Oklahoma Center for the Book. 2005 Oklahoma Book Award Program.

              Oklahoma
2005
Book Awards
Welcome to the
16th Annual
Oklahoma
Book Awards
Ceremony
A Celebration of Oklahoma
Books and Authors
2005 Oklahoma Book Awards
Welcome ............................................................................................................................................M.J. Van Deventer
President, Friends of the Oklahoma Center for the Book
Comments ................................................................................................................................................... Susan McVey
Director, Oklahoma Department of Libraries
Master of Ceremonies ................................................................................................................Linda Cavanaugh
News Anchor • KFOR-TV
Children/Young Adult Award Presentation ................................................................... Lynn McIntosh
President, Oklahoma Library Association
Non-fiction Award Presentation ..........................................................................................Laurie Sundborg
Board Member & Past President, Friends of the Oklahoma Center for the Book
Poetry Award Presentation ............................................................................................................. Gerald Hibbs
Board Member, Friends of the Oklahoma Center for the Book
Design/Illustration Award Presentation ......................................................................... Louisa McCune
Editor, Oklahoma Today
Fiction Award Presentation ......................................................................................................... Marcia Preston
2004 Fiction Award Winner
Special Presentations—Directors Award ..........................................................................Carol Hamilton
Member of the Awards Committee
Presidents Award ..............................................................................Liz Codding
Past President, Friends of the Oklahoma Center for the Book
Distinguished Service Award ...........................................Diane Seebass
Board Member, Friends of the Oklahoma Center for the Book
Ralph Ellison Award Presentation ............................................................................................Rodger Harris
Honoring Woody Guthrie Oral Historian, Oklahoma Historical Society
Accepted by Arlo Guthrie
2004 Arrell Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award ...................................................... Jane Fancher
Honoring C. J. Cherryh Science Fiction and Fantasy Author
Announcements and Drawing Glenda Carlile
Executive Director, Oklahoma Center for the Book
Music by Jill Justice and K.C. Mathey
The book sale and signing continues after dinner. Best of Books contributes all proceeds to the Friends of the Oklahoma Center for The Book.
Please enjoy visiting with the book award medalists and finalists.
Children/YounG Adults
We Go in a Circle��Peggy Perry Anderson—Walter Lorraine Books/Houghton Mifflin, Boston, MA
What happens to a racehorse that hurts its leg? In Anderson’s simple and sensitive story,
the horse finds a new mission through hippo therapy—the use of horseback riding to assist
children and adults with special needs. Anderson is a full-time elementary school teacher and
mother of three living in Owasso, Oklahoma. She has written and illustrated several picture
books for children featuring Joe the frog.
Rabbit Goes Duck Hunting—Deborah L. Duvall—Univ. of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, NM
This is the fifth title in Deborah Duvall and illustrator Murv Jacob’s series of Cherokee
Grandmother Stories. In this adventure, Rabbit, whose Cherokee name is Ji-Stu, tries to catch
the mighty Chief of All the Wood Ducks, and he will need all of his skills to escape a perilous
predicament. Duvall is the author of several other books on Cherokee history and legend. She
makes her home in Tahlequah, Oklahoma.
Simon Says—Molly Levite Griffis—Eakin Press, Austin, TX
Simon Says is the third title in Griffis’s World War II home front trilogy, which began with The
Rachel Resistance and continued with The Feester Filibuster. In the final chapter, the author takes
us back to Apache, Oklahoma, to tell the poignant story of an uprooted Jewish boy who loses
his identity but holds on to his life. The Rachel Resistance received the 2002 Oklahoma Book
Award. Griffis lives with her husband in Norman, Oklahoma.
Grand Canyon Rescue—Devon Mihesuah—Booklocker, Bangor, ME
Fourteen-year-old Tuli Black Wolf becomes separated from her tracker mother during a search
and rescue mission in the Grand Canyon. When Tuli finds the lost hunters, she must find a
way to save them and herself in this empowering adventure novel. The Oklahoma Writers’
Federation named Grand Canyon Rescue a Best Young Adult Novel. Oklahoma Choctaw
Devon Milhesuah has written extensively about American Indian histories and cultures. She is
professor of Applied Indigenous Studies at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona.
Hoggee—Anna Myers—Walker & Company, New York, NY
Howard and his brother Jack work as hoggees, driving the mules that pulled boats along the
Erie Canal. Howard stays behind on the canal during the winter in an attempt to outshine his
older, more charming brother. But when his job falls through, he finds himself in dire straits. In
the middle of his desperation, he meets a girl named Sarah, who suffers from her own unique
2005 Oklahoma Book Award Finalists
problem. Howard’s attempts to help Sarah will eventually reveal how he really compares to
his brother. Myers is a two-time Oklahoma Book Award winner and a perennial finalist in the
Children/Young Adult category.
The Gospel Cinderella—Joyce Carol Thomas—Joanna Cotler Books/Harper Collins, New York, NY
Cinderella sings and has a voice as flavorful as licorice in this original variation of the traditional
favorite. Instead of Prince Charming, there’s Prince Music. The evil stepmother is Crooked
Foster Mother, and instead of a ball, there’s the Great Gospel Convention! While there’s no
glass slipper to leave behind at the convention, there is an enchanted melody for the prince
to search for… and to find. Ponca City native Joyce Carol Thomas received the Center’s Arrell
Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001. She is also an Oklahoma Book Award winner for
her book of lullabies, Hush Songs.
