BIBR best of 2004

Best True Life Personal Narratives

Sleepaway School: Stories from a Boy's Life by Lee Stringer (Seven Stories Press June 2004, ISBN 1-583-22478-5)

In this heartrending memoir, Stringer, an accomplished writer (Grand Central Winter: Stories From the Street, Seven Stories Press, July 1998) and radio commentator, recounts his years spent in a New York state's Hawthorne Cedar Knolls, a school for at-risk youths.

Cooking With Grease: Stirring the Pots in American Politics by Donna Brazile (Simon & Schuster, June 2004 ISBN 0743-25398-1)

Brazile, former campaign manager for the Gore-Lieberman 2000 Presidential campaign, tells the story of her growing up in a "working-poor" family, and her rise to both personal and political accomplishments.

Best Biographies

Warrior Poet: A Biography of Audre Lorde by Alexis De Veaux (W.W. Norton & Co. March 2004, ISBN 0-393-01954-3)

Alice Walker: A Life by Evelyn C. White (W. W. Norton & Co., September 2004, ISBN 0-393-05891-3)

Publisher W.W. Norton & Company this year released magnificently authoritative portraits of two black feminist voices that first emerged in the late 20th century: poet, essayist, and memoirist Audre Lorde, who died of cancer in 1992, and the novelist, poet and essayist Alice Walker, who this year published her seventh novel, Now Is the Time to Open Your Heart. Biographers Alexis De Veaux and Evelyn C. White each devoted a decade or more to crafting their books. Their brilliantly insightful finished products each reflect the benefits of the extra time and care.

COPYRIGHT 2004 Cox, Matthews & Associates
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group