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PEN USA has chosen the winners of its 2007 literary awards for writers and journalists in the West. Among the local winners is Cynthia Kadohata, who won in children's literature for Weedflower. Finalists in the journalism category include Dave Gardetta of Los Angeles Magazine for his piece "The Teenager & The Porn Star," David Zahniser for his gentrification study in the LA Weekly, Valeria Godines' series on her battle with bipolar disorder in the Orange County Register and LA Observed's own Jenny Price for "Thirteen Ways of Seeing Nature in L.A." for Believer Magazine. The winner — and his piece must have been really good — was Jake Silverstein, a Texas Monthly senior editor whose story for Harper's was called "Highway Run." Full list after the jump; PEN has a banquet later in the year to award the prizes.
More finalists: L.A. area authors up for Southern California Book Awards later this year include LA Observed contributor Denise Hamilton, T.C. Boyle, Gustavo Arellano, Chris Nichols, Salvador Plascencia, Tom Nolan and Colleen Dunn Bates.
CHILDRENS LITERATURE
Finalists:
The Poet Slave of Cuba by Margarita Engle
Washaka the Bear Dreamer by Jamie Lee
The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron
Everlost by Neal Shusterman
Winner: Weedflower by Cynthia Kadohata
TRANSLATION
Finalists:
The Rainforest by Alicia Steimberg, trans. by Andrea G. Labinger
Casablanca and Other Stories by Edgar Brau, trans. by Andrea G.
Labinger, Joanne M. Yates, and Donald A. Yates
Rainer Maria Rilke and Lou Andreas-Salome: The Correspondence, trans. by Edward Snow and Michael Winkler
Winner: The Carving of Insects by Bian Zhilin, trans. by Mary M. Y. Fung and David Lunde
CREATIVE NONFICTION
Finalists:
If the Creek Don't Rise by Rita Williams
West of Jesus by Steven Kotler
Chameleon Days by Tim Bascom
Blond Indian by Ernestine Hayes
Winner: The Horizontal World by Debra Marquart
POETRY
Finalists:
The Elephant's Child: New & Selected Poems, 1978-2005 by Steve Orlen
The Totality for Kids by Joshua Clover
What to Eat, What to Drink, What to Leave for Poison by Camille T. Dungy
How Long She'll Last in This World by Maria Melendez
Winner: Exceptions and Melancholies: Poems 1986-2006 by Ralph Angel
RESEARCH NONFICTION
Finalists:
The Omnivore's Dilemma A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan
Blood and Thunder: An Epic of the American West by Hampton Sides
All Governments Lie: The Life and Times of Rebel Journalist I. F. Stone by Myra MacPherson,
The General and the Jaguar: Pershing's Hunt for Pancho Villa: A True Story of Revolution and Revenge by Eileen Welsome,
Winner: The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright
DRAMA
Finalists:
The Great Gatsby by Simon Levy
Chekhov and Maria by Jovanka Bach
tempOdyssey by Dan Dietz
Experiment Station Road by Gwen Mansfield
Winner: Mayakovsky Takes the Stage by Craig Volk
SCREENPLAY
Finalists:
Little Children by Todd Field and Tom Perrotta
Little Miss Sunshine by Michael Amdt
The Good Shepherd by Eric Roth
Winner: Stranger Than Fiction by Zach Helm
FICTION
Finalists:
Charles DAmbrosio, The Dead Fish Museum (Alfred A. Knopf)
Ben Fountain, Brief Encounters with Che Guevara: Stories (HarperCollins Publishers)
Cristina Henriquez, Come Together, Fall Apart (Riverhead Books / Penguin Group)
Jess Walter, The Zero (Regan Books / HarperCollins)
Winner: Kevin Brockmeier, The Brief History of the Dead (Pantheon Books)
TELEPLAY
Winner: Mrs. Harris by Phyllis Nagy
JOURNALISM
Finalists:
Dave Gardetta, The Teenager & The Porn Star (LA Magazine)
Valeria Godines, Brainstorm (O.C. Register)
Jenny Price, Thirteen Ways of Seeing Nature in LA (Believer Magazine)
Mike Weiss, General: Life and Death (San Francisco Chronicle)
David Zahniser, Welcome to Gentrification City (LA Weekly)
Winner: Jake Silverstein, Highway Run (Harper)
of LA Observed
