From
Publishers Weekly
Essence to Honor Writers, Help Libraries
By Claire Kirch -- Publishers Weekly, 12/13/2007 7:30:00 AM
Essence Magazine will honor African-American writers and help public libraries by launching two overlapping initiatives this winter: the
Essence Literary Awards and the Save Our Libraries campaign.
The nominees for the awards--in fiction, nonfiction, children's, poetry, commentary/public affairs, memoir and photography--will be selected by the editors of
Essence and will be annouced on December 19th. The winners will recieve their awards during Black History Month, on Feb. 7, 2008, at a ceremony in New York city that will also kick off the Save Our Libraries campaign. Emcees Hoda Kotb of the
Today Show and Dr. Ian Smith will preside over the event, which will honor the winning writers, as well as a "Storyteller of the Year."
The Storyteller of the Year will be selected from a list of 22 nominees--which includes Stephen L. Carter, Zadie Smith, and Edwidge Danticat-- as well as any write-ins voted on at
Essence’s website. After Christmas, the top five vote-getters will be listed on the site, and readers will vote again to pick the winner, who will also be announced at the February awards ceremony, said
Essence books editor Patrik Henry Bass.
The 102-year-old Countee Cullen Regional Library in Harlem, the branch of the New York Public Library’s 82 locations with the largest circulating collection on black history and culture, will be the first recipient of the Save Our Libraries largesse, which will include book donations and
Essence-sponsored author events at the library throughout the year.
Terry McMillan (
Waiting to Exhale, How Stella Got Her Groove Back) will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award for her contributions to contemporary African-American literature. “I’m flattered,” McMillan – who was introduced to
Essence readers, when, as a student at the Univ. of Calif.-Berkeley, she won the first
Essence college writing contest in 1975 -- told
PW, “But I feel old. Lifetime achievement? I feel like I’m just getting started. I’m just shifting into third gear."
McMillan, who is writing her eighth novel,
Getting to Happy, added, “There are so few venues for African-American writers to get attention. This is a positive way to draw attention to African-American writers whose work is of high standards and merits attention.”
“We love books,” Bass said, describing editors at the magazine as committed to coverage of African-American authors and their work since
Essence launched in 1970.
Essence currently dedicates at least 3-1/2 pages to authors and books each month, second among women’s fashion/beauty/ lifestyle magazines only to
O: the Oprah magazine.
“And our readers love books,” Bass said of
Essence’s 1.1 million subscribers, 6,000 of whom are registered members of the online
Essence monthly book club, launched two years ago after editor-in-chief Angela Burt-Murphy took over the direction of the magazine in 2005.
“
Essence has an incredible literary legacy,” Bass said, describing the magazine’s early coverage of such authors as Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou, and Alice Walker. “We thought it was time to celebrate 38 years of African-American writing, and do something more than just from behind our desks.
Through the Save Our Libraries Campaign, Bass said, “We want to encourage our readers to reconnect with libraries in their communities and to realize they’re crucial resources." The Countee Cullen Library was selected this year, because, he explained, “Many of our wonderful writers who were influenced by the Harlem Renaissance spent time there."
© 2007, Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Click here to go to Essence's website to vote and/or nominate an author for storyteller of the year.
Essence Magazine to Honor Writers & Help Libraries
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