Cook,” designed by Julie Rushing and Tony Roberts, both of Norman, and published by OU Press, Norman.

“Route 66 Sightings,” photographed and designed by Shellee Graham, Jerry McClanahan, and Jim Ross, all of Arcadia; and published by Ghost Town Press, Arcadia.

“Forging a Nation: The American History Collection of Gilcrease Museum,” designed by Carol Haralson of Sedona, Ariz., photography by Robert S. Cross of Tulsa, and published by the Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa.

“To Capture the Sun: Gold of Ancient Panama,” designed by Carol Haralson of Sedona, Ariz., photography by Robert S. Cross of Tulsa, and published by the Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa.

“Ilimpa’chi’ (We’re Gonna Eat!): A Chickasaw Cookbook,” with photography by Sanford Mauldin of Norman; designed by Aaron Long of Sulphur and Skip McKinstry of Oklahoma City, and published by Chickasaw Press, Ada.

FICTION

 “Cold Glory,” by B. Kent Anderson of Oklahoma City, and published by Forge Books, New York, N.Y.

“Crying Blood,” by Donis Casey of Tempe, Ariz., and  published by Poisoned Pen Press, Scottsdale, Ariz..

“The American Café,” by Sara Sue Hoklotubbe of Pagosa Springs, Colorado, and published by the University of Arizona Press, Tucson, Ariz.

“Along The Watchtower,” by Constance Squires of Edmond, and published by Penguin Group, New York N.Y.

“Broken Wings,” by Carla Stewart of Tulsa, and published by Faith Words, Nashville, Tenn.

“Strangers & Exiles,” by Marlene Reed Wetzel of Tulsa, and published by Out on a Limb Publishing, Tulsa.

“Dandelion Summer,” by Lisa Wingate of Clifton, Texas, and published by Penguin Group, New York, N.Y.

NON-FICTION

“The Oklahoma State Capitol: A History of Our Seat of Government,” by Bob Burke of Oklahoma City and Charles Ford of Tulsa, and published by Oklahoma State Senate Historical Preservation Fund Inc. and Oklahoma Heritage Association, Oklahoma City.

“The Cherokee Syllabary: Writing the People’s Perseverance,” by Ellen Cushman of Okemos, Mich., and published by OU Press, Norman.

“Stories of Old-Time Oklahoma,” by David Dary of Norman, and published by OU Press, Norman.

“Forging a Nation: The American History Collection at Gilcrease Museum,” by Amanda Lett, Randy Ramer, Kimberly Roblin, and Eric Singleton, all of Tulsa, and published by the Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa.

“Dynamic Chickasaw Women,” by Judy Goforth Parker and Phillip Carroll Morgan, both of Sulphur, and published by Chickasaw Press, Ada.

“An American Betrayal: Cherokee Patriots and the Trail of Tears,” by Daniel Blake Smith of St. Louis, Mo., and published by Henry Holt & Co., New York City.

“David Crockett: The Lion of the West,” by Michael Wallis of Tulsa, and published by W.W. Norton & Co., New York City.

“The Wild West 365,” by Michael Wallis of Tulsa, and published by Abrams Books, New York, N.Y.

“Will Rogers: A Political Life,” by Richard D. White Jr. of Baton Rouge, La., and published by Texas Tech University Press, Lubbock, Texas

POETRY

“The River White: A Confluence of Brush & Quill,” by Ken Hada of Ada, and published by Mongrel Empire Press, Norman.

“Depending on the Weather,” by Abigail Keegan of Oklahoma City, and published by Village Books Press, Cheyenne.

Leaving Holes & Selected New Writings,” by Joe Dale Tate Nevaquaya of Norman, and published by Mongrel Empire Press, Norman.

“Hail Mary, On Two,” by Jim Spurr of Shawnee, and published by Village Books Press, Cheyenne.

“Dreaming Sam Peckinpah,” by W.K. Stratton of Round Rock, Texas, and published by Ink Brush Press, Temple, Texas.

