Oklahoma Center for the Book. 1999 Oklahoma Book Award Program.;

              Oklahoma Book Awards
 Books and Authors
Welcome
to the Tenth Annual
Oklahoma Book Awards
Ceremony
A Celebration of Oklahoma Books and Authors
March 13, 1999
National Cowboy Hall of Fame
and Western Heritage Center
Oklahoma City
1999 Oklahoma Book Awards
Welcome ...... . .... ... .. . . . ................... .. . . .......... . ........ Liz Codding
President, Oklahoma Center for the Book
Greetings .. ..... . .. .. . ......... . ............ .. . .. . .. . ... . .. ........... John Y. Cole
Center for the Book in the Library of Congress
Master of Ceremonies ........ . ... . ......... . . .. ......... . . . ........ . Daniel Blanchard
Past President, Oklahoma Center for the Book
Tenth Anniversary Celebration
The First Book Award Celebration Aarone Corwin
Past Executive Director, Oklahoma Center for the Book
Presentation of Special Service Awards
Past Presidents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Presented by Liz Codding
President, Oklahoma Center for the Book
Former Executive Directors .. . . . ....... . ... .. .. . . ... .... . ..... Presented by Glenda Carlile
Executive Director, Oklahoma Center for the Book
Distinguished Service . . . .... .. . . .. .. ... . ........... . .......... Presented by David Clark
Chair, Oklahoma Book Award Committee
Presentation of Book Awards
Poetry .. . ............ . .... . ............................. Presented by Carol Hamilton
Oklahoma Book Award Medalist, 1992
Non-Fiction Award . . .. . .... . ............ . ........ . ... . ..... Presented by Marilyn Geiger
Board of Directors, Oklahoma Center for the B,ook
ChildrenlYoung Adult Award .. . . ..... . ..... .. .. . . . .... . . . ...... . Presented by Joe Holmes
Oklahoma Independent Booksellers Association
Design/Illustration Award .. . ....... . .... . .. .... . .. .. .... . .. ... . . Presented by Kim Doner
Oklahoma Book Award Medalist, 1 996
Fiction Award . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Presented by Eve K. Sandstrom
Oklahoma Book Award Medalist, 1994
Lifetime Achievement Award . . .... ... . ............... . .... . .. . Presented by George Singer
Oklahoma Business and Civic Leader
You're invited to an after-party!
Join us at Full Circle Books, 50 Penn Place,
Immediately following tonight's ceremony
Special Service Awards
Past Presidents
Arrell Gibson (deceased), first president of the Oklahoma Center for the Book.
The center's lifetime achievement award is named for Dr. Gibson, a historian.
Dan Blanchard, president of the Oklahoma Center for the Book, 1988-1990 and
Master of Ceremonies for nine of the Oklahoma Book Award programs. Director and
president of the American Institute of Discussion from 1961 to the present, Blanchard
is also co-owner of the Grapevi ne Gallery
David Clark, president of the Center from 1992 to 1994. Clark is Associate Editor of
the University of Oklahoma's quarterly journal World Literature Today - sponsor of
the Neustadt International Prize for Literature and the Puterbaugh Conferences on
World Literature.
Glenda Carlile, president of the Center from 1994 to 1996. Carli Ie is present ex­ecutive
director of the Oklahoma Center for the Book. She is an author and speaker
who was honored in 1997 by the American Association of State and Local History for
promoting Oklahoma history.
Laurie Sundborg, president of the Center from 1996 to 1998. Sundborg is Adult
Resource Coordinator with the Tulsa City-County Library System. She is 1998-99
chairman of the Oklahoma Library Association's Intellectual Freedom Committee,
and a board member of the Oklahoma Center for Poets and Writers.
Past Executive Directors
Aarone Corwin, first executive director of the Oklahoma Center for the Book.
Corwin helped the Center get started, and she initiated the Book Awards. She served
as Executive Director from 1988 to 1990 and still serves on the board of directors.
She is the Federal Programs Coordinator for Choctaw/Nicoma Park Schools.
