Borders and Hurston/Wright Foundation Present First Annual Legacy Awards for Black Writers

Posted on August 23, 2001

Borders Books and Music and the Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Foundation announced the first annual 2002 Legacy Awards to honor the best published fiction and nonfiction books by authors of African descent. Awards will be given to a total of nine recipients in three categories: literary fiction, nonfiction and debut/first fiction. Award recipients will be announced at a ceremony to be held at The National Museum of American History - Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C., in September 2002. One winner in each category will receive $10,000 and two finalists in each category will receive $5,000.

The Hurston/Wright Foundation was founded by novelist Marita Golden in 1990. The mission of the foundation is to discover, nurture and develop writers of African descent. The programs of the foundation include the annual Hurston/Wright Award for college fiction writers and the annual summer writers' workshop, Hurston/Wright Writers' Week. The mission of the Hurston/Wright Foundation is furthered through the creation of networks and institutions that preserve the legacy and insure the future of Black writing.

``Borders is proud to partner with the Hurston/Wright Foundation for the 2002 Legacy Awards and other programs and services the Foundation offers writers of African descent. We are committed to supporting and preserving their writing through our partnerships, merchandising efforts, in-store events and charitable giving,'' said President of Borders stores Tami Heim.

Borders began supporting the Foundation last year by giving two students full scholarships to attend the Hurston/Wright Writers' Week at Howard University in Washington, D.C. In addition, Borders underwrote the first place $1,000 prize for Hurston/Wright Foundation's competition for young writers. The winner, Tayari Jones, will have her first novel, Leaving Atlanta, published this year.

Borders also co-presented ``In the Tradition: Reading from the African- American Canon,'' a benefit for the Hurston/Wright Foundation. Participants included Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Yusef Komunyakaa, novelist A.J. Verdelle, essayist Derrick Bell and founder of the Hurston/Wright Foundation Marita Golden.