“In the Shadow of Asclepius: Poems from American Medicine,” by Howard F. Stein of Oklahoma City, and published by Dog Ear Publishing, Indianapolis, Ind.

This year the Oklahoma Book Awards sponsored by the Oklahoma Center for the Book, and the Friends of the Center, was held at the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame and Jim Thorpe Museum. This was a great venue to celebrate Oklahoma’s thriving literary community and give awards to outstanding works in five categories. Master of Ceremonies, Jari Askins welcomed eager finalists, readers, Friends and family. Good company, good food and good conversation was the agenda for Saturday evening.

So let’s get on with it…. And The winners are:  

Poetry: Benjamin Myers for Elegy for Trains.  Published by Village Books Press, Cheyenne, OK.  “Myers poetry is intimately connected to the landscape of Oklahoma, while honoring the spiritual that connects all things.”

Design /Illustration: Carol Haralson for Building One Fire. Published by the Cherokee Nation, Tahlequah, OK. “Haralson taps this book’s inspiration–the Four Directions concept of the Keetoowahs of the Cherokees–to graphically present 200 artworks, which speak to what it means to be Cherokee.”

In Children/Young Adult the judges decided to award in both categories: 

 Young Adult: M. J. Alexander  for Portrait of a Generation–The Children of Oklahoma: Sons and Daughters of the Red Earth. Southwestern Publishing , Oklahoma City, OK. “From Boise City to Broken Bow, Alexander chronicles the faces and words of more than 230 young Oklahomans in this ‘ode to the land and its people, the sons and daughters of the red earth.’ ”

Children: Tammi Sauer for Mostly Monsterly. Simon & Schuster, New York, NY.  “Bernadette is mostly monsterly, but she’s also a sweetie. She likes to pick flowers, pet kittens, and bake goodies. This is a big, big problem because monsters just don’t do those kinds of things, and her monster friends are good at reminding her of this. Our little Bernadette must find a way to be true to herself and still be part of her monster crew!” 

Non-Fiction winner is: S. C. Gwynne for Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History. Published by Scribner, New York, NY.  “Gwynne’s New York Times best seller spans two great stories of the continent: the rise and fall of the Comanches, the powerful Indain tribe that delayed America’s expansion west; and the epic saga of pioneer woman Cynthia Ann Parker and her mixed-blood son Quanah, who became the last and greatest chief of the Comanches. ”

And the winner in Fiction: David Gerard for  God’s Acres. Pen Ultimate Press, St. Louis, MO. ” Gerard draws on his real-life experiences to tell this story of a family whose dreams of rural living outside St. Joseph, Missouri, turn to grief. Told from the perspective of six-year old Bud, each chapter is prefaced by a psalm and the voice of an adult Bud, closing the circle on a complex tale of family relationships. ”

The evening ended with a well justified tribute to Rilla Askew, recipient of the 2011 Arrell Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award. She is truly an Oklahoma literary treasure.

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Thirty-two books have been chosen as finalists in the 22nd annual Oklahoma Book Award competition. Winners in the categories of fiction, poetry, design/illustration, children/young adult and non-fiction will be announced at the Oklahoma Book Awards banquet on Saturday, April 9, at the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame and Jim Thorpe Museum in Oklahoma City. Master of ceremonies for the event will be former Lt. Gov. Jari Askins.

Sponsored by the Oklahoma Center for the Book in the Oklahoma Department of Libraries and the Friends of the Center, the awards recognize books written the previous year by Oklahomans or about Oklahoma. This year some 122 books were entered in the competition.

In addition to the literary awards, Oklahoma-born author Rilla Askew will be presented with the Arrell Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award. The award is named for Norman historian Arrell Gibson, who served as the first president of the Oklahoma Center for the Book.

A fifth generation descendant of southerners who settled in the Choctaw Nation in the late 1800s, Rilla Askew was born in the Sans Bois Mountains in the southeastern corner of Oklahoma. The middle of three sisters, Askew grew up in the oil company town of Bartlesville, where she first encountered the complex forces of race and class that she continues to explore in her fiction.

