NEW ENGLAND BOOK FESTIVAL NAMES “BROKEN IRISH” WINNER

BOSTON (December 29, 2011) _ The 2011 New England Book Festival has named Edward J. Delaney’s “Broken Irish” (Turtle Point Press) as the grand prize winner of its annual competition honoring the best books of the holiday season.

The gritty novel, set in South Boston in the late 1990s, details a community of people dealing with alcoholism, honor, the Boston archdiocese’s sexual abuse scandal and the struggles of working-class life. Delaney’s keen eye for detail and his ability to find dignity even in failure won him the competition’s top honors.

Delaney and other winners will be honored at an awards ceremony to be held January 14, 2012 at the Omni Parker House in Boston.

Other winners in the competition:

GENERAL NON-FICTION

WINNER: Killer Stuff and Tons of Money – Maureen Stanton

RUNNER-UP: Dignity – Donna Hicks, Ph.D

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

• Love Goes to Buildings on Fire – Will Hermes
• My Green Manifesto – David Gessner
• Rules Get Broken – John Herbert
• Clueless in New England – Michael C. Dooling
• Milk – A Local and Global History – Deborah Valenze
• A Professor, A President, and a Meteor – Cathryn J. Prince
• The ABC of Sales – Daniel Milstein
• Blood & Money – P. Mark Accettura
• Between Expectations – Meghan MacLean Weir, MD
• Parallel Lives – Michael Martins – Dennis A. Binette
• The Art of Looking Into the Future – R.S. Amblee
• Don’t Bring it to Work – Sylvia Lafair
• The Irish Soldiers of Mexico – Michael Hogan
• Afriats – Understanding Forced Interpersonal Interactions – Richard Bird Baker
• Porter’s Secret – Wayne Soini
• Qualified – Jamin Soderstrom
• Amazing Adventures of a Nobody – Leon Logothetis
• The Last Fling – John B“Red” Commings, Jr.
• That Night at Surigao – M. Ernest Marshall

WILD CARD:

WINNER: You Complete Me and Other Myths – Victoria Fleming, Ph.D

RUNNER-UP: Green Pieces: Green from the Pond Up – Drew Aquilina

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

• The Y’Nevano Book of Encouragements – Wali Collins
• Ship for Brains – Brian David Bruns
• Entangled in Freedom – Ann DeWitt and Kevin M. Weeks
• The Little Toolbox for Anxiety, Anger… – Francoise White
• The Sylvan Horn – Robert Redinger
• Truth Never Changes – Earth Changes – Michael L. Kilday

COMPILATIONS/ANTHOLOGIES

WINNER: Put The Needle on the Record – Matthew Chojnacki

RUNNER-UP: Mug of Woe – Kyle Cranston/Jenn Dlugos

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

• American Georgics – Edwin C. Hagenstein, Sara M. Gregg, Brian Donahue
• Art from Art – Edited by Stephen Soucy
• Dream of a Nation – Edited by Tyson Miller/Designed by Kelly Spitzner
• Intensity: The 10th Anniversary Anthology from WriteGirl – edited by Keren Taylor
• Beyond the Shadow of My Pagoda – Daniel Burch Fiddler

YOUNG ADULT

WINNER: My Name is Not Easy – Debby Dahl Edwardson

RUNNER-UP: Ghosts of the Pacific – Philip Roy

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

• The Tale of Thisbe – An Extraordinary Cat – Terri Cabral
• Tuesday’s Child – Carolyn Gibbs
• Deadly Innocence – Carlotta G. Holton
• Mr. Yahooty – Robert Sandford

GENERAL FICTION

WINNER: Broken Irish – Edward J. Delaney

RUNNER-UP: The Architect of Flowers: Stories by William Lychack – William Lychack

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

• A Death in Newport – Michael Hogan
• Nothing Can Make Me Do This – David Huddle
• Revival – Scott Alarik
• Pairs – D.W. Richards
• Rising Sunsets – D.H. Cermeno
• Uncertain Journey – James Rouman
• The Mosaic Artist – Jane Ward
• Communion – Jean Blasiar and Jonathan Marcantoni
• Separation of Faith – Cheri Laser
• Show Up, Look Good – Mark Wisniewski
• To Kill The Duke – Sam Moffie
• Terror on the Sound – Ron Janson
• Roll Over, Hitler! – Daniel Bruce Brown
• The Ropewalk – John Knauf
• My Name is Grace – Lorraine Oman Hanover
• How to Stop Loving Someone – Joan Connor
• The Scorpion’s Sting – JD Masterson
• The Stone of Orinn – Michael Greenleaf
• Birkebeiner – Jeff Foltz
• Dead Air – Deborah Shlian/Linda Reid
• The Ocean Under the Moon – Tony Stubits

PHOTOGRAPHY/ART

WINNER: The Radical Camera – Mason Klein and Catherine Evans

RUNNER-UP: John Marin: Modernism at Midcentury – Debra Bricker Balken

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

• Snapshot – Painters and Photography, Bonnard to Vuillard – Edited by Elizabeth W. Easton
• Weekend Watercolor Workshops – Molly Davis
• Boston: Bronze & Stone Speak to Us – Joseph R. Gallo, Jr.
• Dreaming Bhutan – Nicole Grace
• Moby Dick in Pictures – Matt Kish