No Dogs Allowed!—Bill Wallace—Holiday House, New York, NY
After losing Dandy, her family’s beloved horse, Kristine decides that she will never get close to
a pet again and go through that kind of heartbreak. So when her father gets her a new puppy,
the wiggling yellow ball of fur is not a welcome surprise. In Bill Wallace’s latest novel, a girl
learns to love, to lose, and to take a chance and open her heart again. Wallace’s books routinely
appear on state and children’s choice award lists. He is the Center for the Book’s Lifetime
Achievement Award Recipient for 2000. He lives in Chickasha, Oklahoma, with his wife and
daughters.
Non-Fiction
Living in the Land of Death: The Choctaw Nation, 1830-1860
Donna L. Akers—Michigan State University Press, East Lansing, MI
The “Land of Death” (the route taken by the souls of Choctaw people after death) was the
name given to Indian Territory by the Choctaws who had made the journey from their
Mississippi homelands. The people suffered a death rate of nearly 20% along the Trail of
Tears. Their first few years in the new territory affirmed their name, as hundreds more died
from disease, floods, and starvation. Living in the Land of Death depicts the story of Choctaw
survival, and the evolution of the Choctaw people in their new environment. Akers is assistant
professor of history at Purdue University and a tribal member of the Choctaw Nation.
A History of the Oklahoma Governor’s Mansion
Bob Burke and Betty Crow—Oklahoma Heritage Association, Oklahoma City, OK
This book succeeds as both a celebration of the 76-year-old Governor’s Mansion and a history
of the first families who have called it home. Bob Burke has written more than fifty books on
Oklahoma and Oklahomans. He was born in Broken Bow, Oklahoma, and now practices law
in Oklahoma City. Betty Crow graduated from Oklahoma State University after growing up
in Tulsa. As a member of the board of Guardians of the Oklahoma Governor’s Mansion, she
undertook a massive project in 1997 to produce a series of scrapbooks to portray the history of
this special house on 23rd street.
Ramblin’ Man: The Life and Times of Woody Guthrie
Ed Cray—W.W. Norton & Company, New York, NY
Woody Guthrie, writer, singer, and political activist, is perhaps the single most important figure
to have influenced the tradition of American folk music. His music honored and heartened
the dispossessed and disgruntled in an America darkened by poverty. Ed Cray is the first
biographer to have full access to the Woody Guthrie Archives. He has drawn from thousands of
letters and interviewed more than seventy people close to Guthrie to uncover this portrait of
a great Oklahoman and a great American. Cray is a professor of journalism at the University of
Southern California.
The Oregon Trail: An American Saga—David Dary—Alfred A. Knopf, New York, NY
A major one-volume history of the Oregon Trail, the book covers the route from its earliest
beginnings to the present. David Dary includes the romance, colorful stories, hardship, and
joys of the pioneers who made up this historic migration. A native of Manhattan, Kansas, Dary
has been a newsman and professor of journalism. He directed the School of Journalism at the
University of Oklahoma, where he recently retired. He has received numerous awards for his
writing and the Owen Wister Award for lifetime achievement for his books on the West.
Oklahoma: A Rich Heritage
Odie B. Faulk and William Welge—American Historical Press, Sun Valley, CA
Odie B. Faulk and William Welge’s book brings the state’s history to life as Oklahoma prepares
for its second century. More than 400 photographs, maps, and drawings that illuminate major
events in the story of the 46th Star accompany the text. Faulk holds a Ph.D. in history from
Texas Tech and has served as a history professor for more than 20 years. Welge earned his
degrees from the University of Oklahoma and Central State University. He has been associated
with the Oklahoma Historical Society since 1977, and has been director of research since 1990.
Washita: The U.S. Army and the Southern Cheyennes, 1867-1869
Jerome A. Greene—University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, OK
On November 27, 1868, The U.S. Seventh Cavalry under Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer
attacked a Southern Cheyenne village along the Washita River in present-day Oklahoma. The
subsequent U.S. victory signaled the end of the Cheyennes’ traditional way of life and resulted
in the death of Black Kettle. Jerome Greene draws on newly available material to retell, in
unprecedented depth, the story of this watershed event in American history. Author Greene is
research historian for the National Park Service in Denver, Colorado.
Red Earth: Race and Agriculture in Oklahoma Territory
Bonnie Lynn-Sherow—University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, KS
Bonnie Lynn-Sherow describes how a thriving ecology was ultimately reduced by market
agriculture. Drawing on a host of sources—oral histories, letters and journals, agricultural
and census records—she examines the effects of racism, economics, and politics on prairie
landscapes. In the process, the author explores the stories of “real people who won and lost in
their gamble with the red earth.” Lynn-Sherow is assistant professor of history at Kansas State
University.
