The BCALA Literary Award Winning Books
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First presented at the Second National Conference of African American Librarians in 1994, the BCALA Literary Awards acknowledge outstanding works of fiction and nonfiction for adult audiences by African American authors.
Monetary awards are presented in the following categories: First Novelist, Fiction, Nonfiction, and Poetry. Honor Book citations are also awarded in fiction and nonfiction without any accompanying monetary remuneration.
The BCALA also hosts an annual conference, the National Conference of African American Librarians.
3 Books Honored in 1998
Winner Fiction
The River Where Blood Is Born (Ballantine Reader’s Circle)
List Price: $23.00
One World/Ballantine (Aug 18, 1998)
Fiction, Paperback, 432 pages
ISBN: 9780345424761Publisher: Penguin Random House
Book Description:
This astonishing novel takes us on a journey along the river of one familys history, carving a course across two centuries and three continents, from ancient Africa into todays America. Here, through the lives of Mother Africas many daughters, we come to understand the real meaning of roots: the captive Proud Mary, who has been savagely punished for refusing to relinquish her child to slavery; Earlene, who witnesses her fathers murder at the hands of the Ku Klux Klan; Big Momma, a modern-day matriarch who can make a woman of a girl; proud and sassy Cinnamon Brown, whose wild abandon hides a bitter loss; and smart, ambitious Alma, who is torn between the love of a man and the song of her soul.
In The River Where Blood Is Born, the seen and unseen worlds are seamlessly joinedthe spirit realms where the great river goddess and ancestor mothers watch over the lives of their descendants, both the living and those not yet born. Stringing beads of destiny, they work to lead one daughter back to her source. But what must Alma sacrifice to honor the River Mothers call?
This astonishing novel takes us on a journey along the river of one familys history, carving a course across two centuries and three continents, from ancient Africa into todays America. Here, through the lives of Mother Africas many daughters, we come to understand the real meaning of roots: the captive Proud Mary, who has been savagely punished for refusing to relinquish her child to slavery; Earlene, who witnesses her fathers murder at the hands of the Ku Klux Klan; Big Momma, a modern-day matriarch who can make a woman of a girl; proud and sassy Cinnamon Brown, whose wild abandon hides a bitter loss; and smart, ambitious Alma, who is torn between the love of a man and the song of her soul.
In The River Where Blood Is Born, the seen and unseen worlds are seamlessly joinedthe spirit realms where the great river goddess and ancestor mothers watch over the lives of their descendants, both the living and those not yet born. Stringing beads of destiny, they work to lead one daughter back to her source. But what must Alma sacrifice to honor the River Mothers call?
Winner First Novelist
The View From Here
List Price: $23.00
One World/Ballantine (Aug 18, 1998)
Fiction, Paperback, 432 pages
ISBN: 9780671568962Publisher: Penguin Random House
Book Description:
A stunning debut novel in the tradition of Alice Walker and Toni Morrison. Anna Anderson Thomas has devoted her life to stepping lightly around her husbands vast silences and raising their sons. But now, with a sixth child on the waya girl this time, shes sureAnna faces a challenge that threatens to destroy the family shes fought so hard to preserve NYC publicity .
A stunning debut novel in the tradition of Alice Walker and Toni Morrison. Anna Anderson Thomas has devoted her life to stepping lightly around her husbands vast silences and raising their sons. But now, with a sixth child on the waya girl this time, shes sureAnna faces a challenge that threatens to destroy the family shes fought so hard to preserve NYC publicity .
Winner Nonfiction
The Black Notebooks: An Interior Journey
List Price: $23.00
One World/Ballantine (Aug 18, 1998)
Fiction, Paperback, 432 pages
ISBN: 9780393319019Publisher: Penguin Random House
Book Description:
The Black Notebooks is the most profound document I have read on racism in America today [It] is not just one of the best books on race I have ever read but just simply one of the best books I have ever read. The Black Notebooks is one of the most extraordinary and courageous accounts of race in this country, seen through the eyes of a light-skinned black woman and a respected American poet. It challenges all our preconceived notions of what it means to be black or white, and what it means to be human.
The Black Notebooks is the most profound document I have read on racism in America today [It] is not just one of the best books on race I have ever read but just simply one of the best books I have ever read. The Black Notebooks is one of the most extraordinary and courageous accounts of race in this country, seen through the eyes of a light-skinned black woman and a respected American poet. It challenges all our preconceived notions of what it means to be black or white, and what it means to be human.