Askew lived for several years in the Cherokee capital of Tahlequah before relocating to Tulsa, where she graduated from the University of Tulsa with a degree in theatre performance. In 1980 she moved to New York to pursue an acting career, but soon turned to writing fiction.

To date, all of Rilla Askew’s books have been set in Oklahoma. Her collection of stories, “Strange Business,” received the Oklahoma Book Award in 1993. Her first novel, “The Mercy Seat,” was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award and received the Western Heritage Award and the Oklahoma Book Award in 1998. “Fire in Beulah,” her 2001 novel about the Tulsa Race Riot, received the American Book Award, the Myers Book Award and was the 2007 selection for Oklahoma’s statewide centennial reading program. Her most recent novel, “Harpsong” (2007), received the Oklahoma Book Award, the Western Heritage Award, the Willa Cather Award from Women Writing the West and the Violet Crown Award from the Writers League of Texas.

The recipient of a 2009 award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Askew received her master’s degree in fiction in 1989 from Brooklyn College. She is married to actor Paul Austin, and they divide their time between Oklahoma, where she now serves as artist-in-residence at the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond, and their home in upstate New York.

The following books are finalists for the 2011 awards:

CHILDREN/YOUNG ADULT

“Portrait of a Generation: The Children of Oklahoma, Sons and Daughters of the Red Earth,” by M.J. Alexander of Oklahoma City, and published by Southwestern Publishing, Oklahoma City.

“‘Cholhkanat Lowak Ishminti’ (Spider Brings Fire),” by Linda Hogan of Tishomingo, and published by Chickasaw Nation Division of Arts and Humanities, Ada.

“Salvaged,” by Stefne Miller of Edmond, and published by Tate Publishing & Enterprises, Mustang.

“Mostly Monsterly,” by Tammi Sauer of Edmond, published by Simon & Schuster, New York, N.Y.

“Saltypie: A Choctaw Journey from Darkness into Light,” by Tim Tingle of Canyon Lake, Texas, and published by Cinco Puntos Press, El Paso, Texas.

DESIGN/ILLUSTRATION

“Building One Fire,” designed by Carol Haralson of Sedona, Ariz., and published by the Cherokee Nation, Tahlequah.

“Proud to be Chickasaw,” designed by Skip McKinstry of Oklahoma City, illustrated by Mike Larsen of Perkins and published by Chickasaw Press, Ada.

“Oklahoma National Stockyards,” designed by Doug Miller of Tulsa, and published by Mullerhaus Publishing Arts Inc., Tulsa.

“Portrait of a Generation: The Children of Oklahoma, Sons and Daughters of the Red Earth,” designed by Scott O’Daniel of Oklahoma City, photography by M.J. Alexander of Oklahoma City and published by Southwestern Publishing, Oklahoma City.

“Arena Legacy: The Heritage of American Rodeo,” designed by Tony Roberts and Julie Rushing, both of Norman, collection photography by Ed Muno of Oklahoma City, and published by University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.

FICTION

“Stations West,” by Allison Amend of Pittsburgh, Pa., and published by Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge, La.

“With No Steps to Follow,” by David Allen Barton of Union City, and published by Tate Publishing & Enterprises, Mustang.

“Cheyenne Madonna,” by Eddie Chuculate of Iowa City, Iowa, and published by David R. Godine Publisher Inc., Jaffrey, N.H.

“God’s Acres,” by David Gerard of Muskogee, and published by PenUltimate Press Inc., St. Louis, Mo.

“The Insane Train,” by Sheldon Russell of Waynoka, and published by St. Martin’s Minotaur Books, New York, N.Y.

“Chasing Lilacs,” by Carla Stewart of Tulsa, and published by FaithWords, Hachete Book Group, New York, N.Y.

NON-FICTION

“Native American Son: The Life and Sporting Legend of Jim Thorpe,” by Kate Buford of Yonkers, N.Y., and published by Alfred A. Knopf Inc., New York, N.Y.

