Essence Magazine: Best Books of 2007, Part Two

Categories: Award Winners , African American

In an entry dated January 10, I promised to follow up with the final list of award winners in the first annual Essence Magazine Literary Awards.   In a glittering ceremony in New York City, the awards were announced on February 8, and the Essence website offers a photo gallery of many of the honorees.  Lifetime Achievement Award winner Terry McMillan was looking very stylish as she announced that she is working on a sequel to her big breakout novel from 1992, Waiting to Exhale.  Describing the impact of a life immersed in books, McMillan said, “I don’t know where I would be without words and stories.”

ESSENCE LITERARY AWARD WINNERS - 2007

POETRY: Duende by Tracy K. Smith
CURRENT AFFAIRS: An Unbroken Agony by Randall Robinson
PRESIDENT'S AWARD: Reposition Yourself by T.D. Jakes
PHOTOGRAPHY: Daufuskie Island by Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe
CHILDREN'S BOOKS: Marvelous World by Troy Cle
MEMOIR: Brother, I'm Dying by Edwidge Danticat
NON-FICTION: Supreme Discomfort by Michael Fletcher and Kevin Merida
INSPIRATION: Quiet Strength by Tony Dungy
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD: Terry McMillan
FICTION: The Pirate's Daughter by Margaret Cezair-Thompson
STORYTELLER OF THE YEAR: L.A. Banks