Great Book Event in Boston-Open to the Public!

Writers and Readers On the Hill:
The 7th Annual Massachusetts Book Awards to be held at the Massachusetts State House on February 7, 2008

The Massachusetts Center for the Book and the State Library of Massachusetts are co-hosting the 7th Annual Massachusetts Book Awards on Thursday, February 7. The awards event will begin at 1:30 p.m. at the Grand Staircase, and a reception will follow in the State Library reading room.

The awards are presented annually to books from the previous calendar year that were published by Massachusetts authors or that convey important Massachusetts themes. Twelve books, an award winner and two honors books, in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and children’s/young adult literature become part of a year-long reading promotion initiative sponsored by the Center in collaboration with Massachusetts libraries.

This year’s award winners include some of the most important voices writing in the U.S. today. Former U.S. Poet Laureate and Cambridge resident, Louise Glück, is the award winner in poetry. She will be joined by renowned Amherst poet Martín Espada and Pulitzer prizewinning poet Franz Wright, both honors writers in poetry this year.

Nathaniel Philbrick, one of our most important contemporary historians and Nantucket resident will receive the nonfiction award this year. Claire Messud, Somerville resident and acclaimed novelist will receive the fiction award. The award in children’s/young adult literature goes to Alice Hoffman, a much applauded Cambridge writer.

Also joining the celebration will be Kim McLarin, Milton resident, novelist, and current host of WGBH’s Basic Black, and Mameve Medwed, Cambridge novelist, both of whom are honors writers in fiction this year.

The event is open to the public. Porter Square Books will handle book sales during the reception and book signing. For more information and to RSVP, contact the Massachusetts Center for the Book by email – massbook@simmons.edu – or phone – 617.521.2719.