Poignant Story of Orphan Girl From Africa Who Goes On To Lead Nation Wins - National Indie Excellence Book Award Finalist in Multicultural Category

Long Walk Up earned honors with the National Indie Excellence Book Awards at Book Expo America.

Philadelphia, PA (PRWEB) July 9, 2007 -- National Indie Excellence Book Award winners were announced in New York City at Book Expo America, the country's premiere book event. Previous attendees at Book Expo America include Oprah Winfrey, actress Victoria Rowell, Ken Lombard, president of Starbucks Entertainment, jazz legend Wynton Marsalis, bestselling authors Mark Victor Hansen (Chicken Soup for the Soul books), Eric Jerome Dickey, Delores Thornton, Maxine Thompson and Carl Weber, to name a few. When front runners in this year's National Indie Excellence Book Awards were announced at Book Expo America, Long Walk Up (www.chistell.com), the emotionally gripping story of a young girl from East Africa earned honors.

This tautly written book is a significant contribution to art and community. Central to Long Walk Up is one of the world's most common infectious diseases -- malaria. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) reports that historically between 350-500 people each year contracted malaria and nearly one million people a year transitioned due to the disease. Recently the United Nations formed the organization Nothing But Nets to gain our global citizens triumph over malaria.

Long Walk Up is the fourth book by Denise Turney, a mother, a human resources senior specialist and an educator. Turney shares that, "Long Walk Up came to me as I drove down Route 1 to Princeton. It was a warm summer's day. By the time I reached my destination, the foundation for Long Walk Up was laid. The uniqueness in the way the story was delivered to me influences the power of the book itself." Turney goes on to state that, "Mulukan is an unforgettable heroine. Not only is she the book's main character, she is only six years old. This child is pushed into the street alone after her mother dies from malaria. This remarkable child's story gives readers an honest look at tragedy and unforeseen coincidences, events that become the threads in the fabric of the human landscape. It is these undeniable threads that Long Walk Up centralizes while it celebrates the inextinguishable passion of the human spirit," Turney tells us.

Yaba Blay of Temple University's Department of African American Studies, says this about the book: "Long Walk Up breathes life into the resiliency of the African spirit. Through Turney, Mulukan easily leaves the pages and enters our hearts. You too will be encouraged to take the Long Walk Up."

Long Walk Up's writer Denise Turney is the author of the books Portia, Love Has Many Faces, Spiral, Long Walk Up and Open Something In Your Heart to Love (due out in 2009). Turney is currently writing a book for Thomson Education's ESL book series. Denise Turney's works have appeared in Parade, Essence, Ebony, Emerge, Sapphire, The Trenton Times, The Pittsburgh Quarterly and Obsidian II. Long Walk Up is available at bookstores upon request and at www.chistell.com.

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