The 2010 San Francisco Book Festival has named David H. Freedman’s “Wrong: Why Experts* Keep Failing Us – And How To Know When Not To Trust Them” as the grand prize winner of its annual competition honoring the best books of the Spring season. Freedman’s book, which will be released in June by Little, Brown & Company, is a manual for our troubled times.
Freedman and other competition winners, runners-up and honorable mentions, including five Asian writers listed below, will be honored at a private reception in San Francisco on May 15.
Fiction, Honorable Mention, ”Shanghai Girls,” Lisa See
Ms. See was born in Paris but grew up in Los Angeles. She lived with her mother, but spent a lot of time with her father’s family in Chinatown. Her first book, On Gold Mountain: The One Hundred Year Odyssey of My Chinese-American Family (1995), was a national bestseller and a New York Times Notable Book. The book traces the journey of Lisa’s great-grandfather, Fong See, who overcame obstacles at every step to become the 100-year-old godfather of Los Angeles’s Chinatown and the patriarch of a sprawling family.
Poetry, Honorable Mention, “Mystique,” Clara Hsu
Clara was a nominee for the Pushcart Prize in poetry (2001). Her first book of poems, Mystique, received honorable mention at the 2010 San Francisco Book Festival. Some of her poems can be found in the Homestead Review, the North Coast Review, the Haight Ashbury Literary Journal, and the internet journal Red River Review. Her poem on censorship was published in 2003 by the North American Folk Music and Dance Alliance.
Poetry, Honorable Mention, “Love and Strange Horses,” Nathalie Handal
Nathalie Handal is an award-winning poet, playwright, and writer. She has lived in Europe, the United States, the Caribbean, Latin America and the Arab world. Her work has appeared in numerous anthologies and magazines, such as, Poetrywales, Ploughshares, Poetry New Zealand, Stand Magazine, Crab Orchard Review, Perihelion, and The Literary Review; and has been translated into more than fifteen languages. She has been featured on PBS The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, NPR Radio as well as The New York Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, Reuters, Mail & Guardian, The Jordan Times and Il Piccolo. Handal has read her poetry all around the world and was an Honored Finalist for the 2009 Freedom Award. She has also been involved either as a writer, director or producer in over twenty theatrical and/or film productions worldwide.
Biography/Autobiography, Honorable Mention, “In Hanuman’s Hands,” Cheeni Rao
Cheeni Rao is a graduate of the University of Chicago as well as the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. He is a winner of the Nick Adams Award for fiction and the Olga and Paul Menn Foundation Prize for fiction, and has had many of his stories published in nationally distributed journals. His three plays, "Phone," "Broken Circle," and "Islands," were produced by The Asian Theatre Project, and he has had a screenplay optioned by a major Hollywood studio. He is the founder and owner of The Iowa Book Doctors, an editing firm that edits and ghostwrites manuscripts for publication and conducts online one-on-one instruction on the craft of writing.
Biography/Autobiography, Honorable Mention, “Children of Dust,” Ali Eteraz
Ali Eteraz, born in Lahore in 1980, was raised in Dominican Republic, Pakistan and the United States. A graduate of Emory University (High Honors in Philosophy) and Temple Law, his first prose work, Children of Dust, was published in 2009. It was called “compelling” by the Washington Post, and O: The Oprah Magazine, chose it for its Fall Reading List. It was also listed among the 2009 Books of the Year by New Statesman and has been translated into Italian. Prior to writing, Eteraz spent some time in the legal world and was involved in activism. He splits his time between the U.S. and Middle East.
Complete list of winners (major categories) of the competition:
NON-FICTION
WINNER: “Wrong,” David H. Freedman
RUNNERS-UP:
* “In Cheap We Trust,” Lauren Weber
* “Connected,” Nicholas A. Christakis and James H. Fowler
* “Cold,” Bill Streever
HONORABLE MENTION:
* “Just Food,” James McWilliams
* “Creature Comfort,” Meredith Kennedy
* “The Age of the Unthinkable,” Joshua Cooper Ramo
* “Crow Planet,” Lyanda Lynn Haupt
* “Balance is a Crock,” Amy Eschliman and Leigh Oshirak
* “Escape from Dubai,” Herve Jaubert
FICTION
WINNER: “Model Home,” Eric Puchner
RUNNER-UP: “The Blue Orchard,” Jackson Taylor
HONORABLE MENTION:
* “Seen The Glory,” John Hough, Jr.
