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PHILADELPHIA — The Black Caucus of the ¾«¶«´«Ã½, Inc. (BCALA) announced the winners of the 2014 BC¾«¶«´«Ã½Literary Awards during the Midwinter Meeting of the ¾«¶«´«Ã½ in Philadelphia. The awards recognize excellence in adult fiction and nonfiction by African American authors published in 2013, including an award for Best Poetry and a citation for Outstanding Contribution to Publishing. The recipients will receive the awards during the 2014 Annual Conference of the ¾«¶«´«Ã½ in Las Vegas.

The winner of the 1st Novelist Award is "The Supremes at Earl's All-You-Can-Eat: A Novel" by Edward Kelsey Moore (Alfred A. Knopf).

The Fiction category winner is "The Good Lord Bird: A Novel" by James McBride (Riverhead). The Honor Book for Fiction is The Residue Years: A Novel by Mitchell S. Jackson (Bloomsbury).

The winner in the Nonfiction category is "Ebony & Ivy: Race, Slavery, and the Troubled History of America's Universities" by Craig Steven Wilder (Bloomsbury).

Honor Books for Nonfiction are "Envisioning Emancipation: Black Americans and the End of Slavery" by Deborah Willis and Barbara Krauthamer (Temple University Press); "Kansas City Lightning: The Life and Times of Young Charlie Parker" by Stanley Crouch (Harper); and Soul Food: The Surprising Story of an American Cuisine, One Plate at a Time by Adrian Miller (The University of North Carolina Press).

The BC¾«¶«´«Ã½Literary Awards Committee presents the Outstanding Contribution to Publishing Citation to "Soul Train: The Music, Dance, and Style of a Generation" by Ahmir "Questlove” Thompson (Harper Design).

The winner for BCALA’s Best Poetry Award is "Chasing Utopia: A Hybrid " by Nikki Giovanni (William Morrow). The Honor Book for Poetry is "Turn Me Loose: The Unghosting of Medgar Evers" Frank X. Walker (University of Georgia Press).

Members of the BC¾«¶«´«Ã½Literary Awards Jury are: Gladys Smiley Bell (Chair), Hampton University; Jennifer Baxmeyer, Princeton University; Tracy Crawford, Queens Library’s Langston Hughes Community Library and Cultural Center; Carolyn Garnes, Atlanta; DL Grant, San Antonio Public Library; John Page, Washington, D.C.; and Apryl Price, Florida State University.

BC¾«¶«´«Ã½Literary Award Seals () are available for purchase and may be displayed on these 2014 winners as well as all previous winners.

Publishers interested in submitting books for the 2015 awards should contact Gladys Smiley Bell, Chair, at gladys.bell@hamptonu.edu

Contact:

Gladys Smiley Bell

Chair, BC¾«¶«´«Ã½Literary Awards Committee

757-727-5185

gladys.bell@hamptonu.edu