Fine Art of the West—B. Byron Price—Abbeville Press, New York, NY
This comprehensive work celebrates the history and art of the specialized gear of the
American West—the saddles, hats, boots, spurs, and other objects of the cowboy’s everyday
life. B. Byron Price tells how these objects took form in the Old West, as a legacy of Spanish
and Mexican craftsmen, and explains how they became the focus of innovative designers who
created a new, vigorous tradition in decorative art. Price is director of the Charles M. Russell
Center for the Study of Art in the American West at the University of Oklahoma, and former
director of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum.
Oklahoma Breeding Bird Atlas—Dan Reinking, Editor—Univ. of Oklahoma Press, Norman, OK
During the years 1997 to 2001, more than 100 volunteer birders and professional researchers
surveyed nearly 600 locations across all regions of Oklahoma. The result is this landmark
volume on the state’s bird species and their distributions. Illustrated with more than 200
color photos and 200 color maps, Oklahoma Breeding Bird Atlas serves both amateurs and
ornithologists with its wealth of information. Dan Reinking is a biologist at the George M.
Sutton Avian Research Center in Bartlesville. A birder since age twelve, he is president of the
Oklahoma Ornithological Society.
Who’s Rocking the Cradle? Women Pioneers of Oklahoma Politics from Socialism
to the KKK, 1900-1930—Suzanne H. Schrems, Ph.D.—Horse Creek Publications, Norman, OK
Senator David Boren says Who’s Rocking the Cradle? is “a fascinating and long overdue
examination of the critical role played by women in political movements in Oklahoma.”
The work covers the Women’s Christian Temperance Union in Indian Territory, the suffrage
movement of the early 1900s, Alice Robertson’s election to the U.S. House of Representatives
(as the first, and only, Oklahoma woman to hold this office), and a “secret sisterhood” of
women who joined men as members of the Ku Klux Klan. Dr. Suzanne H. Schrems is an
independent historian and author who lives in Norman, Oklahoma.
Hogs on 66: Best Feed and Hangouts for Roadtrips on Route 66
Michael Wallis and Marian Clark—Council Oak Books, Tulsa, OK
Author and biker Michael Wallis is the expert on the history, legends, and lore of U.S. Route
66. Marian Clark is the expert on all things culinary related to the Mother Road. Hogs on
66 provides an assortment of yarns, practical advice, useful tips, and an array of colorful
photographs to enhance the biker experience on America’s highway. As the promo line on the
back cover states: “Route 66 and motorcycles go together like a sizzling burger and a slab of
cheddar cheese.” Wallis is the Center’s 1999 Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient. His book
The Real Wild West won the Oklahoma Book Award in 2000.
Poetry
Primer of the Obsolete—Diane Glancy—University of Massachusetts Press, Amherst, MA
These experimental poems continue Diane Glancy’s exploration of the conjoined cultures of
Indian and European, white and Cherokee, Christian and conjuring. Pick up a list of Oklahoma
Book Award finalists for almost any year and you’ll find Glancy’s name. She has been honored
as a finalist in the categories of poetry, fiction, and even book design. Her novel The Mask
Maker received the 2003 Book Award for fiction.
The Vanishing Point—Carol Hamilton—Main Street Rag Publishing Company, Charlotte, NC
Carol Hamilton is a writer, storyteller, and former elementary school teacher and university
professor who lives in Midwest City. She was Poet Laureate of Oklahoma from 1995-1997, and
has won numerous honors for her poetry and children’s books. She received the Oklahoma
Book Award in 1992 for her poetry collection Once The Dust. Her latest collection of poetry, The
Vanishing Point, celebrates art, artists, and the life of art.
On Hearing Thunder—Terry Hauptman—North Star Press of St. Cloud, Inc., St. Cloud, MN
Epic in its breadth, Terry Hauptman’s collection warns of the coming storms—those close
to home and of the thunder abroad: war, hunger, poverty and violence—and celebrates
the creative muses that sustain us. She is the author of two previous poetry collections,
Masquerading in Clover: Fantasy of the Leafy Fool and Rattle. Hauptman has lived and written
poetry in Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Ohio. Today, she lives in Minnesota and Vermont with
her family.
Still Dancing—Francine Leffler Ringold—Coman & Associates, Tulsa, OK
Francine Leffler Ringold is Poet Laureate of Oklahoma and a 2003 winner of the “Writers Who
Make a Difference “ Award from The Writer Magazine. Her collection of poems, The Trouble
With Voices, received the Oklahoma Book Award in 1996. Her name is also synonymous in the
minds of many with Nimrod, the international literary journal she has edited and championed
for almost 40 years. Still Dancing interweaves two dozen new poems with original poetry from
four previous volumes.
Design/Illustration
Hogs on 66: Best Feed and Hangouts for Roadtrips on Route 66
Designed by Margaret Copeland and Jennifer Unruh—Council Oak Books, Tulsa
Margaret Copeland and Jennifer Unruh take all the ingredients supplied by writers Michael
Wallis and Marian Clark, and add their own graphic arts creativity to serve up this delightful
dish of a book. Turning the pages is like rounding the bend on old Route 66: the reader never
knows what surprise may be waiting for him.
