Questions
Comments:
Connie Armstrong,
OCB director

1996 Oklahoma Book Award Finalists

Award Winners are marked with an Oklahoma Book Award graphic.

Boom Town
by Diane Glancy
Ms. Glancy is Associate Professor of English at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota. She spent many years in the Artist-in-Residence program in Oklahoma, and has many collections of poetry and stories. Her first novel, Pushing the Bear, is about the 1838 Trail of Tears, and will be published by Harcourt Brace and released in the fall of 1996.

Circle of Light
by Charles Levendosky
Mr. Levendosky has participated in Poetry-in-the-Schools programs in New York, New Jersey, Georgia, and Wyoming. He served as Wyoming' s Poet-in-Residence for ten years, and for eight years as Poet Laureate. He received a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship in 1974. In 1994 his columns won both the Baltimore Sun's H.L. Mencken Award and the Silver Gavel Award. He is currently the editorial page editor of Wyoming's Casper Star-Tribune, for which he also writes a weekly column.

A Paleontologist's Notebook
by Susan Smith Nash
Ms. Nash edits and publishes poetry for Texture Press in Norman. Her essays, poems and fiction have appeared in numerous publications, including Avec, Talisman, Central Park, Another Chicago Magazine, and the Washington Review. She is included in the anthology of the Gertrude Stein Award for Innovative Writing published by Sun & Moon Press. Nash lives in Norman.

The Trouble With Voices
by Francine Leffler Ringold-Johnson
A devoted teacher, Fran has taught literature, creative writing and theater at the University of Tulsa, in the Oklahoma State Arts in Education and Artists in the Schools programs, at the Oklahoma School of the Deaf, and at the Tulsa Center for the Physically Limited. She is the mother of four grown children, and lives with her husband, poet Manly Johnson, in Tulsa.

A Gathering of Bones
by Audrey Streetman
Audrey Streetman's first collection of poetry, The Train, was published in 1991, and she is currently at work on her third book, Keeper of the Dream, which deals with transformation of the personality through poetry and dreams. She lives in Oklahoma City and works as a commercial loan officer. She has three daughters to whom this book is dedicated.

The Pumpkin Man from Piney Creek
by Darleen Bailey Beard
Darleen has loved pumpkins for as long as she can remember. In autumn, whenever she's not writing, she's carving jack-o-lanterns, toasting seeds, and baking pies and breads. Darleen has a degree in professional writing and lives in Tuttle with her husband, Dan, and son, Spencer. The Pumpkin Man from Piney Creek is her first book.

The Puppy Sister
by S.E. Hinton
Ms. Hinton is the author of many famous books for young adults, including The Outsiders, Rumble Fish, Tex, Taming the Star Runner, and That Was Then, This Is Now, all of which were chosen as Best Books for Young Adults by the American Library Association. She lives in Tulsa

It's the Fourth of July
by Stan Hoig
Professor emeritus of Journalism at the University of Central Oklahoma, Dr. Hoig is a member of the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame, and an award-winning author of numerous books about Western and Native American subjects. He won the Oklahoma Book Award for A Capital for the Nation in 1991. Hoig lives in Edmond with his wife, Patricia Hoig, who assists him in his work.

Black Women of the Old West
by William Loren Katz
As in his path breaking Black Indians, William Loren Katz, traces this fascinating American story through old records, newspaper clippings, pioneer reminiscences and dozens of rare frontier photographs. Mr. Katz lives in New York City.

Moontellers: Myths of the moon from around the world
by Lynn Moroney
Ms. Moroney fell in love with the sky as a child on the Oklahoma prairie, and during her five years with the Kirkpatrick Planetarium in Oklahoma City, Lynn began gathering legends about the sun, moon, stars, and sky. She is now a professional storyteller and writer, and a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation, who has lived most of her life in Oklahoma.

Graveyard Girl
by Anna Myers
Ms. Myers's insight and warmth make Graveyard Girl a deeply moving portrait of three young people and their struggle to persevere in the face of tragedy. Her first novel, Red-Dirt Jessie won the Oklahoma Book Award in 1993. Ms. Myers is an eighth grade teacher who lives with her family in Chandler.

Princess Nevermore
by Dian Curtis Regan
Ms. Regan is the author of many books for younger readers, including Home for the Howl-i-days and the Ghost Twins series. She began writing Princess Nevermore as a short story in 1975. Ms. Regan, a Colorado native, lives in Edmond.

