W.Y. Boyd Literary Award recipient named
Contact: Cheryl Malden
Program Officer
312-280-3247
For Immediate Release
June 16, 2006
W.Y. Boyd Literary Award recipient named
CHICAGO -Nick Arvin's book, "Articles of War," published by Doubleday, is the winner of the W. Y. Boyd Literary Award for Excellence in Military Fiction for 2005.
The W.Y. Boyd Literary Novel Award honors the best fiction set in a period when the United States was at war.
The $5,000 award and citation, donated by author W.Y. Boyd II, recognizes the service of American veterans and encourages the writing and publishing of outstanding war-related fiction.
Nick Arvin has written an excellent work that is an addition to the chronicles of individuals who served in the Second World War.
It is a very compelling tale that enables the reader to obtain a perspective of what it was really like for the "GI" on the ground by providing an eye-opening view of the carnage and chaos of the war.
The main character is George Tilson, an Iowa farm boy.
He is nicknamed "Heck" because he does not swear.
The book details the war in Northern France and Germany through "Heck's" eyes as he witnesses the horror of war, the emotional toll it takes on him and the men around him, what it takes to survive every day and what impact the fear of battle has on Tilson.
The author used the experiences of his grandfathers as models - one fought for the American side and one for the German.
These experiences, according to Robert Schnare, chair of the Boyd Award Jury, helped capture the reality of war on a very personnel level.
Members of the 2005 W.Y. Boyd Literary Novel Award jury are: Chair Robert Schnare, Naval War College, Newport, R.I.; Lawrence Clemens, United States Naval Academy, Nimitz Library, Annapolis, Md.; Nancy Davenport, Council on Library and Information Resources, Washington, D.C.; Maxine Reneker, Naval Postgraduate School, Dudley Knox Library, Monterey, Calif.; James Schenkel, Library of Congress, Washington D.C.; and Ronald Steensland, Panama City, Fla.
The W.Y. Boyd Literary Award will be presented at the ALA Award Ceremony and Reception Tuesday, June 27, 2006, during the ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans.
The deadline for submissions of applications for the 2007 W. Y. Boyd Literary Award is December 1, 2006. Guidelines and application forms are available at
http://www.ala.org/ala/awardsbucket/wyboydaward/wyboydaward.htm.
