Essence Literary Awards Pick Best Books of 2007

Many of you are aware by now that starting this year Essence magazine will give out literary awards in several categories. What you might not know is that my latest title Jewels, a photo-essay book coauthored with photographer Michael Cunningham, was nominated in the category of photography. Yeah!

OK, so I had little to do with the photos in Jewels: 50 Phenomenal Black Women Over 50, but my name is still on the book jacket. Close enough. And I helped all the classy women in Jewels with their essays. And I can cheer on Michael, who knows a thing or two when it comes to photographing women. The photo of Ruby Dee on the book jacket is just one example of the many stunning photos in the book. A lot of you will know Michael’s work from his earlier titles like Crowns: Portraits of Black Women in Church Hats and Queens: Portraits of Black Women and Their Glorious Hair. Check out his portfolio, especially his work from Jewels. Michael is the hottest photographer out there today.

The public can vote on the top five finalists in the Storyteller of the Year category at Essence.com until January 15. Winners in the other categories will be selected by a panel of publishing experts and all will be announced at an awards ceremony, emceed by Hoda Kotb and Dr. Ian Smith in New York City on February 7, 2008. Terry McMillan will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Countee Cullen Regional Library in Harlem, a branch of the New York City Public Library system, will be the first recipient of the Save Our Libraries campaign.

2008 ESSENCE LITERARY AWARDS FINALISTS
FICTION
Red River by Lalita Tademy/Grand Central Publishing
Casanegra by Blair Underwood, Steven Barnes and Tananarive Due/Atria
The Pirate’s Daughter by Margaret Cezair-Thompson/Unbridled Books
New England White by Stephen L. Carter/Knopf
Knots by Nuruddin Farah/Riverhead

MEMOIR
Brother, I’m Dying by Edwidge Danticat/Knopf
The Women Who Raised Me by Victoria Rowell/William Morrow
Alek by Alek Wek/Amistad
One Drop by Bliss Broyard/Little, Brown and Co.
A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah/Farrar, Straus and Giroux

INSPIRATION
Reposition Yourself by TD Jakes/Atria
From the Heart by Robin Roberts/Hyperion
Quiet Strength by Tony Dungy/Tyndale
Do You! by Russell Simmons/Penguin
How Strong Women Pray by Bonnie St. John/Faith Words

NONFICTION
The Bond by Sampson Davis, George Jenkins and Rameck Hunt/Riverhead
Friends: A Love Story by Angela Bassett and Courtney B. Vance/Harlequin
I Got Your Back by Eddie and Gerald Levert/Harlem Moon
Foreigners by Caryl Phillips/Knopf
Supreme Discomfort by Michael Fletcher and Kevin Merida/Doubleday

CURRENT AFFAIRS
Come on People by Bill Cosby/Thomas Nelson
The Covenant in Action by Tavis Smiley/Smiley Books
An Unbroken Agony by Randall Robinson/Basic Civitas
Know What I Mean? By Michael Eric Dyson/Perseus Books Group
Twice As Good by Marcus Mabry/Modern Times

PHOTOGRAPHY
Daufuskie Island by Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe/University of South Carolina Press
Pop by Carol Ross/Stewart, Tabori & Chang
Jimi Hendrix by Janie Hendrix/Atria
Let Your Motto Be Resistance edited by Deborah Willis/Smithsonian Press
Jewels by Michael Cunningham and Connie Briscoe/Little, Brown and Co.

CHILDREN’S BOOKS
Henry’s Freedom Box by Ellen Levine illustrated by Kadir Nelson/Scholastic
Sugar Cane: A Caribbean Rapunzel by Patricia Storace and Raul Colon/Jump at the Sun
Marvelous World by Troy Cle/Simon & Schuster’s Children’s Publishing
The Shadow Speaker by Nnedi Okorafor-mbachu/Jump at the Sun
Sallie Gal and the Wall-a-Kee Man by Shelia P. Moses and Niki Daly/Scholastic

POETRY
Duende by Tracy K. Smith/Graywolf Press
Acolytes by Nikki Giovanni/William Morrow
Totem by Gregory Pardlo/American Poetry Review

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Terry McMillan

STORYTELLER OF THE YEAR
Eric Jerome Dickey
Lori Bryant-Woolridge
Trisha R. Thomas
L.A. Banks
Tananarive Due

CRITERIA
* Eligible titles were published in 2007
* Finalists illuminate the African-American experience throughout the Diaspora while provoking discussion about the human condition
* Demonstrates excellence and originality in concept, content and execution
* Recommended by Essence readers and Essence Book Club members