Los Angeles Times Book Prizes Announces Kirsch Award Winner Maxine Hong Kingston
28th Annual Literary Awards Finalists Announced for April 25th Presentation NEW YORK, Feb. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Maxine Hong Kingston has been named the winner of the 28th annual Los Angeles Times Book Prizes' Robert Kirsch Award for lifetime achievement.
The award was announced tonight along with the names of the 45 finalists for the 2007 Book Prizes (http://www.latimes.com/extras/bookprizes/) during an evening reception at the National Arts Club in New York City. Serving as event hosts were Times Book Prizes Director Kenneth L. Turan and Times Book Editor David L. Ulin. The Book Prizes will be presented April 25th at UCLA's Royce Hall in Los Angeles. In addition to the Kirsch Award, the evening will honor 2007's outstanding books in nine categories: biography, current interest, fiction, first fiction (the Art Seidenbaum Award), history, mystery/thriller, poetry, science and technology, and young adult fiction.
The Kirsch Award honors a living author with a substantial connection to the American West whose contribution to American letters deserves special recognition and Maxine Hong Kingston has been named the award's 28th recipient. Kingston is the acclaimed author of many books including the award-winning The Woman Warrior, China Men and Tripmaster Monkey. She lives in Oakland, California, with her husband Earl, where she is a Senior Lecturer Emerita at the University of California, Berkeley and directs the Veterans Writing Group project. Presenting the 2007 Los Angeles Times Book Prizes (http://www.latimes.com/extras/bookprizes/) will be Jim Newton (Biography), Scott Simon (Current Interest), Ngugi Wa Thiong'O (Fiction), Susan Salter Reynolds (First Fiction - the Art Seidenbaum Award), Douglas Brinkley (History), Paula Woods (Mystery/Thriller), Mark Doty (Poetry), David L. Ulin (the Robert Kirsch Award), Dava Sobel (Science and Technology) and Francesca Lia Block (Young Adult Fiction). The awards ceremony will lead off the 13th annual Los Angeles Times Festival of Books (http://www.latimes.com/extras/festivalofbooks/), one of the nation's premier public literary festivals and the largest of its kind on the West Coast, held April 26-27 on the UCLA campus. The Los Angeles Times Book Prizes were established in 1980. Each Book Prize includes a $1,000 cash award. The named awards commemorate the life and work of Robert Kirsch, who served as The Times' book critic for more than 25 years prior to his death in 1980, and of the late Art Seidenbaum, who founded the Book Prizes. Finalists were selected by eight three-member committees (the fiction panel covers both the fiction and first fiction categories) and most judges are published authors and serve a two-year term. None of the judges, except for the Kirsch award, are current Los Angeles Times employees. There is no nationality requirement for author nominees in any category. With the exception of significant new translations of a deceased author's work, all authors should be living at the time of U.S. publication. 2007 Book Prize Finalists Biography Current Interest Fiction Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction History Mystery/Thriller Poetry Science & Technology Young Adult Fiction Information about the awards ceremony and the Book Prize awards program is available at http://www.latimesbookprizes.com/ or by calling 1-800-LATIMES, x72366.
About the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books was created in 1996 to promote literacy, celebrate the written word, and bring together those who create books with the people who love to read them. Between 130,000 and 140,000 people attend the event annually. General event information is available online at http://latimesfestivalofbooks.com/ or by calling 1-800-LA TIMES, ext. 7BOOK. Detailed speaker and event information will be provided in the official festival program, which will be published in the April 20th edition of the Los Angeles Times. About the Los Angeles Times The Los Angeles Times (http://www.latimes.com/) is the largest metropolitan daily newspaper in the country, with a daily readership of 2.2 million and 3.2 million on Sunday, and a combined print and interactive monthly audience of 4.9 million. The Los Angeles Times and its media businesses and affiliates - including The Envelope ( First Call Analyst:
CONTACT: Nancy Sullivan of Los Angeles Times, +1-213-237-6160, Web site: http://www.latimes.com/
2008-02-28 20:39:09 0301377 PRNEWSWIRE
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