* ”Shanghai Girls,” Lisa See
* “Into The Beautiful North,” Luis Alberto Urrea
* “Men and Dogs,” Katie Crouch
* “This Wicked World,” Richard Lange
* “Alice I Have Been,” Melanie Benjamin
* “Moonlight in Odessa,” Janet Skeslien Charles
* ”The Guilty Client,” Roberta Rogow
* “The Language of Bees,” Laurie R. King
* “Blackbelly,” Heather Sharfeddin
* “It Never Stays in Vegas,” Lindy Hughes
* “Under The Table Books,” Todd Walton
* “White Seed,” Paul Clayton
* “Manifest Destiny,” Rick Robinson
POETRY
WINNER: “In Praise of Falling,” Cheryl Dumesnil
HONORABLE MENTION:
* “Mystique,” Clara Hsu
* “Love and Strange Horses,” Nathalie Handal
BIOGRAPHY/AUTOBIOGRAPHY
WINNER: “Letters to Zerky,” Bill Raney and JoAnne Walker Raney
RUNNERS-UP:
* ”Birth of a Psychedelic Culture,” Ram Dass andRalph Metzner with Gary Gravo
* “Portrait of an Addict As A Young Man,” Bill Clegg
HONORABLE MENTION:
* “Sinner Takes All,” Tera Patrick with Carrie Borzillo
* “The Art of Making Money,” Jason Kersten
* “In Hanuman’s Hands,” Cheeni Rao
* “That Bird Has My Wings,” Jarvis Jay Masters
* “Children of Dust,” Ali Eteraz
* “Deathreats: The Life and Times of a Comic Book Rock Star Drew Hayes,” edited by Mark. C. Bellis
* ”Take Me With You,” Carlos Frias
* ”Street Shadows,” Jerald Walker
* “Rosie’s Daughters,” Matilda Butler and Kendra Bonnett
* “Lighting Out For The Territory,” Roy Morris, Jr.
More information here.
Freedman and other competition winners, runners-up and honorable mentions, including five Asian writers listed below, will be honored at a private reception in San Francisco on May 15.
Fiction, Honorable Mention, ”Shanghai Girls,” Lisa See
Ms. See was born in Paris but grew up in Los Angeles. She lived with her mother, but spent a lot of time with her father’s family in Chinatown. Her first book, On Gold Mountain: The One Hundred Year Odyssey of My Chinese-American Family (1995), was a national bestseller and a New York Times Notable Book. The book traces the journey of Lisa’s great-grandfather, Fong See, who overcame obstacles at every step to become the 100-year-old godfather of Los Angeles’s Chinatown and the patriarch of a sprawling family.
Poetry, Honorable Mention, “Mystique,” Clara Hsu
Clara was a nominee for the Pushcart Prize in poetry (2001). Her first book of poems, Mystique, received honorable mention at the 2010 San Francisco Book Festival. Some of her poems can be found in the Homestead Review, the North Coast Review, the Haight Ashbury Literary Journal, and the internet journal Red River Review. Her poem on censorship was published in 2003 by the North American Folk Music and Dance Alliance.
Poetry, Honorable Mention, “Love and Strange Horses,” Nathalie Handal
Nathalie Handal is an award-winning poet, playwright, and writer. She has lived in Europe, the United States, the Caribbean, Latin America and the Arab world. Her work has appeared in numerous anthologies and magazines, such as, Poetrywales, Ploughshares, Poetry New Zealand, Stand Magazine, Crab Orchard Review, Perihelion, and The Literary Review; and has been translated into more than fifteen languages. She has been featured on PBS The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, NPR Radio as well as The New York Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, Reuters, Mail & Guardian, The Jordan Times and Il Piccolo. Handal has read her poetry all around the world and was an Honored Finalist for the 2009 Freedom Award. She has also been involved either as a writer, director or producer in over twenty theatrical and/or film productions worldwide.
