Here at North Atlantic Books, some of our talented authors have recently been recognized for their literary contributions. Congratulations to Casson Trenor, Cecil Brown, Cullen Dorn, Kenneth Irby, Dorian Yates, and Serena Anderlini-D’Onofrio for their achievements!
Kenneth Irby, acclaimed author of The Intent On: Collected Poems 1962-2006, was awarded the prestigious 2010 Shelley Memorial Award by the Poetry Society of America. An associate of the legendary Black Mountain poets, he was also a close colleague of writers such as Robert Duncan, Ed Dorn, and Robert Creeley. The Intent On is a celebration and collection of Irby’s decades of poetry, written against the backdrop of life in America, and now published for the first time as a cohesive collection.
Author Dorian Yates recently won Treehugger’s 2010 Best of Green Award in Travel and Nature for Best Guide Books for her Green Earth Guide series. Yates’ Green Earth Guide series includes ecologically-minded guides to traveling in Spain and France, introducing readers to practical tips and tricks on topics ranging from hostels and camping, to local restaurants, to historical sites and regional highlights. Both Guides include beautiful full-color photographs of the local attractions and also inform the reader of ways in which to reduce their carbon footprint while traveling abroad.
Serena Anderlini-D’Onofrio was recently awarded the 2010 Nautilus Silver Award for her book, Gaia and the New Politics of Love. Gaia marks the first global ecology study rooted in the basis of human health. Adnerlini-D’Onofrio re-envisions the concept of Gaia theory within this context, looking at it as a more inclusive philosophy that positively impacts not only relationships, but world ecology under duress.
Casson Trenor, author of Sustainable Sushi: A Guide to Saving Oceans One Bite at a Time, was named one of Time magazine’s “Heroes of the Environment” in late 2009 for his work as a restaurateur of sustainable sushi. His book echoes his passion for ocean conservation, which highlights North America’s first fully-sustainable sushi restaurants as well as Trenor’s expertise in the management of marine resources. Summing up Trenor’s belief in sustainability, the Time article quoted him as saying, “ Remember itadakimasu. Reciting this word is a common way to open a meal in Japan, and literally means ‘I humbly accept the gift of your life.’ It’s based on the Shinto tradition that for one organism to survive, another often has to die.”
Cecil Brown was awarded a 2008 PEN Oakland Josephine Miles National Literary Award for Dude, Where’s my Black Studies Department? The Disappearance of Black Americans from U.S. Universities. Brown’s book focused on the conflict present in academia between African-American culture and oral tradition, and how it clashes with white or Caribbean-American cultures, and ultimately poses a threat to integration of the universities. His 1969 work, The Life & Loves of Mr. Jiveass Nigger, was recently reprinted by North American Books, garnering praise such as “impressively rich textures of allusion to other canonical works of literature, and…those marvelous moments when Brown gives voice poignantly and lyrically to the ironies and essence of the human condition” (Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Foreword to The Lives and Loves).
Cullen Dorn was the winner of both the 2009 “Bronze Book Award” (Ippy) and the 2009-2010 “Winter Book Award” (BookBundlz) for his book, The Hierophant of 100th Street. Dorn’s novel follows the struggles of seventeen-year-old Adam Kadman as he struggles to identify ancient truths while at the same time being initiated into rough, lower-class streetlife. Once he meets New Age teacher Clifford Bias, however, Adam is shown his own psychic abilities and the purpose of his life. From there, he becomes Bias’ pupil and learns from the Ancient Mystical Order of Seekers, while exploring his own spiritual being.
