The New York ceremony for the first Quill Awards tried to combine the glamour of the Academy Awards with the erudite realm of books as it rolled out its red carpet. However this first attempt failed to draw out both authors for the ceremony as they accepted the awards long-distance.
The ceremony that has on hand stars entertaining guests and the best-known faces of the TV world as hosts showed Rowling on videotape conveying her humble acceptance.
The winners who are determined by an online ballot featuring names nominated by an eclectic panel who know books very well - librarians and booksellers, included Rowling for her “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince?? competing for “book of the year?
? and “best children s book??
categories.
Bob Dylan figured in the list for “best biography/memoir??
for his biographical “Chronicles: Volume One??.
Rowling, limited by the need to attend on her young child chose not to attend the glamorous ceremony.
The Quill awards, a new annual feature for US-published and marketed books instituted by the Reed Publishing Group, have recently been challenging the more down-to-earth National Book Awards and the Pulitzer Prize that traditionally favor literary merit over public recognition.
The awards that are made in 19 categories rope in even the rare audio books and graphic novels and seek to replicate the aura that the Booker brings to British authors.
Bill McGorry of Reed Business Information said his company pleased to support the Quills initiative and hoped to “reach out to colleagues in the book publishing industry?? while advancing the cause of reading.
While David McCullough s historical review of George Washington s struggles in “1776?? won him a Quill award for the “history/current events/ politics?
? category, Erica Jong s “The Mermaid Chair??
walked away with the prestigious fiction award. Nick Hornby, a British author presenting one of the 19 awards applauded the effort, while “humour??
category winning Jon Stewart s comment dripped of his signature satirical humour : Finally, an event to bring together the glamour of literature and the gravitas of an awards program??.
Rowling said humbly of her books that have sold worldwide over 10 million copies, I am still not used to the idea that so many people across the world are intimately familiar with the characters who, for so long, I alone knew . But clearly “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince??
, which now stands tall as the Quill award s “first book of the year?? may seed many more new writers and amateurs to turn professional following the footsteps of J.
K. Rowling, even as readers get to choose the books that best conveyed their taste in reading.
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