A History of the Oklahoma Governor’s Mansion
Designed by Carol Haralson—Oklahoma Heritage Association, Oklahoma City, OK
Carol Haralson skillfully combines historic and present-day photos, graphics, and Bob Burke
and Betty Crow’s narrative to help tell the story of Oklahoma’s main house. Haralson is a
multiple winner in this category. A former Tulsan, she now makes her home in Sedona,
Arizona.
Rabbit and the Bears and Rabbit Goes Duck Hunting
Drawings by Murv Jacob—University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, NM
With these two titles, Tahlequah, Oklahoma, artist Murv Jacob continues his collaboration with
author Deborah Duvall on The Grandmother Stories, bringing traditional Cherokee tales to a
new generation of children—and to children of all ages. His unique drawing style captured
an Oklahoma Book Award in this category in 2003 for the first title in the Grandmother Stories
series: The Great Ball Game of the Birds and Animals.
Oklahoma 24/7
Designed by Rick Smolan and David Elliot Cohen—DK Publishing, New York, NY
Rick Smolan and David Elliot Cohen worked with 34 Oklahoma photographers to capture a
week in the life of Oklahomans. The 557 images presented in Oklahoma 24/7, both expansive
and intimate, add up to a panoramic glimpse of life-in-progress in the Sooner State.
Palacio De Gobierno: Capitol of Chihuahua—Design and Photography by Bill Williams
Government of the State of Chihuahua, and Graphic Arts Books, Portland, OR
A graduate of the University of Tulsa, Bill Williams was director of publications for the
University of Oklahoma for 24 years. His photographs are featured in six Mexican guidebooks.
His participation in this book as designer and photographer offers a look at an extraordinary
building, the Chihuahua State Capitol. Williams travels worldwide, taking photographs and
painting. He operates a photography and graphic arts studio in Norman, Oklahoma.
Fiction
Hate Crime—William Ber nhardt—Ballentine Books, New York , NY
This is William Bernhardt’s 13th novel to feature popular Tulsa defense attor ney Ben Kincaid.
When frat boy Johnny Christensen is accused of killing a gay man outside a Chicago Bar,
Christensen’s mother appeals to Kincaid to take the case. K incaid declines for reasons that
remain secret to his partner Christina McCall. When McCall decides to take the case, Kincaid
finds himself drawn in against his will. Bernhardt, a t wo-time Oklahoma Book Award winner, is
known as a master of the legal thriller.
Following the Harvest—Fred Harris—University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, OK
In this coming of age story, sixteen-year- old Will Haley leaves his hometown of Vernon,
Oklahoma, to join his father ’s wheat harvesting crew. As the crew moves north, Will battles
field fires and deadly weather, makes an unexpected visit to a house of ill repute, takes a wild
ride at a Frontier Days rodeo, and deals with his hard-drinking dad. Fred Harris is a former U.S.
Senator from Oklahoma and a professor of political science at the University of New Mexico.
Beginning at the age of twelve, Harris followed the wheat harvest himself for nine summers in
a row, all the way from his Oklahoma hometown of Walters to Rhame, North Dakota.
Homer’s Place—Harlan G. Koch—John M. Hardy Publishing, Houston, TX
This novel of Oklahoma during the Great Depression focuses on young Tom Cable and his
father, Homer, who is haunted by the memory of a car wreck that took the life of his wife.
Homer ’s relationship with his son ranges from loving to demonic, fueled by Homer’s binge
drinking. As the Cable family drama unfolds, readers are treated to a cast of characters who
stayed and struggled together through the Dust Bowl years. Harlan G. Koch was raised in
Waynoka, Ok lahoma. He is a graduate of United States Military Academy at West Point, and
ser ved as an officer in S outheast Asia and the Middle East. He lives in San Francisco with his
wife.
Shoot the Moon—Billie Letts—Warner Books, New York, NY
Two-time Oklahoma Book Award winner Billie Letts returns with this tale of a small Oklahoma
town and the mystery that has haunted its residents for years. In 1972, the town of DeClare,
Oklahoma, was consumed by the terrifying murder of Gaylene Harjo and the disappearance of
her baby, Nicky Jack. Thirty years later, Nicky Jack returns, and his reappearance stuns the town
and stirs up long-buried emotions and memories. Billie Letts’s second novel, The Honk and
Holler Opening S oon, was the first selection in the statewide reading and discussion program
Ok lahoma Reads Oklahoma. She lives in Tulsa with her husband, Dennis.
Sweet Dreams at the Goodnight Motel
Curtiss Ann Matlock—MIRA Books, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada
Heroine Claire Wilder has wasted too much time waiting for a man to return, and she knows
life will pass her by if she doesn’t get moving again. So she quits her job, packs her bags, and
ends up in her father’s hometown of Valentine, Oklahoma. Forces beyond her control keep her
in the town longer than she planned, but she may just find what she’s looking for in this small
hamlet. Curtiss Ann Matlock’s books have received rave reviews, been optioned for films, and
have won numerous awards. She lives in Minco, Oklahoma.