“Chickasaw Removal,” by Amanda L. Paige, Fuller L. Bumpers, and Daniel F. Littlefield Jr., all of Arkansas; and published by Chickasaw Press, Ada.

“Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture,” edited by Dianna Everett of Edmond; Larry O’Dell of Newcastle; Jon May and Linda Wilson, both of Oklahoma City; and published by Oklahoma Historical Society, Oklahoma City.

“Deadly Kingdom: The Book of Dangerous Animals,” by Gordon Grice of Somerset, Wis., and published by Random House, New York, N.Y.

“Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History,” by S.C. Gwynne of Austin, Texas, and published by Scribner, New York City.

“Race and the University: A Memoir,” by George Henderson of Norman, and published by OU Press, Norman.

“Arena Legacy: The Heritage of American Rodeo,” by Richard C. Rattenbury of Oklahoma City, and published by OU Press, Norman.

“Luis Ortega’s Rawhide Artistry: Braiding in the California Tradition,” by Don Reeves of Edmond and Chuck Stormes of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and published by OU Press, Norman.

“Oilfield Trash: Life and Labor in the Oil Patch,” by Bobby D. Weaver of Edmond, and published by Texas A&M University Press, College Station, Texas.

POETRY

“Spare Parts,” by Ken Hada of Ada, and published by Mongrel Empire Press, Norman.

“Umberto Eco Lost His Gun,” by Carol Hamilton of Midwest City, and published by Pudding House Publications, Columbus, Ohio.

“Elegy for Trains,” by Benjamin Myers of Chandler, and published by Village Books Press, Cheyenne.

“Seeing Rightly with the Heart,” by Howard Stein of Oklahoma City, and published by Finishing Line Press, Georgetown, Ky.

“Bird Days,” by Sheila Tiarks of Oklahoma City, and published by Village Books Press, Cheyenne.

“Oklahoma Baroque,” by Renata Treitel of Tulsa, and published by Out On A Limb Publishing, Tulsa.

“Oklahoma Cantos,” by Ron Wallace of Durant, and published by TJMF Publishing, Clarksville, Ind.

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Children’s Book– Chicken Dance by Tammi Sauer . Sterling Publishing Co.,  New York, NY

Young Adult Book–Night Fires by George Edward Stanley.  Aladdin, New York, NY

Fiction  — Confessions of a Former Rock Queen by Kirk Bjornsgaard.  4Rv Publishing, Edmond, OK

Design–Willard Stone. Design by Carol Haralson. University of Tulsa/Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, OK

Illustration–Where to Sleep. Illustrated by Kandy Radzinski.  Sleeping Bear Press, Chelsea, MI.

Poetry–Work Is Love Made Visible: Poems and Family Photographs by Jeanetta Calhoun Mish. West End Press, Albuquerque, NM.

Non-Fiction–Thomas Gilcrease by  Randy Ramer, Carole Klein, Kimberly Roblin, Eric Singleton, Anne Morand, Gary Moore and April Miller. Gilcrease Museum/University of Tulsa, Tulsa, OK.

Ralph Ellison Award–Stan Hoig

Arrell Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award–David Fitzgerald

Distinguished Service Award–Teresa Miller

Much Thanks to the Friends of the Oklahoma Center for the Book for promoting reading and authors in Oklahoma and for this special evening to honor the best of the best.

Finalist Announced for 2010 Oklahoma Book Awards 

David G. Fitzgerald is Lifetime Achievement Award Winner

Stan Hoig to be honored with Ralph Ellison Award

Thirty-three books have been chosen as finalists in the Twenty-first annual Oklahoma Book Award competition.  Winners in the categories of fiction, poetry, design/illustration, children/young adult, and non-fiction will be announced at the Oklahoma Book Award banquet on Saturday, April 17, at the Edward L. Gaylord – T. Boone Pickens Oklahoma Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.  Master of ceremonies at the event will be former Miss America, journalist, and author Jane Jayroe.