Ann Hamilton, executive director of the Center from 1990 to 1996. Hamilton is
editor of the Oklahoma Almanac, the state's "official information source." She is on
the Center's board of directors. As program chairman she has produced the videos
I
and slide presentations for several Book Award dinners. She has been an instructor of
communication at the University of Central Oklahoma for seven years.
(Special Awards continued on next page)
Distinguished Service Awards
Daniel Boorstin, Librarian of Congress Emeritus. Boorstin is founder of the Center
for the Book in the Library of Congress and the outreach program which established
state centers. Dr. Boorstin grew up in Tulsa. He received the Oklahoma Center's
Arrell Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award in 1990.
John Y. Cole, Director, Center for the Book in the Library of Congress. Cole has
directed the Center since its beginning in 1977. Under his leadership, the Center has
developed a network of 36 affiliated state centers, more than 50 national and civic
organizations, and several centers for the study of the history of the book located in
academic and research organizations. He is also an author and an authority on the
history of the Library of Congress.
Robert L. Clark, Director, Oklahoma Department of Libraries. Clark directed his
'staff to apply for establishment of a state center for the book, and ODL has housed
the Center since its inception. As ODL director, Clark also serves as the State Archivist
and State Records Administrator.
Lee Brawner, Director of the Metropolitan Library System. Brawner served on the
original advisory board of the Oklahoma Center for the Book. During his 27-year
tenure at Metropolitan Library System, he helped the system grow from six to nine­teen
libraries serving the county. He retires in September of this year.
1999 Oklahoma Book Award Finalists
Poetry
Thirty-Seven Years from the Stone by Mark Cox
Cox's first book, Smoulder, won for him a Whiting Writers' Award and a Bread Loaf
Fellowship. In Thirty-Seven Years from the Stone, the author explores different types
of love, and his homey scenes often feature a twist, lending his poetry a bittersweet
quality. Cox directs the creative writing program at Oklahoma State University.
Smoldering by Wendell Graham
Subtitled "Poems of Romance," Smoldering is a paean to romantic and erotic love.
Graham is currently working on other projects at his home in Oklahoma City, where
(the book jacket tells us) "he is visited, occasionally, by a cat named Oreo."
Just a Drop in the Bucket by Frederick A. Olds
Familial love, nature, pioneers and cowboy days all come into play in Just a Drop in
the Bucket. Olds is a "buckeye" by birth and a "Sooner" by choice. He is sculptor of
The Wedding, which celebrates the joining of Oklahoma and Indian Territories to
form the new State of Oklahoma. The sculpture stands in front of the Oklahoma
Territorial Museum in Guthrie. Olds and his wife, Flo, live near Guthrie.
Non-Fiction
From Oklahoma To Eternity:
The Life of Wiley Post and the Winnie Mae by Bob Burke
Part of the Oklahoma Trackmaker Series, published by the Oklahoma Heritage
Association, Burke brings to life the story of one of Oklahoma's heroes. This is the
first biography of Wiley Post. Burke was born in Broken Bow, Oklahoma, and now
practices law and writes books in Oklahoma City.
Red Blood and Black Ink: Journalism in the Old West by David Dary
Newspapers in the Old West had tremendous influence, oftening directing these
societies more than politics. This is an exuberant and evocative account of the roles
of journalists and their publications at the turn of the century. Dary is a native of
Kansas, and now is head of the H.H. Herbert School of Journalism and Mass Commu­nication
at the University of Oklahoma in Norman.
The Cold-and-Hunger Dance by Diane Glancy
A bold and stimulating collection of essays, this volume is an imaginative and honest
account of journeys to and from the margins of memory, everyday life, and different
cultural worlds. Glancy's Cherokee heritage and Christian faith empower her to tell
several stories at once. Glancy is an associate professor of English at Macalester Col­lege.
The Red Hourglass: Lives of the Predators by Gordon Grice
We are brought face to fanged face with the inadequacy of our distinctions between
normal and abnormal, dead and alive, innocent and evil, in this collection of essays.
