Black Caucus of the American Library
Association
Visit http://www.bcala.org/ for more
information about BCALA and this Award
The Black Caucus of the American Library Association, Inc. (BCALA) announced the winners of the 2002 BCALA Literary Awards during the Midwinter Meeting of the American Library Association in New Orleans, LA. The awards recognize excellence in adult fiction and nonfiction by African American authors published in 2001, recognition of a first novelist, as well as a citation for Outstanding Contribution to Publishing. The recipients will receive the awards during the 2002 Annual Conference of the American Library Association in Atlanta, GA.
Winner Fiction
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Fiction Honor Books |
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Winner Nonfiction
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First Novelist Award
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Outstanding Contribution to Publishing Citation For excellence in scholarship
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Members of the BCALA Literary Awards Jury are:
John S. Page, Chair, University of the District of Columbia;
Raquel V. Cogell, Vice Chair, Emory University;
Yolanda Foster Bolden, Forsyth County Public Library System, East Winston Heritage Center; Joyce Jelks, Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System;
Gwendolyn Taylor-Davis, New York Public Library;
Virginia Dowsing Toliver, Washington University; and Jamie Turner, Oakland Public Library.
I
Wish I Had a Red Dress, a new novel
by Pearl Cleage, depicts the struggles of a widow committed to a
professional career of helping women achieve and grow. We witness the
healing in the protagonist�s personal life as she develops the ability
to move beyond the past, to trust again, and dares to step boldly into the
future. Cleage lives in Atlanta, Georgia.
John
Henry Days, Colson Whitehead�s new novel, immortalizes the African
American folk hero, "John Henry". Centered around the unveiling
of a commemorative stamp to honor the former slave, the story combines,
through multi-dimensions of characters and exploits, the dilemmas and
dualities of man, machine, history, myth, popular culture and racism.
Whitehead lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Karen
Grigsby Bates� Plain Brown Wrapper: An Alex Powell Novel, is an
intriguing story of a journalist who helps the police solve the murder of
a former colleague and friend. Bates lives in Los Angeles and is a
columnist for the Los Angeles Times.
West
of Rehoboth by Alexs D. Pate is set
in the resort town of Rehoboth, Delaware where a twelve year old boy comes
of age while trying to make sense of his uncle�s sadness and despair.
Pate lives in Minneapolis and is an assistant professor of African
American and African Studies at the University of Minnesota.
Vernon
Can Read: A Memoir by Vernon E.
Jordan is an impressive and revealing portrait of the charismatic Mr.
Jordan and the factors that attributed to his success. He recounts the
racism he encountered, his civil rights activism, and his work in
organizations devoted to improving the lives of African Americans.
Interwoven throughout the work is his recognition of the importance of
family, especially his mother, in shaping the foundation that became
"the man". Jordan is counsel to the law firm Akin, Gump,
Strauss, Hauer & Feld and lives in Washington, D. C.
On
Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madame C. J. Walker
by A�Lelia Bundles is an authentic biography of one of America�s early
entrepreneurs and philanthropists. The biography makes use of resources,
including never before seen photographs, in the Walker family collection.
The author, who is a great, great granddaughter of Madame C. J. Walker,
worked as a network news producer for ABC and NBC news. She lives in
Alexandria, Virginia.
Hoop
Roots: Basketball, Race and Love,
John Edgar Wideman�s essays form the memoir that reflects growing up in
an urban city, poor and Black, strengthened and supported by family,
particularly his grandmother and the pickup street game of basketball.
Wideman teaches at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
American
Patriots: The Story of Blacks in the Military from the Revolution to
Desert Storm by Gail Lumet Buckley
documents the contributions of African Americans in the U. S. military. It
is an exhaustively researched historical account of an often ignored part
of American military history. Buckley lives in New York City.
David
Anthony Durham for Gabriel�s Story (Doubleday). Durham offers
a fresh perspective of the 1870s American West as the teenage protagonist
leaves home on a quest for adventure. An outstanding storyteller, Durham
writes a riveting account of the young man�s journey. Durham divides his
time between the United States and Scotland.
Donald Bogle for Primetime Blues: African Americans On Network
Television (Farrar, Straus and Giroux). Bogle has written a
masterful study that chronicles the history of African Americans in
television. Bogle teaches at the University of Pennsylvania and the New
York University�s Tisch School of the Arts and he lives in Manhattan.