Some Danger Involved—Will Thomas—Simon and Schuster, New York, NY
Modeled after the adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Will Thomas’s debut novel is set in the gritty
streets of Victorian London. The work introduces detective Cyrus Barker and his apprentice
Thomas Llewelyn, as they work to solve the gruesome murder of a young scholar. Thomas
is a librarian for the Tulsa City-County Library System. He has done extensive research on
the Victorian novel. His writings have appeared in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and other
publications. He lives in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma with his family.
Woody Guthrie
Recipient of the 2005 Ralph Ellison Award
Born in Okemah, Oklahoma, and known as the Dust Bowl Balladeer, Woody Guthrie was both
“common man” and “renaissance man.” In his prose and song, he illuminated some of the most
significant and troubled periods of the twentieth century—the Great Depression, the Great
Dust Storms, and World War II.
Guthrie wrote more than a thousand songs—dust bowl ballads, union songs, children’s songs,
patriotic songs, anti-fascist songs, and songs celebrating the beauty and power of America—
including the masterpiece This Land is Your Land. Guthrie’s concerns as a songwriter and his
approach to the form have had a far-reaching and enduring impact on popular music.
His famous semi-autobiographical work, Bound for Glory, was published in 1943. He has been
inducted into The Songwriters Hall of Fame (1971), The Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame
(1977), and The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum (1988). In 2001 the community of
Okemah was named a Literary Landmark in honor of Guthrie by the Friends of Libraries in
Oklahoma (FOLIO).
In 1954, suffering from Huntington’s Chorea, a degenerative disease, Woody admitted himself
into Greystone Hospital in New Jersey, one of several that he would go in and out of for the
next thirteen years. While at Creedmoor State Hospital in Queens, New York, Woody Guthrie
died on October 3, 1967.
Arlo Guthrie, Woody’s oldest son, is accepting the Ralph Ellison Award for his father. Perhaps best
known for 1967’s “Alice’s Restaurant” song and album, Arlo has carved out a long-lasting career as a
folksinger and songwriter. Like his father, Arlo is a natural storyteller with a social conscience and a
sense of humor. He plays piano, six- and twelve-string guitar, harmonica and a dozen other instruments.
In addition, he is an actor, a writer, and has launched his own record label, Rising Son. Arlo also works for
such causes as environmentalism, health care, cultural preservation and educational exchange.
Rodger Harris will present tonight’s Ralph Ellison Award. He is a native Oklahoman raised in Marlow. As
an oral historian for the Oklahoma Historical Society, he has interviewed Oklahomans from all walks of
life. He is an authority on traditional music and a founding member of the Fal Deral String Band.
Kevin (K.C.) Mathey has presented “Woody Guthrie—An Oklahoma Living Legend” to numerous library
and school audiences. Mathey takes on the role of Guthrie in an interactive historical interpretation in
true Chautauqua style. He is a member of the Oklahoma Humanities Council’s History Alive program.
The Ralph Ellison Award
From time to time, the Ralph Ellison Award, honoring a deceased Oklahoma writer, is presented. The
award is named after the first recipient, Ralph Ellison, author of the ground-breaking novel Invisible Man.
A list of Ellison Award recipients is listed on the Previous Winners page of this program.
DAW Books Congratulates
C J Cherryh
2005 Lifetime Achievement Award Winner
C.J., we’re proud that you’ve been part
of our publishing family for 30 years!
C J Cherryh
Recipient of the 2005 Arrell Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award
C.J. Cherryh is one of the most prolific and highly respected authors in America. She has
more than sixty books to her credit and is the winner of numerous honors, including three
prestigious Hugo Awards, given by the World Science Fiction Society (WSFS).
Cherryh’s first book, Gate of Ivrel, was published in 1976. Since then she has become a leading
writer of science fiction and fantasy, known for extraordinary originality, versatility, and superb
writing. She received the John W. Campbell Award in 1977 for the Best New Writer, voted by
the WSFS. Cherryh received the coveted Hugo Award for short story in 1979 for Cassandra, for
novel in 1982 for Downbelow Station, and in 1989 for Cyteen. Cyteen also won the Locus Award,
presented to winners of Locus magazine’s annual readers’ poll, for the best science fiction novel
of 1988.
A person of varied talents, Cherryh’s personal interests lie in human genetics, astronomy, space
science, aeronautics, astrophysicis, botany, geology, climatology, archaeology, cosmology,
anthropology, and technology in general with practical and anthropological consideration.
In her official biography she states, “I write full time. I travel. I try out things. The list includes,
present and past tense; fencing, riding, archery, firearms, ancient weapons, donkeys, elephants,
camels, butterflies, frogs, wasps, turtles, bees, ants, falconry, exotic swamp plants and tropicals,
lizards, wilderness survival, fishing, sailing, street and ice skating, mechanics, carpentry, wiring,
painting (canvas), painting (house), painting (interior), sculpture, aquariums (both fresh and
salt), needlepoint, bird breeding, furniture refinishing, video games, archaeology, Roman,
Greek civ, Crete, Celts, and caves.” At 61 she took up figure skating.
Cherryh has a BA in Latin from the University of Oklahoma and a MA in Classics from John
Hopkins University in Maryland. She taught Latin and ancient history in Oklahoma City
Public Schools. (Some of her former students are here tonight.) Today she lives in Spokane,
Washington.