Grice charts the simple brutality of the lives of the predators found in his rural Okla­homa
home.
Our Souls to Keep: Black/White Relations in America by George Henderson
In this personal and practical look at black/white relations in the United States,
Henderson, writing primarily for white Americans, offers a window into black Ameri­can
culture. He discusses race relations frankly and offers practical suggestions for
dealing effectively with cultural differences. Henderson is dean of the College of
Liberal Studies, and Regents' Professor of Human Relations, Education and Sociology
at the University of Oklahoma.
Securing the Fruits of Labor:
The American Concept of Wealth Distribution 1765-1900 by James L. Huston
An examination of beliefs about wealth distribution, leading to the conclusion that '
Americans' earliest economic attitudes were formed during Revolutionary times and
remained virtually unchanged until the close of the nineteenth century. Huston is an
associate professor of history at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater.
Family Matters, Tribal Affairs by Carter Revard
A moving memoir by one of our most accomplished Native American poets, Revard
dedicates these essays to "those who grow, who build, who keep things working, who
have always helped and keep on helping." Revard, a Rhodes Scholar, is professor of
English at Washington University in St. Louis. He grew up on the Osage Reservation
in Oklahoma. Revard received the Oklahoma Book Award in 1994 for poetry.
Oil, Wheat, & Wobblies: The Industrial Workers
of the World in Oklahoma, 1905-1930 by Nigel Anthony Sellars
The Industrial Workers of the World (lWW), a radical labor union, played an impor­tant
role in Oklahoma from the founding of the union in 1905 until its demise in
1930. Sellars describes union efforts to organize migratory harvest hands and oil-field
workers. The rise and fall of the IWW in Oklahoma explains much about the failure
of the labor movement in the U.S. during the 1920s. Sellars is instructor of history at
the University of Oklahoma.
Euphemism, Spin, and the Crisis in Organizational Life by Howard F. Stein
This book, about deception and self-deception in and beyond the workplace, focuses
on the psychological, ethical, cultural, and spiritual dilemmas that cannot be reduced
to a mere business crisis. Stein explores the role of euphemism in the official doc­trines
and public claims of business, including how people experience the trauma of
mass layoffs and turmoil in the workplace. Stein is professor in the Department of
Family and Preventive Medicine, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in
Oklahoma City.
Turning Toward Home: The Art of Jean Richardson by Joan Carpenter Troccoli
Art historian Troccoli traces Richardson's development as an artist from her formative
period to the present. Included in the volume are more than 250 reproductions of
Richardson's paintings, prints, sculpture, and drawings from childhood. Troccoli is
deputy director of the Denver Art Museum and a former director of the Thomas
Gilcrease Institute of American History and Art in Tulsa.
Children!Young Adult
The Flimflam Man by Darleen Bailey Beard
Beard was inspired by the true story of a flimflam man who bamboozled the town of
Wetumka, Oklahoma in 1950. The author lives in Tuttle with her husband, Danny,
and their two children, Spencer and Karalee.
Broken Chords by Barbara Snow Gilbert
Gilbert's first book, Stone Water, won the 1997 Oklahoma Book Award, and was
named a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year. Broken Chords is the story of
seventeen-year-old Clara Lorenzo, whose coming-of-age experience occurs during a
highly charged, internationally renowed piano competition.
This Land is Your Land by Woody Guthrie
Guthrie's celebratory ballad, written toward the end of the great depression, is also a
call for justice and dignity for all of America's people. With paintings by Kathy
Jakobsen, a tribute by Pete Seeger, and sheet music of the chorus, the book becomes
a mixed-media experience for children.
The First Starry Night by Joan Shaddox Isom
Based on Vincent van Gogh's time in Aries, France, this book tells the story of the
painter's friendship with a young boy named Jacques. Through this unique friend­ship,
Jacques learns a new way to look at the world around him. Isom received her
B.A. in Education from the University of Central Oklahoma. Her paintings have won
awards in the U.S.A. and Europe.
