WHAT:
The Peggy V. Helmerich Distinguished Author Award is an annual award given by the Tulsa Library Trust. Its purpose is to give formal recognition, on behalf of the Tulsa County community, to internationally acclaimed authors who have written a distinguished body of work and made a major contribution to the field of literature and letters.
The award consists of a $40,000 cash prize and an engraved crystal book.
Past award winners are Wendell Berry (2012), Alan Furst (2011), Ian McEwan (2010), Geraldine Brooks (2009), Michael Chabon (2008), Thomas Keneally (2007), Mark Helprin (2006), John Grisham (2005), Shelby Foote (2003), Joyce Carol Oates (2002), William Kennedy (2001), William Manchester (2000), Margaret Atwood (1999), E.L. Doctorow (1998), Dr. John Hope Franklin (1997), Neil Simon (1996), David McCullough (1995), Ray Bradbury (1994), Peter Matthiessen (1993), Norman Mailer (1992), Eudora Welty (1991), John le Carré (1990), Saul Bellow (1989), Toni Morrison (1988), John Updike (1987), Larry McMurtry (1986) and Norman Cousins (1985).
WHEN/WHERE:
Dec. 6 and 7, 2013
Award presentation at black-tie dinner:
7 p.m., Friday, Dec. 6
Southern Hills Country Club, 2636 E. 61st St.
FREE Public Presentation:
10:30 a.m., Saturday, Dec. 7
Hardesty Regional Library, Connor's Cove, 8316 E. 93rd St.
SPONSORS:
Tulsa Library Trust and Tulsa City-County Library
AWARD WINNER:
Kazuo Ishiguro, Japanese-born British novelist, is the winner of the 2013 Peggy V. Helmerich Distinguished Author Award. He was born in Nagasaki, Japan, and his family moved to England in 1960 when he was 5 years old.
After his first three novels – “A Pale View of Hills,” “An Artist of the Floating World” and “The Remains of the Day” – Ishiguro emerged as one of the foremost British writers of his generation. He is now one of the most celebrated contemporary fiction authors in the English-speaking world, having received four Man Booker Prize nominations and winning the 1989 award for his novel “The Remains of the Day.” Other novels by Ishiguro include “The Unconsoled,” “When We Were Orphans” and “Never Let Me Go.” Ishiguro’s novels commonly deal with “issues of memory, self-deception, and codes of etiquette, leading his characters to a reevaluation or realization about the relative success or failure of their lives,” according to Contemporary Authors Online.
Ishiguro also is the author of the screenplays “A Profile of Arthur J. Mason,” “The Gourmet,” “The Saddest Music in the World” and “The White Countess,” as well as a short story collection, “Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall.” In 1993, his novel “The Remains of the Day” was adapted into an award-winning feature film starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson. His unproduced screenplay “The Saddest Music in the World” was adapted into a feature film in 2004 starring Isabella Rossellini. “Never Let Me Go” was adapted into a feature film in 2010.
During his prestigious career, Ishiguro’s works have been translated into 28 languages, and he has won numerous awards and honors including: the Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize, Royal Society of Literature, 1983, for “A Pale View of Hills”; Whitbread Book of the Year award, 1986, for “An Artist of the Floating World”; Man Booker Prize for Fiction, 1989, for “The Remains of the Day”; Order of the British Empire for services to literature, 1995; and Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government, 1998. In 2005, Time magazine named Ishiguro’s “Never Let Me Go” on its list of the 100 greatest English language novels published since 1923. In 2008, The Times ranked Ishiguro 32nd on its list of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945. Except for “A Pale View of Hills,” all of Ishiguro’s novels and short story collection have been shortlisted for major awards.
Ishiguro lives in London with his wife and daughter.
ABOUT THE TULSA LIBRARY TRUST:
The Tulsa Library Trust is a public foundation created by private contributions to benefit Tulsa City-County Library. Income generated by the Trust's endowment is used to fund projects and purchase materials that the library could not afford through its operating budget.
WHO:
Ken Lackey is chairman of the 2013 Distinguished Author Selection Committee.
Lynn Peacher is chairwoman of the 2013 Distinguished Author Award Dinner Committee, which is made up of more than 90 volunteers.
Steven H. Austin is president of the Tulsa Library Trust board.