Connecticut Center for the Book Announces Finalists for 2002 Book Awards

Nov. 4, 2002… The Connecticut Center for the Book at Hartford Public Library has announced finalists in the six categories considered for Connecticut Book Awards this inaugural year. Categories, judging panels, and the finalists are:

Biography:
Judges:
Cynthia Reik (Chair), Joan Hedrick, David Rhinelander, Thomas Smith, Meredith Warner

Semi-finalists:

Gifford Pinchot and the Making of Modern Environmentalism by Char Miller

Emily Hall Tremaine: Collector on the Cusp by Kathleen L. Housley

Children’s literature:
Judges:
Billie Levy (Chair), Natalie Babbitt, Marge Fisher, Leonard Marcus, Elizabeth Moody

Semi-finalists:

Shooting for the Moon: The Amazing Life and Times of Annie Oakley illustrated by Bernie Fuchs

Molly and the Magic Wishbone by Barbara McClintock

Carver: A Life in Poems by Marilyn Nelson

Design:
Judges:
Wendell Minor (Chair), Roger Crossgrove, Peter Good, Rita Marshall, Richard Schimmelpfeng

Semi-finalists:

Carver: A Life in Poems by Marilyn Nelson, designed by Helen Robinson, Front Street, Inc.,

Christmas in Connecticut by Diane Smith from Globe Pequot Press

Infinity and Perspective by Karsten Harries from MIT Press

Fiction:
Judges:
Michael Golrick (Chair), Beth Mason, Steve Slossberg, Suzanne Staubach, Katharine Weber

Semi-finalists:

Personal Velocity by Rebecca Miller

The Dying Animal by Philip Roth

The Gardens of Kyoto by Kate Walbert

Nonfiction:
Judges:
Stephen B. Goddard, Esq. (Chair), Maxine Bleiweis, Roxanne Coady, Tom Condon, R. Kent Newmyer

Semi-finalists:

I Knew a Woman by Cortney Davis

Beyond the Big Talk by Debra Haffner

Sticks, Stones and Shadows: Building the Egyptian Pyramids by Martin Isler

A Matter of Degree by Don Massey

Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan

Poetry:
Judges:
Tom Radko (Chair), William L. Fox, Alison Meyers, Bessy Reyna, Kate Rushin,

Semi-finalists:

Icon and Evidence by Margaret Gibson

Darling by Honor Moore

Carver: A Life in Poems by Marilyn Nelson

With the creation of the first Connecticut Book Awards, the Connecticut Center for the Book at Hartford Public Library joins other state Centers affiliated with the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress in recognizing the superlative literary efforts of its resident authors and of authors who have used Connecticut as the setting for their works. We are, at last, acknowledging those writers who contribute to the literary heritage of the state of Connecticut and, by extension, to the nation.

Awards will be presented to winners in each category at a ceremony to be held on 8 December in Hartford. Tickets for the event will cost $35.00 per person; for more information call 860.695.6360.