Chico & Dan by Harold Keith
Keith won the Newberry Medal for Rifles for Watie in 1958. In 1997 he received the
Arrell Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award from the Oklahoma Center for the Book.
Just before the publication of Chico & Dan, Mr. Keith died at the age of ninety-four.
He was the author of sixteen books, as well as a noted historian, long distance run­ner,
and barber shop quartet singer.
Ethan Between Us by Anna Myers
Myers is a two-time winner of the Oklahoma Book Award in the children and young
adult category. In Ethan Between Us, a jealous young girl betrays her friend, setting in
motion a tragic turn of events. A native Oklahoman, Myers lives in Chandler.
Rough Waters by S.L. Rottman
Mastering the art of survival- physical and emotional- is the theme of this work
by former Oklahoma school teacher Rottman. The author received the 1998 Okla­homa
Book Award for Hero. She now lives in Colorado Springs.
I Have Heard of a Land by Joyce Carol Thomas
This Ponca City native has won both the National Book Award and the Coretta Scott
King Award. Thomas writes that I Have Heard of a Land "is one story of the journey
of African-Americans to a place of hope, a hope connected to the yearning for
land-when land was another word for freedom."
Design/III ustration
I Have Heard of a Land Illustrations by Floyd Cooper
Cooper received a Coretta Scott King Award for his illustrations in Brown Honey in
Broomwheat Tea. Born and raised in Tulsa, Cooper now lives with his wife and
children in West Orange, New Jersey. He often returns to Oklahoma, where his
family still lives on the farm his great-grandfather staked in a land run.
Bison: Monarch of the Plains Photographs by David Fitzgerald
Fitzgerald has documented the beauty of Oklahoma thousands of times, and in 1996,
received the Outstanding Tourism Contributor award from the Oklahoma Depart­ment
of Tourism and Recreation . Fitzgerald's work is in several public and private
collections, including the Oklahoma State Arts Collection and the University of
Oklahoma's Museum of Art.
Oklahoma Crossroads Photographs by David Fitzgerald
The official photographer of Aerospace America, and a contributing editor of Okla­homa
Today magazine, Fitzgerald was a finalist for the 1994 and 1995 Oklahoma
Book Awards for design/illustration. Fitzgerald lives in Oklahoma City.
Turning Toward Home: The Art of Jean Richardson Designed by Carol Haralson
Haralson is a four-time Oklahoma Book Award winner; she received awards in 1991,
1993, 1997, and 1998. She lived in Tulsa for many years, and now lives in Sedona,
Arizona.
Home Run: The Story of Babe Ruth Illustrations by Michael Wimmer
The Chicago Sun- Times has described Wimmer's artwork as "reminiscent of some of
Norman Rockwell's best." Wimmer won the 1995 Oklahoma Book Award for design/
illustration for All the Places to Love. He lives with his family in Norman.
Fiction
Extreme Justice by William Bernhardt
The Vancouver Sun has dubbed Bernhardt lithe American equivalent of P.G.
Wodehouse and John Mortimer." The bestselling author has made the Book Award's
finalist list six times. He won in 1995 for Perfect justice. Bernhardt, wife Kirsten, and
children Harry and Alice live in Tulsa.
Flutie by Diane Glancy
Glancy is a poet, essayist and novelist who has won numerous awards, including the
first North American Indian Prose Award and the Capricorn Prize for poetry. In F/utie,
a young girl finds her voice amidst a hardscrabble life in western Oklahoma. Glancy is
also a finalist this year in the Non-Fiction category.
The Honk and Holler Opening Soon by Billie Letts
Letts' won the 1996 Oklahoma Book Award for Where the Heart Is. That book's
recent selection for Oprah Winfrey's Book Club has brought national fame to this
Oklahoma native. The Honk and Holler Opening Soon is another tale of small-town
Oklahoma life, and the healing power of love.
The Freshour Cylinders by Speer Morgan
Suspense, history, and strong storytelling combine in this book that author Robert
Olen Butler calls "a splendid achievement." Action takes place in Oklahoma and
Arkansas. Morgan is the author of four novels and a collection of stories. He is cur­rently
editor of The Missouri Review.
