Finalists Announced for Connecticut Book Awards

Hartford Public Library
500 Main St.
Hartford, CT 06103-3075

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
31 October 2006

CONTACTS: Kat Lyons
Coordinator, Connecticut Center for the Book
(860) 695-6320
klyons@hplct.org


State’s Best Authors, Illustrators, and Book Designers

The 2006 Connecticut Book Awards, the Connecticut Center for the Book’s tribute to the state’s literary notables and illustrious illustrators and designers, will be held Sunday, December 3 in the atrium of Hartford’s City Hall, 550 Main Street from 2:00-3:30 p.m. A reception and book signings will follow from 3:30-5:30 p.m.

The Connecticut Book Awards, presented annually by the Connecticut Center for the Book, a program of Hartford Public Library, recognize and honor authors who represent the best writing, illustration, and design in, or about, our state in the previous calendar year.

In addition to the Lifetime Achievement for Service to the Literary Community Award to be presented to former State Poet Laureate Marilyn Nelson, awards will be presented in seven categories: biography or memoir, children’s book author, children’s book illustrator, design, fiction, nonfiction and poetry.

Richard Sugarman, founding president of The Connecticut Forum, will be master of ceremonies for the program. Sam Pickering, author of twenty books, and a master of the personal essay, will be the keynote speaker. Finalists’ books will be sold on site and authors will be available for book signings after the award program. Tickets for the event are $40. per person; for purchase information call 860.695.6320 or email klyons@hplct.org .

“This is our fifth year of producing the Connecticut Book Awards,” said Kat Lyons, coordinator of the Connecticut Center for the Book. “Once again, we have a great cross section of Connecticut's vibrant community of writers, illustrators, and book designers.”

The Connecticut Book Awards are presented with support from the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism and from private donations. The Connecticut Center for the Book is a program of the Hartford Public Library. Please call 860-695-6320 for information about other programs of the Connecticut Center for the Book at Hartford Public Library


2006 Connecticut Book Award Finalists

Biography/Memoir

Divided Minds: Twin Sisters and Their Journey through Schizophrenia
St. Martin’s Press
Carolyn S. Spiro and Pamela Spiro Wagner

Journey from the Land of No: A Girlhood Caught in Revolutionary Iran
Random
Roya Hakakian

Songs from the Black Chair
University of Nebraska Press
Charles Barber

Them: A Memoir of Parents
Penguin Group
Francine du Plessix Gray

Children’s Author

Bad Baby
Roaring Brook Press
Ross MacDonald

Basketball (Or Something Like It)
HarperCollins Children’s Books
Nora Raleigh Baskin

The Journey of the One and Only Declaration of Independence
Philomel Books
Judith St. George

Shakespeare’s Secret
Henry Holt Books for Young Readers
Elise Broach

10,000 Days of Thunder: A History of the Vietnam War
Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing
Philip Caputo

Children’s Illustrator

Alphabet House
Marshall Cavendish
Nancy Elizabeth Wallace

Delivering Justice: W.W. Law and the Fight for Civil Rights
Candlewick Press
Benny Andrews

Seven Spunky Monkeys
Harcourt
Lynn Munsinger

Think Cool Thoughts
Clarion/Houghton Mifflin
Linda Bronson

Yum! Yuck! A Foldout Book of People Sounds
Charlesbridge Publishing
Sue Rama

Design

The Stolen Texts of Molière: An Exhibition of Plagiarized, Pirated & Misappropriated Works from the Walter L. Pforzheimer Collection
Yale University, Beinecke Library
Howard I. Gralla

The Works: Anatomy of a City
The Penguin Press
George Kokkinidis

Fiction

In Case We're Separated
HarperCollins
Alice Mattison

The Last Refuge
The Permanent Press
Chris Knopf

Love and Ghost Letters
St. Martin’s Press
Chantel Acevedo

Primitive Heart
Grove Atlantic
David Rabe

Speak Softly, She Can Hear
Simon & Schuster
Pam Lewis

Nonfiction

MacArthur’s Escape: Wild Man Bulkeley and the Rescue of an American Hero
Zenith Press
George W. Smith

Tango: The Art History of Love
Random House
Robert Farris Thompson

Village of the Dammed: The Fight for Open Space and the Flooding of an
American Town
University Press of New England
James Lomuscio

Poetry

American Sublime
Graywolf Press
Elizabeth Alexander

The Last Time I Saw Amelia Earhart
Persea Books
Gabrielle Calvocoressi

Laws of My Nature
Carnegie Mellon University Press
Margo Schilpp

Lifetime Achievement

Marilyn Nelson