Black Writers Alliance Announces 2001 Gold Pen Award Nominees

The Black Writers Alliance has announced the nominees for the 2001 Gold Pen Awards recognizing the best in Black literature.

Dallas, TX - The Black Writers Alliance is proud to announce the 2001 Gold Pen Award Nominees. This year's Gold Pen Awards will be presented during the Gold Pen Awards Banquet on Saturday, August 4, 2001 at the 2001 Black Writers Reunion & Conference in Dallas, Texas.

The Black Writers Alliance established the Gold Pen Awards program to recognize the best in literature of the African Diaspora. The Gold Pen Awards are the only literary awards that honor multi-genre Black literature. The first Gold Pen Awards were presented at the 2000 Black Writers Reunion & Conference in Atlanta, GA. Past honorees include Kathleen Cross, Linda Hudson-Smith, Brandon Massey, Joan Morgan, Rochelle Alers, Beverly Jenkins, and Eva Rutland.

This year the Gold Pen Awards will be presented in 11 categories including New Author, Mainstream Fiction, Mystery/Thriller, Christian Fiction, Romantic Fiction, Romantic Fiction Collection, Novella/Short Story Collection, Poetry Collection, Anthology, Self-Help/Motivation Nonfiction, and Business/Finance Nonfiction. In addition to the competitive categories, the Black Writers Alliance will present the Lifetime Achievement Award to an author who has enjoyed a noteworthy literary career and the Vanguard Award to an outstanding literary professional. Recipients of the Lifetime Achievement and Vanguard Awards will be announced in June 2001.

2001 Gold Pen Award Nominees

Best New Author
Sharon Ewell Foster
Mat Johnson
Marcus Major
Bernice L. McFadden
Trisha R. Thomas

Best Mainstream Fiction
Drop - Mat Johnson
The Warmest December - Bernice L. McFadden
God Don't Like Ugly - Mary Monroe
Casting the First Stone - Kimberla Lawson Roby
Nappily Ever After - Trisha R. Thomas

Best Mystery/Thriller
Scream in Silence - Eleanor Taylor Bland
Mama Pursues Murderous Shadows - Nora DeLoach
Do or Die - Grace F. Edwards
Paradise Interrupted - Penny Mickelbury
High Hand - Gary Phillips
Killing Kin - Chassie West

Best Christian Fiction
Awakening Mercy - Angela Benson
Ain't No River - Sharon Ewell Foster
Passing by Samaria - Sharon Ewell Foster
To Whom Much Is Given - Maurice M. Gray, Jr.

Best Romantic Fiction
Private Passions - Rochelle Alers
Beyond Desire - Gwynne Forster
True Love - Brenda Jackson
If You Want Me - Kayla Perrin
Soul's Desire - Simona Taylor

Best Romantic Fiction Collection
Island Magic - Rochelle Alers, Shirley Hailstock, Marcia King-Gamble, and Felicia Mason
Della's House of Style - Rochelle Alers, Donna Hill, Felicia Mason, and Francis Ray
Welcome to Leo's - Rochelle Alers, Donna Hill, Francis Ray, and Brenda Jackson
Midnight Clear: An Indigo Holiday Collection - Leslie Esdaile, Gwynne Forster, Carmen Green, Monica Jackson, and Donna Hill (ed.)
Something to Celebrate - Felicia Mason, Margie Walker, and Brenda Jackson

Best Novella/Short Story Collection
The Future Has a Past - J. California Cooper
Got to be Real: Four Original Love Stories - Eric Jerome Dickey, E. Lynn Harris, Colin Channer, and Marcus Major
Brown Sugar: A Collection of Erotic Black Fiction - Carol Taylor (ed.)
Til' Death Do Us Part - Franklin White
Blackberries, Blackberries - Crystal Wilkinson

Best Poetry Collection
Songlines in Michaeltree - Michael S. Harper
The Gospel of Barbecue - Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
Someone is Sleeping in My Head - Richard A. Parks, Jr.
Passion, Pride, and Politickin' - Jamal Sharif
Ancient Tradition, Soul Poetry - David Weeks

Best Anthology
Butterfly's Way: Voices from the Haitian Dyaspora in the United States - Edwidge Danticat (ed.)
Tenderheaded: A Comb-Bending Collection of Hair Stories - Juliette Harris and Pamela Johnson (eds.)
Step Into A World: A Global Anthology of the New Black Literature - Kevin Powell (ed.)
Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora - Sheree R. Thomas (ed.)
Giant Steps: The New Generation of African American Writers - Kevin Young (ed.)

Best Self-Help/Motivation Nonfiction
10 Good Choices That Empower Black Women's Lives - Dr. Grace Cornish
Souls of My Sisters: Black Women Break Their Silence, Tell Their Stories, and Heal Their Spirits - Dawn Marie Daniels and Candace Sandy (eds.)
All The Joy You Can Stand: 101 Sacred Power Principles for Making Joy Real in Your Life - Debrena Jackson Gandy
If Men are Life Buses: Then How Do I Catch One? - Michelle McKinney Hammond
Being Black: Zen and the Art of Living with Fearlessness and Grace - Angel Kyodo Williams

Best Business/Finance Nonfiction
Girl, Get Your Money Straight: A Sister's Guide to Healing Your Bank Account and Funding Your Dreams in 7 Simple Steps - Glinda Bridgforth
Investing in the Dream: Personal Welath-Building Strategies for African-Americans in Search of Financial Freedom - Jesse B. Brown
Money, Power, Respect: What Brothers Think, What Sisters Know - Denene Millner and Nick Chiles
The Debt: What America Owes to Blacks - Randall Robinson
Wealth Happens one Day at a Time: 365 Days to a Brighter Financial Future - Brooke M. Stephens

For more information on the 2001 Gold Pen Awards and the 2001 Black Writers Reunion & Conference, please visit the web site at www.blackwriters.org/conference.

About Black Writers Alliance
Founded in 1998, the Black Writers Alliance (BWA) is a 501(c)(3) Internet-based literary arts association which educates, informs, empowers, and supports Black writers of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama while promoting the Internet as a tool for research and fellowship. The premier online resource for writers of the African Diaspora, BWA encourages quality in Black literature; honors excellencce in literary artistry; and distributes resources and information on publishing, skill development, contests, fellowships, freelance and career writing opportunities to over 3,000 members and subscribers around the world. For more information, visit the web site at www.blackwriters.org.