By The Society of Midland Authors
PRESS RELEASE
SOCIETY OF MIDLAND AUTHORS ANNOUNCES AWARDS
The Society of Midland Authors announces the winners of its annual awards. The society will hold its annual banquet and awards presentation May 13 at the Hotel InterContinental in Chicago, emceed by Victoria Lautman.
CHICAGO-AREA AUTHORS HONORED: The winners include one Chicago-area resident, Judith Testa of St. Charles, who wrote the top biography, Sal Maglie: Baseball’s Demon Barber. Finalists include Tony Romano of Glen Ellyn, who teaches at Fremd High School in Palatine; Marlene Targ Brill of Wilmette; and Ann Hagedorn, who began writing Savage Peace while she was living in Chicago. In addition, Myrna Petlicki of Skokie will receive the James Friend Memorial Award for Criticism at the banquet.
The following are the winners and finalists for books by Midwest authors published in 2007.
ADULT FICTION
WINNER
Matthew Eck, “The Farther Shore, Milkweed Editions
(Author’s hometown: Kansas City, Mo.)
FINALISTS
Tony Romano, When the World Was Young, HarperCollins
(Author’s hometown: Glen Ellyn, Ill.)
Benjamin Percy, Refresh, Refresh: Stories, Graywolf Press
(Author’s hometown: Stevens Point, Wis.; formerly of Milwaukee)
Brock Clarke, An Arsonist’s Guide to Writers’ Homes in New England, Algonquin Books (Author’s hometown: Cincinnati, Ohio)
ADULT NONFICTION
WINNER
Patricia Hampl, The Florist’s Daughter, Harcourt
(Author’s hometown: Minneapolis, Minn.)
FINALISTS
Barbara Oakley, Evil Genes: Why Rome Fell, Hitler Rose, Enron Failed and My Sister Stole My Mother’s Boyfriend
(Author’s hometown: Rochester, Mich.; formerly Port Townsend and Seattle, Wash.)
Ann Hagedorn, Savage Peace: Hope and Fear in America, 1919, Simon & Schuster
(Author’s hometown: Ripley, Ohio; formerly of Chicago and Dayton, Ohio)
BIOGRAPHY
WINNER
Judith Testa, Sal Maglie: Baseball’s Demon Barber, Northern Illinois University Press (Author’s hometown: St. Charles, Ill.)
FINALISTS
Robert E. Bonner, William F. Cody’s Wyoming Empire: The Buffalo Bill Nobody Knows, University of Oklahoma Press (Author’s hometown: Northfield, Minn.)
Robert Collins, Jim Lane: Scoundrel, Statesman, Kansan, Pelican Publishing Co.
(Author’s hometown: Andover, Kan.)
CHILDREN’S FICTION
WINNER
Gary D. Schmidt, The Wednesday Wars, Clarion Books
(Author’s hometown: Alto, Mich.)
FINALISTS
Roderick Townley, The Red Thread: A Novel in Three Incarnations, Simon & Schuster
(Author’s hometown: Shawnee Mission, Kan.)
Nancy Crocker, Billie Standish Was Here, Simon & Schuster
(Author’s hometown: Minneapolis, Minn.)
Joan M. Wolf, Someone Named Eva, Clarion Books
(Author’s home state: Minnesota)
CHILDREN’S NONFICTION
WINNER
Cris Peterson, Clarabelle: Making Milk and So Much More, Boyds Mills Press
(Author’s hometown: Grantsburg, Wis.)
FINALISTS
Dawn Fitzgerald, Vinnie and Abraham, Charlesbridge Publishing Co.
(Author’s hometown: Pepper Pike, Ohio)
Marlene Targ Brill, Marshall ‘Major’ Taylor: World Champion Bicyclist, 1899-1901, Twenty-First Century Books
(Author’s hometown: Wilmette, Ill.)
POETRY
WINNER
Jeff Gundy, Spoken among the Trees, University of Akron Press
(Author’s hometown: Bluffton, Ohio)
FINALIST
Donald Platt, My Father Says Grace, University of Arkansas Press
(Author’s hometown: West Lafayette, Ind.)
JAMES FRIEND MEMORIAL AWARD FOR CRITICISM
Myrna Petlicki (freelance theater critic, Skokie, Ill.)
DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARD
Phyllis Ford Choyke (Elmhurst, Ill.)
The Society, founded in 1915 by a group of authors including Hamlin Garland, Harriet Monroe and Vachel Lindsay, has given out awards on an annual basis since 1957. The juried competition is open to authors who live in, were born in, or have strong ties to Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota or Wisconsin. Notable winners over the years have included Saul Bellow, Studs Terkel, Gwendolyn Brooks, Mike Royko, Jane Smiley and Scott Turow. Prizes include a cash award and recognition plaque. Since 2002, the Society has also presented the James Friend Memorial Award for Literary Criticism at its awards banquet.
Emcee Victoria Lautman is the founder, host and executive producer of Writers on the Record With Victoria Lautman, which airs on WFMT 98.7 FM, featuring her interviews with authors in front of an audience at Lookingglass Theatre. Lautman also writes a monthly books column in Chicago magazine.
The Society of Midland Authors awards banquet will be Tuesday, May 13, at the Hotel InterContinental, 505 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago. Cocktails begin at 6 p.m. in the Camelot Room, followed by dinner at 7 p.m. Tickets are $60. To order tickets, fill out the form at the Society’s Web page.
Posted on April 30, 2008