Sponsored by the Oklahoma Center for the Book, the awards recognize books written the previous year by Oklahomans or about Oklahoma.  This year one 115 books were entered in the competition. 

In addition to the literary awards, photographer David G. Fitzgerald will be presented the Arrell Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award.  The award is named for the Norman historian Arrell Gibson who served as the first president of the Oklahoma Center for the Book.

Lifelong Oklahoma resident and award-winning photographer David G. Fitzgerald’s career expands over four decades. Fitzgerald’s work began receiving national attention in the late 1970s. In 1979 the coffee-table book Oklahoma was published, the first of many to come featuring his photographs. Books that followed include Ozarks, Israel: Land of Promise, Oklahoma (the Land Run Centennial edition), Mansion Fare, Oklahoma II, Portrait of the Ozarks, Oklahoma Crossroads, Bison: Monarch of the Plains, Cherokee, Chickasaw: Unconquered and Unconquerable, Oklahoma 3, and Cherokee Trail of Tears.

Award winning author and historian Stan Hoig will be honored posthumously with the Ralph Ellison Award. Hoig began his career writing articles and books on the American West in the 1950s. His first book, The Humor of the American Cowboy was published in 1958 and remains in print today. Hoig published a wide variety of articles in magazines and professional journals such as the Chronicles of Oklahoma and Encyclopedia of the American West. Moreover, he had twenty-five books published and listed with the Library of Congress including The Sand Creek Massacre, The Battle of the Washita, Perilous Pursuit: The U.S. Calvary and the Northern Cheyennes, and The Chouteaus: First Family of the Fur Trade.

The following books which are listed in alphabetical order according to the last name of the lead author, designer or illustrator, have been selected as finalists of the 2010 awards.
Children/Young Adult 

 
Annie Glover is Not a Tree Lover by Darleen Bailey Beard, Farrar, Straus, Giroux publisher

For a Girl Becoming by Joy Harjo, The University of Arizona Press

Paris Pan takes the Dare by Cynthea Liu, G.P. Putnam’s Sons publisher

Time of the Witches by Anna Myers, Walker & Company publisher

Chicken Dance by Tammi Sauer, Sterling Publishing Company Inc.

Night Fires by George Edward Stanley, Simon & Schuster/Aladdin Imprint publisher 

Design/Illustration

Lanterns on the Prairie: The Blackfeet Photographs of Walter McClintock by Eric H. Anderson and Karen Hayes-Thumann, University of Oklahoma Press 

 Skirvin by Carl Brune, Full Circle Press

 Roots from the Cherokees, Promises for our Future: The Chronicle of Northeastern State University by Buffy Cooper, Mullerhaus Publishing Group

Willard Stone by Carol Haralson, University of Tulsa/Gilcrease Museum publisher

Sonic: The History of America’s Drive-In by Skip McKinstry, Cottonwood Publications

Where to Sleep by Kandy Radzinski, Sleeping Bear Press

Fiction 

Nemesis: The Final Case of Eliot Ness by William Bernhardt, Ballantine Books publisher

Confessions of a Former Rock Queen by Kirk Bjornsgaard, 4RV Publishing

The Sky Took Him by Donis Casey, Poisoned Pen Press

The Wind Comes Sweeping by Marcia Preston, Mira Books publisher

The Yard Dog by Sheldon Russell, Minotaur Books publisher

The Sound of Honor by Jim Stovall, Hawk Publishing 

Non-Fiction

 Sonic: The History of America’s Drive-In by Bob L. Blackburn, Cottonwood Publications

Divided Hearts: The Presbyterian Journey through Oklahoma History by Michael Cassity and Danney Goble, University of Oklahoma Press

Indian Tribes of Oklahoma: A Guide by Blue Clark, University of Oklahoma Press

Coach Tommy Thompson and the Boys of Sequoyah by Patti Dickinson, University of Oklahoma Press

