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N.C. Book Awards Honor Literature And History

Contact:
For more information contact Michael Hill at (919) 807-7288 or
Joe Newberry at (919) 807-7391 .

( RALEIGH) – The North Carolina Book Awards for 2005, part of a daylong celebration of North Carolina literature and history, will be presented at the joint meeting of the North Carolina Literary and Historical Association and the Federation of North Carolina Historical Societies on Friday, Nov. 18, in Raleigh.

The day’s events begin at 1 p.m. with a focus on “Zeb Vance in War and Reconstruction.” The free afternoon program, which will feature speakers and several awards, will be held in the Archives and History auditorium, 109 East Jones St., in downtown Raleigh.

The evening program begins at 5 p.m. with a social hour and dinner at the N.C. Museum of History, followed by the presentation of the 2005 North Carolina Book Awards. Registration for the social hour and dinner is $40. Call the N.C. Office of Archives and History at (919) 807-7280 by Thursday, Nov. 10 to register.

This year’s winner of the Ragan Old North State Award is Thomas Rain Crowe for his memoir, “Zoro’s Field: My Life in the Appalachian Woods,” published by the University of Georgia Press. The award, which honors the year’s best work of nonfiction by a North Carolina resident, is named for Sam Ragan, former Poet Laureate of North Carolina and first secretary of the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources. The book, in the style of Thoreau’s “Walden,” is based on Crowe’s years of self-sufficient wilderness living in the woods of western North Carolina from 1979 to 1982. Crowe is a poet, translator, editor, publisher, anthologist, recording artist, and author of 12 books of original and translated works. He lives in Tuckaseegee.

Lawrence Naumoff will receive the Sir Walter Raleigh Award for Fiction for his latest work, “A Southern Tragedy, in Crimson and Yellow.” A fictionalized account of the tragic 1991 chicken plant fire in Hamlet, the book follows characters from 1919 through the fire, which killed 25 and injured scores more. Naumoff is the author of five previous novels, including “The Night of the Weeping Women,” “Rootie Kazootie,” Taller Women,” “Silk Hope, NC,” and “A Plan for Women.” A winner of the Whiting Writer’s Award, the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Award, and other literary prizes, Naumoff lives in Chatham County and teaches at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The Roanoke-Chowan Award for Poetry will be given to Alan Shapiro of Chapel Hill for “Tantalus in Love.” Shapiro’s latest work begins with the end of a marriage and traces a path that highlights the resilience of love. The author of eight books of poetry, including “Song and Dance” and “The Dead Alive and Busy,” Among his many honors Shapiro has received the Kingsley Tufts Award, the Los Angeles Times prize for poetry, and an Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature. He is the William R. Kenan Jr. Distinguished Professor of English and Creative Writing at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The American Association of University Women Award for Juvenile Literature will be given to Carole Boston Weatherford for her book “Freedom on the Menu: The Greensboro Sit-ins.” Set in Greensboro, in 1960, the story centers on Connie, a young girl who witnesses the struggles to desegregate the South, as her older brother and sister participate in the Greensboro sit-ins. Weatherford, a poet and essayist, has authored eight books, including “Me and the Family Tree,” “Mighty Menfolk,” “Juneteenth Jamboree,” “The Tan Chanteuse,” and “Sink or Swim: African-American Lifesavers of the Outer Banks.” She has won several literary awards and a North Carolina Arts Council fellowship. She lives in High Point.

The R. Hunt Parker Award for Literary Achievement for 2005 will be given to Jill McCorkle. A native of Lumberton, McCorkle made literary history when her first two novels, “The Cheerleader” and “July 7,” were published simultaneously by Algonquin Books in 1984. Of her eight works of fiction, five have been chosen by the New York TimesBook Review as Notable Books of the Year. She has taught writing at the University of North Carolina, Bennington College, Tufts University, and Harvard.

Brendan Mullen of Asheville will be presented this year’s Hugh T. Lefler Undergraduate Award for his paper, “The Trials of Wilbur Hobby: ‘Everything I Did, I Did for the Union.” The award recognizes the best paper on North Carolina history written by an undergraduate.

Lindley Butler is the recipient of the Christopher Crittenden Award for contributions to North Carolina history. Until his retirement, he was a professor of history at Rockingham Community College. He has served as a historical advisor and dive participant on the wreck of the presumed Queen Anne’s Revenge. Writing credits include the well-known textbook “The North Carolina Experience.” He often teaches courses at the Friday Center in Chapel Hill.

Student Publication Awards from the N.C. Literary and Historical Association recognize the best high school and middle school magazines:

High school recipients are :

First Place - Roars and Whispers, Providence High School, Charlotte
Second Place - Stone Soup, Enloe High School, Raleigh
Third Place-tie - Crinkum-Crankum, Northern Vance High School, Henderson
Third Place-tie - Pendragon, Providence Day School, Charlotte.

Middle School recipients are:

First Place - Illusions, LeRoy Martin Middle School, Raleigh
Second Place – Soli Deo Gloria, Christ Covenant School, Winterville
Third Place - The Classical Quill, Seventy-First Classical Middle School, Fayetteville.

The American Association of State and Local History Awards recognize outstanding projects for accomplishments in local, regional or state history. An Award of Merit goes to the Levine Museum of the New South for “The Courage Project,” which included an exhibition, programming, and outreach. Certificates of Commendation went to The History Place in Carteret County for diverse ongoing public programs and a series about the history of Carteret County; Betty J. Reed for the publication of “The Brevard Rosenwald School: Black Education and Community Buildings in a Southern Appalachian Town, 1920-1966; and Randolph P. Shaffner for the publication “Heart of the Blue Ridge: Highlands, North Carolina.”

The Currituck County Historical Association and the World War II Wilmington Homefront Heritage Coalition will receive the Albert Ray Newsome Award presented by the Federation of North Carolina Historical Societies. The award recognizes outstanding efforts to preserve and promote local history. The Currituck County Historical Association supports several archaeology and preservation programs in the area. The World War II Wilmington Homefront Heritage Coalition works to preserve the history and legacy of World War II veterans from Wilmington. Honorable mention goes to the Lincoln County Historical Association for the restoration of the Lincolnton Post Office mural.

Student awards and a number of other honors will be presented at the Archives and History/State Library Building on the afternoon of Friday, Nov. 18. Speakers include Joe Mobley whose talk is entitled "'War Governor of the South': Zeb Vance in the Confederacy;" Terrell Crow, who will speak on "'The South Expects Every Woman to Do Her Duty': Mary Bayard Clarke and Reconstruction;" and Gordon McKinney, who will speak on "Redemption of a Redeemer: Democratic Hegemony and Zeb Vance's Third Gubernatorial Term, 1877-1879".

The evening keynote address will be delivered by Paul Escott of Wake Forest University, who will speak on "'To Get Liberty, You Must First Lose It': The Militarized Confederacy.”

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