Introducing C.J. Cherryh is her good friend and travel companion, Jane Fancher. Fancher started her
publishing career as a graphic artist and began writing in the 1980s. She has a background in physics,
and has six, (going on eight) books to her credit, both science fiction and fantasy. C.J. and Jane share an
apartment in Seattle, a business, two far- traveling and pushy cats, and act as each other’s first reader on
long driving trips.
The Arrell Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award
The Arrell Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award is presented each year to recognize a body
of work. This award was named for the Norman, Okahoma historian who served as the first
president of the Oklahoma Center for the Book.
Fiction
1990 • Robert Love Taylor, The Lost Sister
1991 • Linda Hogan, Mean Spirit
1992 • Robert L. Duncan, The Serpent's Mark
1993 • Rilla Askew, Strange Business
1994 • Eve Sandstrom, Down Home Heifer Heist
1995 • William Bernhardt, Perfect Justice
1996 • Billie Letts, Where the Heart Is
1997 • Stewart O’Nan, The Names of the Dead
1998 • Rilla Askew, The Mercy Seat
1999 • Billie Letts, The Honk and Holler Opening Soon
2000 • William Bernhardt, Dark Justice
2001 • Carolyn Hart, Sugarplum Dead
2002 • Douglas Kelley, The Captain’s Wife
2003 • Diane Glancy, The Mask Maker: A Novel
2004 • M.K. Preston, Song of the Bones
Non-Fiction
1990 • Leonard Leff, Hitchcock & Selznick
1991 • Carl Albert and Danney Goble, Little Giant
1992 • David Morgan, Robert England, and George Humphreys, Oklahoma Politics & Policies: Governing the Sooner State
1993 • Henry Bellmon and Pat Bellmon, The Life and Times of Henry Bellmon; and Daniel Boorstin, The Creators
1994 • J. Brent Clark, 3rd Down and Forever
1995 • Dennis McAuliffe Jr., The Deaths of Sybil Bolton
1996 • William Paul Winchester, A Very Small Farm
1997 • Annick Smith, Big Bluestem: A Journey Into the Tall Grass
1998 • John Hope Franklin and John Whittington Franklin, Editors; My Life and an Era: The Autobiography of Buck Colbert Franklin
1999 • Bob Burke, From Oklahoma to Eternity: The Life of Wiley Post and the Winnie Mae
2000 • Michael Wallis, The Real Wild West: The 101 Ranch and the Creation of the American West
2001 • David LaVere, Contrary Neighbors: Southern Plains and Removed Indians in Indian Territory
2002 • Lydia L. Wyckoff, Editor, Woven Worlds: Basketry from the Clark Field Collection
2003 • Michael A. Mares, A Desert Calling: Life in a Forbidding Landscape
2004 • Eric R. Pianka and Laurie J. Vitt, Lizards: Windows to the Evolution of Diversity
Children/Young Adult
1990 • Helen Roney Sattler, Tyrannosaurus Rex and His Kin
1991 • Stan Hoig, A Capitol for the Nation
1992 • Jess and Bonnie Speer, Hillback to Boggy
1993 • Anna Myers, Red Dirt Jessie
1994 • Diane Hoyt-Goldsmith, Cherokee Summer
1995 • Russell G. Davis and Brent Ashabranner,
The Choctaw Code
1996 • Anna Myers, Graveyard Girl
1997 • Barbara Snow Gilbert, Stone Water
1998 • S. L. Rottman, Hero
1999 • Barbara Snow Gilbert, Broken Chords
2000 • Harold Keith,
Brief Garland: Ponytails, Basketball, and Nothing But Net
2001 • Joyce Carol Thomas, Hush Songs
2002 • Molly Levite Griffis, The Rachel Resistance
2003 • Darleen Bailey Beard, The Babbs Switch Story
2004 • Children—Una Belle Townsend, Grady’s in the Silo
Young Adult—Sharon Darrow, The Painters of Lexieville
Poetry
1990 • William Kistler, The Elizabeth Sequence
1992 • Carol Hamilton, Once the Dust
1993 • Jim Barnes, The Sawdust War
1994 • Carter Revard, An Eagle Nation
1995 • Joy Harjo, The Woman Who Fell from the Sky
1996 • Francine Leffler Ringold-Johnson,
The Trouble with Voices
1997 • Renata Treitel, translation of
Rosita Copioli’s The Blazing Lights of the Sun
1998 • Betty Shipley, Somebody Say Amen
1999 • Mark Cox, Thirty-Seven Years from the Stone
2000 • N. Scott Momaday, In the Bear’s House
2001 • Carolyne Wright, Seasons of Mangoes and Brainfire
2002 • Ivy Dempsey,
The Scent of Water: New and Selected Poems
2003 • Joy Harjo,
How We Became Human: New and Selected Poems
2004 • Laura Apol, Crossing the Ladder of Sun
Design/Illustration
1990 • David E. Hunt, The Lithographs of Charles Banks Wilson
1991 • Carol Haralson, Cleora's Kitchens
1992 • Joe Williams, Woolaroc
1993 • Design—Carol Haralson, Will Rogers: Courtship and Correspondence;
Illustration—Kandy Radzinski, The Twelve Cats of Christmas
1994 • Deloss McGraw, Fish Story
