Beyond Literary Chinatown awarded American Book Award by the Before Columbus Foundation

Jeffrey Partridge, author of Beyond Literary Chinatown, has been awarded the American Book Award by the Before Columbus Foundation. The American Book Awards, established in 1978 by the Before Columbus Foundation, recognize outstanding literary achievement by contemporary American authors, without restriction to race, sex, ethnic background, or genre. The purpose of the awards is to acknowledge the excellence and multicultural diversity of American writing.

The 2007 American Book Award winners will be formally recognized on Saturday, December 2nd at Laney College Theatre, 900 Fallon Street in Oakland. The awards will take place from 4 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. Authors attending will read selections from their works and sign copies of their award-winning books. A reception and book signing will take place following the ceremony. This event is free to the public. For more information, call (510) 228-6775.

The American Book Awards were created to provide recognition for outstanding literary achievement from the entire spectrum of America's diverse literary community. The purpose of the awards is to recognize literary excellence without limitations or restrictions. There are no categories, no nominees, and therefore no losers. The award winners range from well-known and established writers to under-recognized authors and first works. There are no quotas for diversity, the winners list simply reflects it as a natural process. The Before Columbus Foundation views American culture as inclusive and has always considered the term “multicultural” to be not a description of various categories, groups, or “special interests,” but rather as the definition of all of American literature. The Awards are not bestowed by an industry organization, but rather are a writers’ award given by other writers.

2007 American Book Award Winners:

Daniel Cassidy, How The Irish Invented Slang: The Secret Language of the Crossroads (CounterPunch/AK Press)

Michael Eric Dyson, Come Hell or High Water: Hurricane Katrina and the Color of Disaster (Basic Books)

Rigoberto Gonzalez, Butterfly Boy: Memories of a Chicano Mariposa (University of Wisconsin Press)

Reyna Grande, Across a Hundred Mountains (Atria Books)

Ernestine Hayes, Blonde Indian: An Alaska Native Memoir (University of Arizona Press)

Patricia Klindienst, The Earth Knows My Name: Food, Culture and Sustainability in the Gardens of Ethnic Americans (Beacon Press)

Gary Panter, Jimbo's Inferno (Fantagraphics Books)

Jeffrey F. L. Partridge, Beyond Literary Chinatown (University of Washington Press)

Judith Roche, Wisdom of the Body (Black Heron Press)

Kali Vanbaale, The Space Between (River City Publishing)

For more information, images, or to arrange an interview, contact Kim McMillon, Before Columbus Foundation, at (510) 228-6775.