BTW News Briefs

2007 PEN Literary Awards Announced

On May 3, Francine Prose, president of PEN American Center, the national association of literary writers, and Benjamin Taylor, secretary of PEN American Center, announced the recipients of the 2007 PEN Literary Awards. This year, two new awards will be presented: The PEN/Saul Bellow Award for Achievement in American Fiction, to Philip Roth, and The PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction, to James Carroll for House of War (Houghton Mifflin). The awards ceremony will be in New York City in the evening of Monday, May 21, at the Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center. Francine Prose and Michael Cunningham will host. The full list of winners is available on the PEN website.

Quills Awards to Return

The 2007 Quill Awards, supported by Reed Business Information (RBI) and the NBC Universal Television Stations, will be presented on October 22 during a gala ceremony at Frederick P. Rose Hall, Home of Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City. Produced by Al Roker Entertainment, Inc., the awards program will be carried by the NBC Universal Television Stations and syndicated through NBC Universal Television Distribution to local markets nationwide on October 27. MSNBC.com and the NBC Universal Television Stations will augment their exclusive coverage of the Quills in support of this year's voting process and program.

The list of nominated authors, chosen by Quills/Publisher Weekly Selection Committee, will be announced at BookExpo America in New York City on June 2.

NBCC Holds "Save the Book Review Read-In!"

As part of the National Book Critics Circle's Campaign to Save Book Reviewing, and in response to the Atlanta Journal Constitution's elimination of the position of book review editor, NBCC held a "Save the Book Review READ-IN!" on May 3, at 10:00 a.m., in the front of the AJC building. The organization invited "any and all readers and lovers of books, newspapers and literary discussion" to "bring a book (or many books!) you love, and ... create a critical mass of readers to put the pressure on the Atlanta Journal-Constitution to reverse its terrible decision to 'reorganize' its book review out of existence!"

Jane Addams Children's Book Awards Winners Announced

On April 27, the Jane Addams Peace Association, the educational arm of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, announced the winners of the 2007 Jane Addams Children's Book Awards. A Place Where Sunflowers Grow by Amy-Lee Tai, illustrated by Felicia Hoshino (Children's Book Press) is the winner in the Books for Younger Children category and Weedflower by Cynthia Kadohata (Atheneum Books for Young Readers) is the winner in the Books for Older Children category. Both books draw on personal family history to create stories about Japanese-American girls living in internment camps in the United States during World War II.