1995 • Mike Wimmer, All the Places to Love
1996 • Kim Doner, Green Snake Ceremony
1997 • Carol Haralson and Harvey Payne, Big Bluestem: A Journey into the Tall Grass
1998 • Carol Haralson, Visions and Voices: Native American Painting from the Philbrook Museum of Art
1999 • David Fitzgerald, Bison: Monarch of the Plains
2000 ��� Carol Haralson, Glory Days of Summer: The History of Baseball in Oklahoma
2001 • Lane Smith, The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip
2002 • Carl Brune, Woven Worlds: Basketry from the Clark Field Collection
2003 • Murv Jacob, The Great Ball Game of the Birds and Animals
2004 • Design—Scott Horton and Jim Argo, Family Album: A Centennial Pictorial of the Oklahoma Publishing Company
Illustration—Kandy Radzinski, S is for Sooner
Arrell Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award
1990 • Daniel Boorstin—Librarian of Congress Emeritus—native of Tulsa
1991 • Tony Hillerman—award winning mystery writer—native of Sacred Heart
1992 • Savoie Lottinville—Director of the University of Oklahoma Press for 30 years
1993 • Harold Keith—Newbery Award winning children's author—Norman
1994 • N. Scott Momaday—Pulitzer Prize winning Kiowa author—native of Lawton
1995 • R.A. Lafferty—Hugo Award winning author—Tulsa
1996 • John Hope Franklin—historian—native of Rentiesville
1997 • S.E. Hinton—author of young adult novels—Tulsa
1998 • Jack Bickham—novelist, teacher and journalist—Norman
1999 • Michael Wallis—historian and biographer—Tulsa
2000 • Bill Wallace—writer of novels for young people—Chickasha
2001 • Joyce Carol Thomas—children and adult fiction author, and playwright—native of Ponca City
2002 • World Literature Today—The University of Oklahoma, Norman
2003 • Joy Harjo—poet and member of the Muscogee Nation—native of Tulsa
2004 • Carolyn Hart—award winning mystery writer—Oklahoma City
Ralph Ellison Award
1995 • Ralph Ellison—National Book Award winner—Oklahoma City
1997 • Angie Debo—“First Lady of Oklahoma History”—Marshall
1999 • Melvin Tolson—poet, journalist, and dramatist—Langston
2000 • Jim Thompson—novelist and screenwriter—Anadarko
2002 • John Berryman—poet, biographer, and editor—McAlester
2004 • Lynn Riggs—playwright and screenwriter—Claremore
Winners
The Oklahoma Heritage Association
is proud to honor
Non-fiction Finalists Betty Crow and Bob Burke,
and Designer Finalist Carol Haralson.
Project Highlights
The Oklahoma Center for the Book (OCB) in the Oklahoma Department of Libraries and
its Friends support group has participated in several events in the past twelve months,
and have made commitments for events later this year.
For the last three years the Center has participated in the National Book Festival in
Washington, D.C. The Center had a booth promoting Oklahoma and Oklahoma authors as
well as distributing literary maps, tourism information, and information on the Children’s
Summer Reading Program.
Letters About Literature is a contest co-sponsored with the Center for the Book in the
Library of Congress and Target Corporation. Students write a letter to an author, living or
dead, telling how a book has influenced his or her life.
Kid’s Caught Reading is an annual activity of the Center, and is part of Oklahoma’s
Celebration of Reading. Friends of the Center again gave $25 prizes to ten students from
across the state who were caught reading in their spare time. The prizes were presented at
the Celebration of Reading on March 11, 2005.
Oklahoma Library Association—The Friends of the Center for the Book will provide funds
to sponsor Oklahoma fiction writer and two-time Oklahoma Book Award winner Rilla Askew
at the annual conference in March.
Celebration of Books—The Friends sponsored a panel on Angie Debo and was pleased to
be a participant in last October’s Center for Poets and Writers event.
The Center is pleased to be participating in both the Oklahoma Centennial Book
Festival—Oklahoma City on May 21, 2005—and the Red Dirt Book Festival—Shawnee on
October 28 & 29, 2005.
Oklahoma Reads Oklahoma—The Center is proud to be a sponsor of this statewide
reading and discussion program. The Center is also pleased to have the 2004 Oklahoma
Reads Oklahoma author, Billie Letts, here tonight. The 2005 title is Walking the Choctaw
Road. Author Tim Tingle will be traveling across Oklahoma speaking to libraries and other
organizations. Information is available tonight on the 2006 Literary Six-pack.