The Book of North American Owls
by Helen Roney Sattler
Ms. Sattler taught elementary school and was a children's librarian before beginning her writing career with stories for her children. She is the respected author of more than thirty natural history books for children. She lived in Bartlesville until her death in 1992.

Gingerbread Days
by Joyce Carol Thomas
Ms. Thomas was born in Ponca City and later moved to the San Joaquin Valley in California. She was honored with the National Book Award for her first novel, Marked By Fire. Ms. Thomas makes her home in Berkeley, California, near her family.

Watchdog and the Coyotes
by Bill Wallace
Mr. Wallace was a principal and physical education teacher at the same elementary school he attended as a child in his hometown of Chickasha. The Wallace family spends spare time fishing, quail hunting, or tending cattle on the family farm. Wallace lectures at schools around the country, answers mail from his readers, and, of course, works on his books.

The Osage And The Invisible World
From the works of Francis La Flesche, introduced and edited by Garrick A. Bailey
In this book, Mr. Bailey brings together in a clear, understandable way La Flesche's data for two important Osage religious ceremonies -- the "Songs of Wa-xo'-be," an initiation into a clan priesthood, and the Rite of the Chiefs, an initiation into a tribal priesthood. Bailey, professor of Anthropology at the University of Tulsa, has studied the Osage for more than twenty-five years.

Indian Territory and the United States, 1866-1906
by Jeffrey Burton
This innovative re-appraisal of federal courts in Indian Territory shows how the U.S. Congress used judicial reform to suppress the Five Tribes' governments and clear the way for Oklahoma statehood. Burton, an honors graduate of London University, is an independent scholar living near Portsmouth, England.

Seeking Pleasure In The Old West
by David Dary
Dary has written six books about the West, including Cowboy Culture, which received the Cowboy Hall of Fame Wrangler Award, the Western Writers of America's Spur Award, and the Westerners International Award. He is currently head of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Oklahoma.

Aunt Carrie's War Against Black Fox Nuclear Power Plant
by Carrie Barefoot Dickerson
Ms. Dickerson's qualifications to become a successful legal intervenor against nuclear power were meager when she began her war against the Black Fox plant. At age 56, she was a farm wife, former school teacher, registered nurse, and operated Aunt Carrie's Nursing Home in Claremore. The nine-year battle changed her life and depleted her savings. Today, at 78, she earns her living by teaching quilting and selling herbal products. She continues her vigilance; recently she has been active in efforts to prevent dumping of nuclear wastes on tribal land.

Lost Bird of Wounded Knee
by Renee Sansom Flood
In this significant work of history, Ms. Flood movingly narrates the story of Lost Bird, who has become a symbol for thousands of children adopted away from their tribes and, indeed, for all people who have lost their heritage through social injustice, ignorance, and war. Ms. Flood is the author of six books of history, and lives in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

T.C. Cannon: He Stood in the Sun
by Joan Frederick
Ms. Frederick is an active member of the community surrounding Native American art. With a degree in art education from the University of Oklahoma, she began writing about art and artists in 1987. She is most proud of the preservation projects she has done in Indian art and culture, including an oral history of traditional Indian painting in Oklahoma. She lives in San Antonio.

Beyond the Hills: The Journey of Waite Phillips
by Michael Wallis
A historian and biographer, Mr. Wallis has been nominated three times for the Pulitzer Prize and was also a nominee for the National Book Award. In 1994, he was honored by Rogers State College in Claremore with the prestigious Lynn Riggs Award given for his deep commitment to the improvement of the arts in Oklahoma. He was also the first inductee into the Oklahoma Route 66 Hall of Fame. A Missouri native, he has lived in Tulsa since 1982.

Land of Plenty: Oklahomans in the Cotton Fields of Arizona, 1933-1942 by Marsha L. Weisiger
Ms. Weisiger tells the story of displaced tenant farmers and sharecroppers from Oklahoma and other south-central states who migrated to the cotton fields of central Arizona during the Great Depression. Ms. Weisiger, a doctoral student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, received her M.A. degree from the University of Oklahoma.

Cherokee Outlet Cowboy by Laban Samuel Records,
edited by Ellen Jayne Maris Wheeler
"The great open range that I knew so well, worked on so hard and loved so much has vanished, as have the signs of the old cow trail," Records concludes. Perhaps, but thanks to Ellen Jayne Maris Wheeler's organization of these stories, and to Mr. Records' colorful and entertaining writing, the readers of Cherokee Outlet Cowboy can still ride the range and see the old cow trail for themselves. Dr. Wheeler is Records' grand-daughter, and is professor of voice at Oklahoma City University.

