They’re back!
The Connecticut Book Awards, last presented in 2011, celebrate the work of Connecticut authors and illustrators who have created the best books in or about the state. They will return this year to honor books published in 2016. Finalists will be announced in the fall, and the awards will be made in October.
The Connecticut Center for the Book at Connecticut Humanities has reinstated the awards in four categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry and Books for Young Readers, which includes juvenile, young adult and teen books and is open both to authors and illustrators.
The Center for the Book promotes the written and spoken word throughout the state and is an affiliate of the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress.
Book award nominations may be made from January through April. Nominated authors must currently reside in Connecticut and must have lived in the state at least three successive years or have been born in the state, or the book must be substantially set in Connecticut. Panels of five judges will assess nominated books in each category.
For complete details on submissions, entry fees, deadlines and events, visit ctcenterforthebook.org beginning Sunday, Jan. 1.
Reading Russo
Books by popular and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Russo are the focus of this year’s West Hartford Reads, a free community program that encourages residents to read books by one notable author.
Russo has published eight novels, two story collections and a memoir. He won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for “Empire Falls,” which became an award-winning HBO miniseries, as did “Nobody’s Fool.” His latest novel, “Everybody’s Fool,” was published in 2016.
Ten free book discussion programs, each focusing on one book by Russo, will be held before he visits West Hartford Town Hall on Wednesday, April 26, to give a talk.
The first discussion, of his 2102 memoir, “Elsewhere,” will be held Monday, Jan. 9, at 7:15 p.m. at the West Hartford Library, 20 S. Main St., West Hartford. Other books to be discussed at the library are “Mohawk” on Jan. 26; “The Whore’s Child” on Feb. 2; “The Risk Pool” on Feb. 16; “Bridge of Sighs” on Mar. 2; “Straight Man” on Mar. 7; “Nobody’s Fool” on Mar. 14; “Empire Falls” on Mar. 23; “That Old Cape Magic” on Apr. 3 and “Everybody’s Fool” on Apr. 11. Registration for the discussions can be made at bit.ly/WHREADSrusso.
Copies and film adaptations of some of his books can be reserved at the library. Information: 860-561-6950 or westhartfordlibrary.org.
Making It Wright
Because bad weather on Dec. 17 prevented some people from attending the final event of the free Avon Reads One Book programs about the Wright Brothers, the Avon Library will rebroadcast the lecture by Dr. Peter Jakab, chief curator, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, on the Wright Brothers’ process of invention and their impact on the 20th century.
It will be shown Thursday, Jan. 5, at 6:30 p.m. at Avon Library, Community Room, 281 Country Club Road, Avon. Information: 860-673-9712 or avonctlibrary.info.
Kelly In Madison
A popular TV personality will give a talk presented by R.J. Julia Booksellers of Madison.
On Jan. 8 at 11 a.m. at Mercy By The Sea, 167 Neck Road, Madison, TV personality and best-selling author Clinton Kelly, whose new book is “I Hate Everyone, Except You” (Gallery Books, $24.99), will speak.
Kelly is moderator of ABC-TV’S “The Chew” and co-host of the makeover show “What Not to Wear.” The book is a collection of snarky and revealing essays about his life. Kelly and his husband, Damon, and dog, Mary, live in Manhattan and Connecticut.
Tickets are $30 and include admission to the event and one copy of his book. Reservations are required: 203-245-3959 or rjjulia.com.
Prize For ‘Pie Man’
Southeast Missouri State University Press has named John Surowiecki’s novel, “Pie Man,” as the winner of its $2,000 2015 Nilsen Literary Prize for a First Novel. The book will be published by the press in October.
Surowiecki, an award-winning poet who lives Hebron, is the author of several collections and chapbooks, including “Missing Persons,” “Flies” and “The Hat City after Men Stopped Wearing Hats,” and the play, “My Nose and Me.” Surowiecki has won a Poetry Foundation Pegasus Award and the Pablo Neruda Award, among others. He teaches at Manchester Community College.
The book tells the story of a 7-year-old boy who suddenly refuses to leave his bedroom, believing his house is alive and is a part of him and that being seen can be fatal. Family and friends adjust to helping him live a full life inside his room, until his mother begins a successful pie-making business that offers a way to expand his world. The book explores what it means to be normal, through the story of a family forced to create a different world.
The Nilsen Prize is an annual competition for a novel, novella or collection of linked stories by a U.S. writer who has not previously published a novel. Information: j.surowiecki@sbcglobal.net.
UConn Writing Center
Hartford Public Library, 500 Main St., Hartford, hosts the UConn Writing Center on the first Saturday of each month from noon to 4 p.m. A session will be held Saturday, Jan. 7.
Students, graduate students and professors from UConn Hartford work with attendees to help with any kind of writing – school assignments, resumes, cover letters, applications, stories, poetry, nonfiction, personal letters, memoirs and more — and any stage in the writing process, from choosing content and theme to using correct sentence structure, clarity and grammar.
Attendees should sign up upon arrival and can expect about an hour of personal attention to their work. Information: 860-695-6300 or hplct.org.
