Forty-Eight Books Nominated for Lillian Smith Book Award for 2011

The Southern Regional Council (SRC) recently announced that forty-eight books have been nominated for the Lillian Smith Book Awards for 2011, to be presented in Decatur, Georgia on September 4, 2011.

SRC is an inter-racial organization founded in 1919 to combat racial injustice in the South. SRC initiated the Lillian Smith Book Awards shortly after Smith's death in 1966 to recognize authors whose writing extends the legacy of the outspoken writer, educator and social critic who challenged her fellow Southerners and all Americans on issues of social and racial justice. Since 2004 the awards have been presented by SRC in a partnership with the University of Georgia Libraries, whose Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library houses a historic collection of Lillian Smith's letters and manuscripts. The Georgia Center for the Book became a partner in 2007, when the awards ceremony first became part of the Decatur Book Festival.

The number of nominations is up this year, in comparison to the forty-three nominations for 2010, apparently reflecting a growing interest in the awards. The award recipients for 2010 were Lynching and Spectacle: Witnessing Racial Violence in America, 1890-1940 by Amy Louise Wood and The Price of Defiance: James Meredith and the Integration of Ole Miss by Charles Eagles.