Paradise by Toni Morrison
This Pulitzer and Nobel Prize winning author's Paradise is called lithe strangest and
most original book that she has written" by The New Yorker. Morrison's inspiration
for this novel was the establishment of Oklahoma's all-black towns during the late
nineteenth century.
A World Away by Stewart O'Nan
Noted as one of America's best young writers, this former University of Central Okla­homa
professor won the 1997 Oklahoma Book Award for Names of the Dead. In A
World Away, universal truths are revealed in a story of one family's summer during
World War II.
Michael Wallis
Recipient of the
1999 Arrell Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award
Few people are as renowned for their writing about Oklahoma, its rich heritage
and its people. Michael Wallis's books about our state's history include:
• Route 66: The Mother Road
• Mankiller: A Chief and Her People
• Pretty Boy Floyd: The Life and Times of Charles Arthur Floyd
• Oil Man: The Story of Frank Phillips and the Birth of Phillips Petroleum
• Beyond the Hills: The Journey of Waite Phillips
• Way Down Yonder in the Indian Nation
• Oklahoma Crossroads (with photographer David Fitzgerald)
With his wife Suzanne Fitzgerald Wallis, he has coauthored Song Dog Diary: 66
Stories from the Road, and Greetings from the Mother Road: Route 66 Postcards.
Although not an Oklahoma native, Wallis considers himself an adopted "Okie."
Born in Missouri, he and his wife moved to Tulsa in 1982.
Wallis's books have been nominated for the National Book Award and on three
occasions for the Pulitzer Prize. He has won other prestigious awards and honors,
including the 1994 Lynn Riggs Award from Rogers State University in Claremore. In
1994, he was the first inductee into the Oklahoma Route 66 Hall of Fame. In 1996,
he was inducted into the Oklahoma Professional Writers Hall of Fame.
Also in 1996, he became the first recipient of the Steinbeck Award, presented by
the National Historic Route 66 Federation to honor Route 66 preservationists.
'Michael and Suzanne have been credited with helping revitalize "America's Main
Street" by leading Route 66 tours for the Smithsonian Institution and the National
Trust for Historic Preservation.
Wallis considers his latest book to be his biggest and his best. Ten years in the
making, The Real Wild West: The 101 Ranch and the Creation of the American West
will be officially released in Ponca City on March 27.
In 1999, Wallis will be inducted into the Missouri Writers Hall of Fame.
The Arrell Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award
The Arrell Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award is presented each year as
recognition for a body of work. This award was named for the Norman historian who
served as the first president of the Oklahoma Center for the Book.
Oklahoma Center for the Book
Officers and Board of Directors
Liz Codding is president. Liz is employed at Dunlap Codding and Rogers Law Firm. She
has previously been a school librarian, and a librarian for the Oklahoma County
Metropolitan Library System. She has been a member of the Center's Board of Directors
for eight years.
B.J. Williams is vice-president. B.J. is host of Read About It, the television program
sponsored by the Metropolitan Library System. She often highlights Oklahoma authors
on her program, and annually interviews book award finalists.
Kim Doner is secretary. She is an illustrator from Tulsa, who won the Design/Illustration
award at the 1996 Oklahoma Book Awards for Green Snake Ceremony. She has been the
artist for the Department of Libraries' annual summer reading program for the past three
years.
Gerry Willingham is treasurer. She is retired from the Putnam City School District,
where she served as director of the Library Media program.
The Oklahoma Center for the Book is a non-profit, S01-c-3 organization serving as
an outreach program of the Library of Congress Center for the Book. Oklahoma's Center,
begun in 1986, was the fourth state center formed. The mission of the Oklahoma Center
for the Book is to promote the past, current, and future works of Oklahoma authors; to
promote the literary heritage of the state; and to encourage reading for pleasure by
Oklahomans of all ages. The Oklahoma Center for the Book is governed by a volunteer
board of directors from across the state. They are listed below, except for officers named
above.