Biography/Autobiography, Honorable Mention, “In Hanuman’s Hands,” Cheeni Rao
Cheeni Rao is a graduate of the University of Chicago as well as the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. He is a winner of the Nick Adams Award for fiction and the Olga and Paul Menn Foundation Prize for fiction, and has had many of his stories published in nationally distributed journals. His three plays, "Phone," "Broken Circle," and "Islands," were produced by The Asian Theatre Project, and he has had a screenplay optioned by a major Hollywood studio. He is the founder and owner of The Iowa Book Doctors, an editing firm that edits and ghostwrites manuscripts for publication and conducts online one-on-one instruction on the craft of writing.
Biography/Autobiography, Honorable Mention, “Children of Dust,” Ali Eteraz
Ali Eteraz, born in Lahore in 1980, was raised in Dominican Republic, Pakistan and the United States. A graduate of Emory University (High Honors in Philosophy) and Temple Law, his first prose work, Children of Dust, was published in 2009. It was called “compelling” by the Washington Post, and O: The Oprah Magazine, chose it for its Fall Reading List. It was also listed among the 2009 Books of the Year by New Statesman and has been translated into Italian. Prior to writing, Eteraz spent some time in the legal world and was involved in activism. He splits his time between the U.S. and Middle East.
Complete list of winners (major categories) of the competition:
NON-FICTION
WINNER: “Wrong,” David H. Freedman
RUNNERS-UP:
* “In Cheap We Trust,” Lauren Weber
* “Connected,” Nicholas A. Christakis and James H. Fowler
* “Cold,” Bill Streever
HONORABLE MENTION:
* “Just Food,” James McWilliams
* “Creature Comfort,” Meredith Kennedy
* “The Age of the Unthinkable,” Joshua Cooper Ramo
* “Crow Planet,” Lyanda Lynn Haupt
* “Balance is a Crock,” Amy Eschliman and Leigh Oshirak
* “Escape from Dubai,” Herve Jaubert
FICTION
WINNER: “Model Home,” Eric Puchner
RUNNER-UP: “The Blue Orchard,” Jackson Taylor
HONORABLE MENTION:
* “Seen The Glory,” John Hough, Jr.
* ”Shanghai Girls,” Lisa See
* “Into The Beautiful North,” Luis Alberto Urrea
* “Men and Dogs,” Katie Crouch
* “This Wicked World,” Richard Lange
* “Alice I Have Been,” Melanie Benjamin
* “Moonlight in Odessa,” Janet Skeslien Charles
* ”The Guilty Client,” Roberta Rogow
* “The Language of Bees,” Laurie R. King
* “Blackbelly,” Heather Sharfeddin
* “It Never Stays in Vegas,” Lindy Hughes
* “Under The Table Books,” Todd Walton
* “White Seed,” Paul Clayton
* “Manifest Destiny,” Rick Robinson
POETRY
WINNER: “In Praise of Falling,” Cheryl Dumesnil
HONORABLE MENTION:
* “Mystique,” Clara Hsu
* “Love and Strange Horses,” Nathalie Handal
BIOGRAPHY/AUTOBIOGRAPHY
WINNER: “Letters to Zerky,” Bill Raney and JoAnne Walker Raney
RUNNERS-UP:
* ”Birth of a Psychedelic Culture,” Ram Dass andRalph Metzner with Gary Gravo
* “Portrait of an Addict As A Young Man,” Bill Clegg
HONORABLE MENTION:
* “Sinner Takes All,” Tera Patrick with Carrie Borzillo
* “The Art of Making Money,” Jason Kersten
* “In Hanuman’s Hands,” Cheeni Rao
* “That Bird Has My Wings,” Jarvis Jay Masters
* “Children of Dust,” Ali Eteraz
* “Deathreats: The Life and Times of a Comic Book Rock Star Drew Hayes,” edited by Mark. C. Bellis
* ”Take Me With You,” Carlos Frias
* ”Street Shadows,” Jerald Walker
* “Rosie’s Daughters,” Matilda Butler and Kendra Bonnett
* “Lighting Out For The Territory,” Roy Morris, Jr.
More information here.