POETRY

WINNER: Radio Time – W.E. Butts

RUNNER-UP: How Deep the Pain Goes Quiet, After – Richard Atwood

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

• Bodhisattva – Nicole Grace
• Rites of Passage – Mark Magro

BIOGRAPHY/AUTOBIOGRAPHY

WINNER: The Memory Palace – Mira Bartok

RUNNER-UP: Rattlesnake Daddy – Brent Spencer

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

• The Letters of Ernest Hemingway – Sandra Spanier, Robert W. Trogdon
• L.L. Bean: The Man and His Company – James L. Witherell
• Letters to Zerky – Bill Raney/JoAnne Walker Raney
• Frank Sinatra: The Boudoir Singer – Darwin Porter/Danforth Prince
• One with the Sea – Richard Daniel O’Leary
• Zora Neale Hurston’s Final Decade – Virginia Lynn Moylan
• Many Blessings – Sonnee Weedn, Ph.D
• I Never Intended to be Brave – Heather Andersen
• A Girl Grows Up in New York City – Joan Heron
• The Thistle and the Rose – Catherine Nixon Cooke
• Oh Brother! – Cliff Fazzolari
• Auntie Mom – Laura Maher
• Flower of God – Herbert Ausubel
• Innocent: Confessions of a Welfare Mother – Barbara Morrison
• What About the Boy? – Stephen Gallup
• When Someday Comes – Joe Markko

CHILDREN’S

WINNER: The Witches – A Winnipesaukee Adventure – Andy Opel/illustrated by Karel Hayes

RUNNER-UP: Sister Bear: A Norse Tale – Jane Yolen/illustrated by Linda Graves

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

• Lulu the Big Little Chick – Paulette Bogan
• I is For Ireland – Viki Pidgeon/illustrations by Heather Drury
• Quickly’s Magical Pancake Adventure – Miriam Kronish/Jeryl Abelmann/illustrated by Chason Matthams
• The Taste of Snow – Stephen V. Masse
• Skater Kate – Hilary Malloy
• Lost in Lexicon – Pendred Noyce
• Curio A Shetland Sheepdog Meets the Crow – Jeanette A. Griver
• Togus – A Coon Cat Finds A Home – Don Carrigan/illustrations by Thomas Block
• The Swamp King – Mark Graber/Pictures by Jack Graber
• You Are Not Your Thoughts – Brian Despard
• The Blue Lobster – Robin Taylor Chiarello/illustrated by Lisa Bohart
• Satchi and Little Star – Donna Marie Seim/illustrated by Susan Spellman
• The Cordovan Vault – J Monkeys
• Theodore and the Grand Day – Sharon Smith
• Mama’s Shoe – Anat Tour
• Frankie the Firefighter – Jim Woolf/illustrated by Izabela Ciesinska
• The Land of Chocolate Cosmos – Suzie Canale/illustrated by Kevin Coffey
• Lola’s Fandango – Anna Witte/illustrated by Micha Archer/narrated by The Amador Family
• Hayley’s Fruitastic Garden – -Mohana Gill

GAY

WINNER: Torn Apart – Judy Rickard

RUNNER-UP: Singing Her Alive – Diana K. Perkins

SPIRITUALITY

WINNER: Happily Ever After…Right Now – Luann Robinson Hull

RUNNER-UP: Women of the Passion – Joan D. Lynch

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

• Beyond the Pews – Jillian Maas Backman
• The Good – Kathleen A. Fox, Ph.D
• Ignite your Psychic Intuition – Teresa Brady
• Spirit Stones – Dianne Ebertt Beeaff
• Tragedy & Trust – Thom Vines with John Michael Vestal
• Why? – Mandeep Khera
• Blogging Through the Psalms – Kathleen J. Dolan
• Be The Second Coming – Hope Ives Mauran
• Megan’s Way – Melissa Foster
• Free Gifts Every Day – Tanya Guerrier

SCIENCE FICTION

WINNER: After the Bomb – C.L. Kostow

RUNNER-UP: Breathing Space – Book One of the Exodus Trilogy – Ian Fydell

HONORABLE MENTION:

• The Augustine Agenda – William L. Lavell

UNPUBLISHED STORIES

WINNER: Unpardonable Crimes: The Legacy of Fidel Castro – Celestino Heres

COOKBOOKS

WINNER: Around my French Table – Dorie Greenspan

RUNNER-UP: Stir – Mixing it Up in the Italian Tradition – Barbara Lynch

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

• What’s New, Cupcake – Karen Tack & Alan Richardson
• Gluten-free Makeovers – Beth Hillson
• Three Sisters Around the Greek Table – Betty, Eleni and Samantha Bakopoulos

HOW-TO

WINNER: Big Wave Surfing – Kenneth J. Thurber, Ph.D

RUNNER-UP: Think Like a Caddie – Play Like A Pro – James Y. Bartlett

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

• Bad Girls – Carole Lieberman, MD
• Fibromyalgia Basics – Pati Chandler
• Educating America – Paddy Eger
• Erotic Marriage – Dr. Frederick D. Mondin
• I Speak, Read Write Mandarin Chinese – Wang-Ching Liu