Novelist Elizabeth Crook, non-fiction writer Nate Blakeslee and Young Adult author Varian Johnson are this year’s recipient of the Austin Book Award, the Library Foundation announced today.
The honorees will be celebrated at a special event May 4, at the Austin Central Library .he event is a fundraiser for the Library Foundation, which support the Austin Public Library.
Crook has published five novels, including The Night Journal, which received the Spur Award from Western Writers of America, and most recently The Which Way Tree, which has been optioned for film by Robert Duvall.
Blakeslee’s most recent book, American Wolf: A True Story of Survival and Obsession in the West, is the story of the rise and reign of O-Six, the celebrated Yellowstone wolf. It was named a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice.
Johnson is the author of nine novels for youth, including the Jackson Greene middle-grade series.
That same weekend the Foundation also hosts its New Fiction Confab and the Austin Lit Fair, both free events.
The Confab hosts a group America’s prominent early- and mid-career authors for a day writing workshops, conversations and readings. The Lit Fair is a showcase of local literary publications and organizations.
New Fiction Confab authors are Ramona Ausubel (Awayland), Rebecca Kauffman (The Gunners), Uzodinma Iweala (Speak No Evil), Thomas Pierce (The Afterlives), Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi (Call Me Zebra), and Austin authors Owen Egerton (Hollow), Jardine Libaire (White Fur), and Natalia Sylvester (Everyone Knows You Go Home).
For more info see austinlibrary.org