A Very Small Farm
by William Paul Winchester
In these pages, Winchester shares his meditations about the life of the small farmer-a life richly experienced. His philosophy, like his lifestyle, is simple and yet profound. Winchester is a graduate of the University of Tulsa with a degree in botany. His essays have appeared in Country Journal, Buying America Back, Oklahoma Today, and elsewhere. His farm is near Collinsville.

Gingerbread Days
Illustrated by Floyd Cooper
Floyd Cooper was born and grew up in Tulsa. He received a degree in fine arts from the University of Oklahoma and, after graduating, worked as an artist for a major greeting card company. In 1984, he moved to New York City to pursue a career as an illustrator of books and now lives with his family in West Orange, New Jersey.

Green Snake Ceremony
Illustrated by Kim Doner
Kim Doner, who lives in Tulsa, is a member of the Arts and Humanities "Artist in the Schools" program. She visits schools presenting the process of how children's books are made, from the story idea to the art to the finished product. Living with two teenagers and five animals, she regards her life as unpredictable, and lots of fun.

How Turtle's Back was Cracked
Illustrated by Murv Jacob
Murv Jacob is a painter and pipe maker of both Kentucky Cherokee and European heritage. His meticulously researched, brightly colored, and richly patterned paintings draw on the traditional Southeastern Indian cultures. He lives with his wife and four children in Tahlequah.

Songdog Diary: 66 Stories from the Road
Designed and illustrated by Carol Stanton
Ms. Stanton, who currently lives in St. Louis, is a graduate of the University of Tulsa with degrees in art and English. She served as the art director at Council Oak Books in Tulsa until moving to St. Louis.

Doesn't Fall off His Horse
Written and illustrated by Virginia A. Stroud
Ms. Stroud's paintings and prints are widely collected; her work has received awards, ribbons, and medals, and has been shown in museums throughout the Southwest. She has been honored as the Indian Arts and Crafts Association's Artist of the Year.

Double Jeopardy
by William Bernhardt
Mr. Bernhardt knows the law, and understands inside and out the people who enforce it-and those who bend and break it. He received the Oklahoma Book Award for fiction in 1995 for Perfect Justice. He earned his law degree at the University of Oklahoma College of Law, and lives in Tulsa

Seven Black Stones
by Jean Hagar
Seven Black Stones captures the confluences of the traditional and the modern forces in contemporary Cherokee life. With its powerful sense of time and place, this mystery delves into the issues between men and women, lovers and family that are common to us all. Ms. Hagar is the author of two previous Molly Bearpaw novels. She lives in Tulsa.

On Second Thought
by Maurice Kenny
This contemporary American Indian literature collection includes old and new favorites in poetry, fiction, criticism, and political commentary. Mr. Kenny makes his home at Saranac Lake, in the heart of New York's Adirondack Park, close to the natural subjects and the Colonial Indian history that have inspired him.

The White Gryphon
by Mercedes Lackey and Larry Dixon
Ms. Lackey is a full-time writer and has published numerous novels and works of short fiction. Her husband and collaborator, Larry Dixon, has been a professional artist for more than a decade, specializing in wildlife, military, and automotive art, as well as science fiction and fantasy. They live in Claremore.

Where The Heart Is
by Billie Letts
Where The Heart Is puts a human face on the look-alike trailer parks of America's small towns. It is a story about the strength of friendship, the goodness of down-to-earth people, and the healing power of love. Ms. Letts is the author of numerous highly acclaimed short stories and screenplays. She lives in Durant and teaches creative writing at Southeastern Oklahoma State University.

Forged in Honor
by Leonard B. Scott
Bestselling author Leonard B. Scott once again combines world events, high-tech intelligence, and guerrilla warfare to produce a fast-paced military thriller about honor and courage. Scott retired in 1994 as a full Colonel after twenty-seven years in the U.S. Army. A veteran of Vietnam, he earned the Silver Star and Purple Heart. Scott lives in Edmond.

The Way We Know In Dreams
by Gordon Weaver
In his seventh short fiction collection, Weaver presents characters whose cries are so human raw and mordant, the reader forgets the fiction and is delivered inside the experience. Weaver is the author of Men Who Would Be Good, which was named a New York Times Notable Book for 1992. Until his retirement last year, he taught at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater.

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