Flashes: Alek Wek,Terry McMillan, Jaime Hector & Lynn Whitfield @ Essence Literary Awards

Lifetime Achievement winner, author Terry McMillan

Actor, Jaime Hector


Author, L.A. Banks


Supermodel and author, Alek Wek

Actress, Lynn Whitfield


Editor-in-Chief Angela Burt-Murray, Emmy-nominated actress Victoria Rowell, Today show co-anchor Hoda Kotb, and Michelle Ebanks, President Essence Communications Inc.

Last Thursday, Essence held its 1st Annual Literary Awards in New York City at the Le Parker Meridien hosted by Hoda Kotb and Dr. Ian Smith. The event was invitation-only and the guest list was a who's who of Black literature. The awards also launched ESSENCE magazine's "Save Our Libraries Campaign."

Novelist, Terry McMillan received the Lifetime Achievement Award and L.A. Banks was voted by Essence readers as Storyteller of the Year. Below is the list of winners. Click here to see more photos and info.

ESSENCE LITERARY AWARD WINNERS

POETRY: Duende by Tracy K. Smith/Graywolf Press
CURRENT AFFAIRS: An Unbroken Agony by Randall Robinson/ Basic Civitas
PRESIDENT'S AWARD: Reposition Yourself by T.D. Jakes/Atria
PHOTOGRAPHY: Daufuskie Island by Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe/University of South Carolina Press
CHILDREN'S BOOKS: Marvelous World by Troy Cle/Simon & Schuster's Children's Publishing
SAVE OUR LIBRARIES: Countee Cullen Regional Library in Harlem
MEMOIR: Brother, I'm Dying by Edwidge Danticat/Knopf
NON-FICTION: Supreme Discomfort by Michael Fletcher and Kevin Merida/Doubleday
INSPIRATION: Quiet Strength by Tony Dungy/Tyndale
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD: Terry McMillan
FICTION: The Pirate's Daughter by Margaret Cezair-Thompson/Unbridled Books
STORYTELLER OF THE YEAR: L.A. Banks

Essence Hosting its 1st Annual Literary Awards

Author, Terry McMillan


ESSENCE magazine will host its first-ever ESSENCE Literary Awards on February 7,2008. The event will commemorate emerging and established African-American authors, it will also kick-off ESSENCE magazine's "Save Our Libraries Campaign." The ESSENCE Literary Awards will be hosted by Hoda Kotb (TODAY show co-anchor) and Dr. Ian Smith, creator of The 50 Million Pound Challenge.

ESSENCE Literary Awards will honor critically-acclaimed author Terry McMillan with the Lifetime Achievement Award and the Countee Cullen Branch of the New York Public Library in Harlem will also be the first recipient of ESSENCE's "Save Our Libraries Campaign." "Save Our Libraries" is designed to honor its contributions and to solicit support in order for it to maintain its services to the community.

"ESSENCE has had an extraordinary literary legacy since its first issue," said Patrik Henry Bass, ESSENCE Senior Editor, Books and Arts. "Terry McMillan, Bebe Moore Campbell, Gloria Naylor and so many other authors first came to the attention of readers through ESSENCE's pages. At the ESSENCE Literary Awards we want to honor writers in their tradition,
while acknowledging future generations of African-American authors. We also hope that through our Save Our Libraries campaign, entities such as the historic Countee Cullen Branch will have the crucial resources needed to provide the services our communities so desperately need."
For more information click here.