Tar Creek: A History of the Quapaw Indians, the World’s Largest Lead and Zinc Discovery, and the Tar Creek Superfund Site by Larry G. Johnson, Tate Publishing & Enterprises

Choctaw Crime and Punishment, 1884-1907 by Devon Abbott Mihesuah, University of Oklahoma Press

Skirvin  by Jack Money and Steve Lackmeyer, Full Circle Press

Another Hot Oklahoma Night: A Rock and Roll Story by Jeff Moore and

Larry O’Dell, Oklahoma Historical Society publisher

Thomas Gilcrease by Randy Ramer, Carole Klein, Kimberly Roblin, Eric Singleton, Anne Morand, Gary Moore, and April Miller, University of Tulsa/Gilcrease Museum publisher

Poetry 

Fault Line: Vulnerable Landscapes by Karen Coody Cooper, Soddenbank Press 

Contrapuntal by Carol Hamilton, Finishing Line Press

Work is Love Made Visible: Poetry and Family Photographs by Jeanetta

Calhoun Mish, West End Press

In the Presence of the Sun: Stories and Poems, 1961-1991 by N. Scott Momaday,

University of New Mexico Press

Too Long a Solitude by James Ragan, University of Oklahoma Press

After the Aftermath by Renata Treitel, Out on a Limb Publishing

For more information on the book awards or the award ceremony or to purchase tickets to the event visit the website at www.odl.state.ok.us/ocb or contact Connie Armstrong, executive director, Oklahoma Center for the Book, Oklahoma Department of Libraries, 200 NE 18^th Street, Oklahoma City, OK, 73105, or call 405-522-3383.

—–Pick your favorites and meet me back here after the Book Award ceremony and we’ll compare notes.

But First, the coolest thing that has happened to me in a long time was Joseph Shaw, who wrote To Honor the Dead , which I reviewed right here on OkieReads, sat at my table and was looking for me because a friend had shared my review with him. He was very gracious; we talked Fairview and it’s proximity to I-40 or maybe not, and small town Oklahoma.

Authors are rock stars, like Britney Spears or Madonna (oh wait she thinks she’s an author) to readers. In light of instant communication I think readers will  begin to have more influence on the publishing industry like music buyers have had on the music industry.  Readers will dictate rather than be dictated to by the publishers. It will be interesting that’s for sure. It’s also fun to meet authors to see if they’re nice or arrogant or way too impressed with themselves. I’m obviously a Joseph Shaw fan and he’s one of the nice ones, besides being one hellava writer.

OK, back to the Book Awards and off my soapbox.  First award out of the chute, Children/Young Adult goes to….the Young Adult novel, Spy by Anna Myers . 

Next the heavy duty Non-Fiction category. Lordy, there were 10 finalists and all an impressive lot. It went to Full-Court Quest: The Girls from Fort Shaw Indian School, Basketball Champions of the World by Linda Peavy and Ursula Smith. Unfortunately they couldn’t be there to accept but  Alice Stanton from the University of Oklahoma Press did a good job and reminded us of our own OU girls basketball dreams.

Awards for Design/Illustration were  given out in both categories. One to Placing Memory: A Photographic Exploration of Japanese Internment. Design by Eric H. Anderson and Karen Hayes-Thumann.   Photography by Todd Stewart.

The other award in Illustration went to Kandy Radzinski for her illustrations in What Dogs Want for Christmas. 

Nathan Brown took the award in Poetry for Two Tables Over. His best work yet, IMHO.

And as they say, last but certainly not least, the Fiction Award went to Carolyn D. Wall for Sweeping up Glass. If you’ve been reading my blog you already know how I feel about this one.

And drum roll please…. The Arrell Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award goes to Robert Conley. But I’m not going to say much now, it’s after my bedtime and Robert Conley deserves a clear head and much more attention. Suffice it to say, the Oklahoma Center for the Book “done good” with this choice.

So I hope I beat everyone to the punch with the announcement of the winners unless some tweeters beat me to it.