Hannah Atkins, Oklahoma City
William Bernhardt, Tulsa
Gale Bollinger, Oklahoma City
Diane Canavan, Shawnee
Glenda Carlile, Oklahoma City
David Clark, Norman
Robert L. Clark Jr., Oklahoma City
Aarone Corwin, Midwest City
Nance Diamond, Shawnee
Lennie Draper, Norman
Julia Fresonke, Edmond
Marilyn Geiger, Norman
Ann Hamilton, Edmond
Julie Hovis, Edmond
Ken Jackson, Tulsa
Bill McCloud, Pryor
Howard Meredith, Oklahoma City
Teresa Miller, Tulsa
Paulette Millichap, Tulsa
Joyce Pipps, Shawnee
Marcia Preston, Edmond
Eve K. Sandstrom, Lawton
Dean Sims, Tulsa
John Wooley, Tulsa
William R. Young, Oklahoma City
tO KLAHOMA CENTER FOR THE BOOK
Project Highlights, 1998-99
The Oklahoma Center for the Book in the Oklahoma Department of Libraries has partici­pated
in several events in the past twelve months, and has made commitments for events
later this year.
My Favorite Poem was a project sponsored by Nimrod literary magazine in Tulsa in May of
1998. The Center provided funds and many members attended the poetry readings by
business and civic leaders at Border Books.
The Center assisted with exhibits and book signings by Oklahoma authors at Oklahoma
City's Crossroads Mall in November of 1998, as part of the Oklahoma County literacy Fair.
Kids Caught Reading is an annual activity of the Ce nter, and is part of Oklahoma's Celebra­tion
of Reading (formerly known as National Young Readers Day). The Center will once
again give $25 prizes to ten students from across the state who are caught reading in their
spare time. The prizes will be presented at the Celebration of Reading on April 9, 1999 at
the Lazy-E Arena.
j
In another program which involves children, the center is cosponsoring, for the fifth year, the
~etters about literature competition. Nationally promoted by Weekly Reader and the
Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, students in grades 6 through 12 are asked to
write letters to the author of a book that affected them in some way. The Center awards a
total of $250 to writers of the top five letters.
The Oklahoma Center for the Book is also providing funds to the Oklahoma Library Associa­tion
to sponsor author Billie Letts' presentation at the association 's Friday night banquet
during their annual conference, March 24-27, 1999.
The Center continues to provide authors to libraries and schools, and hopes to initiate an
Oklahoma Authors database on the organization's website during 1999.
The Centers website address is www.odl.state.ok.uslocb
The Oklahoma Center for the Book wishes to thank
the judges for the 1999 competition. They were:
Dan Blanchard
Mary Ann Blochowiak
Kay Boies
David Clark
Evelyn Davis
Bettie Estes-Rickner
Kathryn Fanning
Karyn Gilman
Christopher Givans
Ann Hamilton
Rosemary Hardy
Gayle Jones
Carol Davis Koss
Bill McCloud
Louisa McCune
Howard Meredith
Donna Norvell
Dee Pierce
Byron Price
Diane See bass
Dewayne Smoot
William Struby
Leah Taylor
Jim Tolbert
Mary Woodman
The Center acknowledges the generous contributions
of the following organizations and individuals:
Best of Books, Edmond
Center for the Book in the Library of Congress
Dunlap, Codding and Rogers Patent Law Firm
Friends of the Metropolitan Library System
Full Circle Books, Oklahoma City
Metropolitan Library System
Jerry and Ruth Murphey
National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Center
Oklahoma City Hilton Hotel Northwest
Oklahoma Department of Libraries
Oklahoma Independent Booksellers Association
Prairie Wind Writers, Inc.
Steve's Books, Tulsa
Very special thanks to ...
Laurie Sundborg, Liz Codding, Kim Donner, Marcia Preston and Gail Bollinger
of the ceremony committee.
Proceeds from tonight's book sales will benefit
the Oklahoma Center for the Book
200 Northeast 18th Street
Oklahoma City, OK 73105·3298
http://www.odl.state.ok.us/ocb/
1·800·522·8116