2010 Asian/Pacific American Award For Literature

I’m not sure if there’s a better gift than winning something you had no idea about.  There’s no expectation, no pressure, nothing of the sort that’s going on with the athletes of the Olympics right now.  Yesterday, I found out that Everything Asian won the 2010 Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature in the Youth category.  Apparently the press release came out more than three weeks ago!  This is an award given by the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA), which is an affiliate of the American Library Association (ALA).  The winners are as follows:

Picture Book Winner
Cora Cooks Pancit
Dorina K. Lazo Gilmore (illustrated by Kristi Valiant)

Picture Book Honor
Tan to Tamarind
Malathi Michelle Iyengar (illustrated by Jamel Akib)

Youth Literature Winner
Everything Asian
Sung Woo (that’s me!)

Youth Literature Honor
Tofu Quilt
Ching Yeung Russell

Adult Fiction Winner
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
Jamie Ford

Adult Fiction Honor
Shanghai Girls
Lisa See

Adult Non-Fiction Winner
American Chinatown: A People’s History of Five Neighborhoods
Bonnie Tsui

Adult Non-Fiction Honor
Japanese American Resettlement Through the Lens
Lane Ryo Hirabayashi

Previous authors who have received awards from the APALA include Jhumpa Lahiri and Chang-rae Lee, so to say that I’m honored is an understatement.

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