Information is available tonight on membership to the Friends of the Oklahoma Center
for the Book. The Oklahoma Center for the Book's website address is www.odl.state.
ok.us/ocb
Nancy Berland—Oklahoma City
Bob Burke—Oklahoma City
Gini Moore Campbell—Oklahoma City
Diane Canavan—Shawnee
Glenda Carlile—Oklahoma City
M. Scott Carter—Oklahoma City
David Clark—Norman
Kim Doner—Tulsa
Joe Holmes—Oklahoma City
Julie Hovis—Edmond
Lynn McIntosh—Ardmore
Susan McVey—Oklahoma City
Teresa Miller—Tulsa
Raymond D. Munkres—Midwest City
Karen Neurohr—Poteau
Kitty Pittman—Oklahoma City
Marcia Preston—Edmond
Byron Price—Norman
Judy Randle—Tulsa
Diane Seebass—Tulsa
Alice Stanton—Norman
Sue Stees—Tulsa
Joanie Stephenson—Tulsa
Laurie Sundborg—Tulsa
Jane Taylor—Edmond
William R. Young—Oklahoma City
Friends of the Center
The Friends of the Oklahoma Center for the Book is a non-profit, 501-c-3 organization.
The Friends is a cultural and educational corporation to advance and promote the role
of the book and reading in Oklahoma. The Friends of the Oklahoma Center for the Book
supports and further enhances the programs and projects of the Oklahoma Center for
the Book in the Oklahoma Department of Libraries and the Center for the Book in the
Library of Congress. A volunteer board of directors from across the state governs the
Friends.
President—M.J. Van Deventer—Oklahoma City
Vice-President—Bettie Estes-Rickner—Mustang
Secretary—Julia Fresonke—Edmond
Treasurer—Gerald Hibbs—Oklahoma City
Immediate Past-President—B.J. Williams—Oklahoma City
The Oklahoma Center for the Book
wishes to thank the judges
for the 2005 competition
Keith Allen
Mary Ann Blochowiak
Kay Boies
M. Scott Carter
Terry Collins
Evelyn Davis
Bettie Estes-Rickner
Kathryn Fanning
Chris Hardy
Gerald Hibbs
Louisa McCune
Raymond D. Munkres
Dee Pierce
Kitty Pittman
Byron Price
Richard Roulliard
Diane Seebass
Carl Sennhenn
Dewayne Smoot
Kristin Sorocco
Laurie Sundborg
William R. Struby
Leah Taylor
Mary Waidner
Revere Young
The Center acknowledges the generous
contributions
of the following organizations
and individuals
Barnes and Noble
Best of Books, Edmond
Bob Burke
Center for the Book in the Library of Congress
Friends of the Metropolitan Library System
Full Circle Books, Oklahoma City
Rodger Harris, Research Division
of the Oklahoma Historical Society
Fred Marvel, Photographer
Metropolitan Library System
Oklahoma Department of Libraries
The Sheraton Oklahoma, Oklahoma City
Special thanks to...
Sue Stees, Ceremony Chair, and
committee members Gini Campbell, Julia Fresonke,
Diane Seebass, M.J. Van Deventer, and B.J. Williams
Public Information Office—Oklahoma Department of Libraries:
Glenda Carlile, Connie Armstrong,
Michael O’Hasson, Bill Petrie,
Bill Struby, and Bill Young
Invites you to attend the
Oklahoma Centennial Book Festival
on the campus of
Oklahoma City University
Saturday, May 21, 2005
Find out more at www.okbookfest.com
to my former
Latin teacher—C.J. Cherryh
Mark Potts
FOLLOWING THE HARVEST
A Novel
By Fred Harris
Following the Harvest tells the story of sixteen-year-old Will
Haley and his adventures as he treks from Oklahoma to
North Dakota in the summer of 1943 as a member of a
wheat-harvesting crew.
$27.95 Cloth | 0-8061-3636-7
Coming Fall 2005 $14.95 Paper | 0-8061-3713-4
304 pages
WASHITA
The U.S. Army and the
Southern Cheyennes, 1867–1869
By Jerome A. Greene
In Washita, Jerome A. Greene describes Custer’s campaign
against Black Kettle and the Southern Cheyennes along the
Washita River and the controversies surrounding the event.
$29.95 Cloth | 0-8061-3551-4 | 304 pages
OKLAHOMA BREEDING BIRD ATLAS
By Dan L Reinking, Editor
This landmark volume, Oklahoma’s first breeding bird atlas,
offers both amateurs and ornithologists a wealth of informa-tion
about Oklahoma bird species and their distributions.
Lavishly illustrated with over 200 color photographs and over
200 color maps, the Oklahoma Breeding Bird Atlas is as
attractive as it is informative.
$59.95 Cloth | 0-8061-3409-7
$34.95 Paper | 0-8061-3614-6
528 pages
U N I V E R S I T Y O F O K L A H O M A P R E S S
2800 VENTURE DRIVE · NORMAN, OKLAHOMA 73069-8216
TEL 800 627 7377 · FAX 800 735 0476 · OUPRESS.COM
The Metropolitan
Library System’s Read
About It television
show salutes the
Oklahoma Book
Award finalists
and all of tonight’s
honored guests.
Read About It airs at 9:00A.M. Monday through Friday, and at 4:30P.M. Tuesday and Thursday
on Cox Cable channels throughout the state.
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www.odl.state.ok.us/ocb
405-522-3575
200 NE 18 Street
Oklahoma City
OK 73105-3298
The 2005 Oklahoma Book
Awards are sponsored by
the Oklahoma Center for
the Book and the Friends
of the Oklahoma Center
for the Book.