(June 27, 2009) Fourteen talented members of Colorado’s literary community – including two faculty at UC Denver – were honored as recipients of Colorado Book Awards at the Doerr-Hosier Center in Aspen, Colorado on Monday, June 22. About 150 guests gathered for the event.

UC Denver winners are:

• History: Thomas G. Andrews, Killing for Coal: America’s Deadliest Labor War, Harvard University Press
• Poetry: Jake Adam York, A Murmuration of Starlings, Southern Illinois University Press
  

“The awards and event celebrate individuals who are exceptionally gifted in their chosen craft,” says Josephine Jones, Colorado Humanities Director of Programs and Center for the Book. “They also provide an opportunity for readers and book creators to meet face-to-face on an occasion that honors the place of books, and the people who create them, in our lives.”


Brief readings by the winners of each competition category provided a venture into the work in the author’s own voice. Audience members later attended a book signing reception for the CBA winners and finalists, giving them a rare chance for conversation with the world’s literary best.

Other 2009 Colorado Book Awards Winners:

Biography
Polk: The Man Who Transformed the Presidency and America by Walter R. Borneman, Random House

Children’s Literature
M Is for Mischief: An A to Z of Naughty Children by Linda Ashman, illustrated by Nancy Carpenter, Dutton Children’s Books

Creative Nonfiction
Trespass: Living at the Edge of the Promised Land by Amy Irvine, North Point Press/Farrar, Strauss & Giroux

Fiction/Literary
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski, Ecco

General Nonfiction
Storey’s Illustrated Breed Guide to Sheep, Goats, Cattle and Pigs by Carol Ekarius, Storey Publishing, LLC

Genre Fiction
Breath and Bone by Carol Berg, ROC/NAL Penguin Group

Health and Well-Being
Unexpected Intimacy: Everyday Connections that Nourish the Soul by Sarah Gabriel, Great Room Press

Juvenile Literature
The Totally Made-Up Civil War Diary of Amanda MacLeish by Claudia Mills, Farrar Straus & Giroux

Pictorial
Colorado Scenic Byways: Taking the Other Road by Jim Steinberg and Susan J. Tweit, Portfolio Publications

Young Adult Literature
Fact of Life #31 by Denise Vega, Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers