Since 1999, the Utah Center for the Book, part of a national consortium of centers from each of the 50 states, honors writers of fiction, poetry, nonfiction and children's/young adult literature who are Utah natives or whose work touches on themes related to the state.
Gail McCulloch, a librarian at the Salt Lake Public Library's main branch, has been co-chair of the Utah center, along with Angelica Lopez Moyes, of the Sprague Branch, for two years. This year's finalists stood above other submissions in the "beauty of their craft and careful attention to language," McCulloch says. She was careful not to telegraph any favorites, but she did point out the tender circumstances behind the submission of Brewer's "Whale Song: A Poet's Journey Into Cancer." Brewer's book, which he wrote after his diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, was published by Ken Sanders of Ken Sanders Rare Books and Dream Garden Press.
In June 2005, Brewer learned he was ill and started to write a series of poems and disseminate them to friends via e-mail. One of the poems was "Whale Song," which Sanders first published as a broadside. It's that edition that Sanders submitted to this year's competition.
The book award was established in 1999; the only award that year went to novelist Robert Van Wagoner for "Dancing Naked." Organizers and funders, which include the Smith Pettit Foundation and the Friends of the Library, then expanded the award to include genres other than fiction.
Submissions may come from publishers such as Sanders, writers themselves or other interested individuals. McCulloch and Lopez Moyes head a 15-member committee of librarians from across the state, which also includes a representative from the Utah Humanities Council. The committee culls the work that meets the award criteria - this year there were 35 - and presents a short list to an outside panel of judges. Winners in each category receive $500, and finalists receive $250.
In the service of bringing the vast community of Utah writers together, for the past two years winners have been announced in a joint ceremony with the Utah Arts Council and the May Swenson Poetry Award. That ceremony will take place Oct. 22 at 7 p.m. at the 11th annual Utah Humanities Book Festival in the Nancy Tessman Auditorium of the Main Library, 210 E. 400 South, Salt Lake City. For information on the award, call 524-8200 or visit www.slcpl.org.
jcheckoway@sltrib.com
Utah Book Award finalists
Fiction
"The Arc and the Sediment" (Christine Allen-Yazzie)
"Missing Witness" (Gordon Campbell)
"Five Skies" (Ron Carlson)
Nonfiction
"Bear River: The Last Chance to Change Course" (Craig Denton)
"My Kitchen Table: Sketches From My Life" (Pilar Pobil)
"Dave Rust: A Life in the Canyons" (Frederick Swanson)
Poetry
"Whale Song: A Poet's Journey Into Cancer" (Kenneth Brewer)
"Hand Me My Shadow" (N. Colwell Snell)
Children's/Young Adult
"Dragon Slippers" (Jessica Day George)
"Book of a Thousand Days" (Shannon Hale)
"Story of a Girl" (Sara Zarr)
