Latino Literacy Now Announces Awards Winners

Small and large publishers recognized for Latino literary excellence.

By Ximena Diego -- Críticas, 6/15/2006

Books from Rayo/Harper Collins and Villegas Editores were among the big winners in this year’s International Latino Book Awards. Rayo, recognized for Isabel Allende’s El bosque de los pigmeos (Forest of the Pigmies) and Jorge Ramos’s Morir en el intento (Dying to Cross) among others, took home 13 awards in six categories. The Colombian publisher scored more than six first places, including Best Educational Children’s Book in Spanish and Best Romance Novel.

In the Fiction category, Rayo’s reprint of Richard Vasquez’s 1970’s bestseller Chicano won prizes for Best Dramatic Novel and Best Historical Novel. For Villegas, Ángela Becerra’s El penúltimo sueño took first place for Best Romance Novel. Other awards for Works from Villegas include María Villegas’s Cosas de niñas (Girl Stuff) for Best Educational Children’s Book in Spanish; Benjamín Villegas’s Beatriz Gonzalez for Best Young Adult Nonfiction; and Eduardo Serrano’s Manzur: Homenaje (Manzur: Homage) for Nonfiction Arts Book.

Among the other publishers to receive recognition were BrainStorm 3000 and Arte Público Press. Moreno Winner’s Freaky Food from Around the World/Platillos sorprendentes de todo el mundo (Brain Storm 3000) won Best Educational Children’s Book-Bilingual, and Colato Lainez’s I am Rene, the Boy/Soy René, el niño (Arte Público Press) won Best Children’s Picture Book-Bilingual.

Bestowed by Latino Literacy Now, a non-profit organization supporting literacy and literary excellence within the Latino community, the 2006 International Latino Book Awards were presented at BookExpoAmerica on May 20th. The winners in the bilingual and Spanish-language categories are:

Best Educational Children’s Book—Spanish
Cosas de niñas (Girl Stuff), by María Villegas (Villegas Editores)

Best Educational Children’s Book—Bilingual
Freaky Foods From Around the World, by Ramona Moreno Winner (BrainStorm 3000)

Best Children’s Picture Book—Spanish
Un día de lluvia (A Day of Rain), by Anna Milbourne, with illustrations by Sarah Gill (EDC Publishing)

Best Children’s Picture Book—Bilingual
I am René, the Boy/Soy René, el niño, by René Colato Lainez, with illustrations by Fabiola Graullera Ramírez (Arte Público Press)

Best Young Adult Fiction—Spanish
El bosque de los pigmeos (Forest of the Pigmies), by Isabel Allende (Rayo/HarperCollins)

Adults—Fiction

Best Novel—Drama
Chicano, by Richard Vasquez (Rayo/HarperCollins)

Best Novel—Mystery
El Zahir (The Zahir), by Paulo Coelho (Rayo/HarperCollins)

Best Novel—Romance
El penúltimo sueño (The Penultimate Dream), by Ángela Becerra (Villegas editors)

Best Poetry Book
Deletreando en sueños (Spelling Out in Dreams), by Víctor David Cervantes Casanova (CBH Books)

Adults—Nonfiction

Best Arts Book
Manzur: Homenaje (Manzur: Homage), by Eduardo Serrano (Villegas editors)

Best Biography
Cómo Fue: Memorias (How It Happened: Memoirs), by José Trías Monge (La Editorial, Univ. de Puerto Rico)

Best Health Book
La dieta de las 3 horas (The 3-Hour Diet), by Jorge Cruise (Rayo/HarperCollins)

Best History/Political Book
Morir en el intento: La peor tragedia de inmigrantes en la historia de los Estados Unidos (Dying To Cross: The Worst Immigrant Tragedy in American History), by Jorge Ramos (Rayo/HarperCollins)

Best New Age Book
El don del cambio: Una guía espiritual para transformar su vida radicalmente (The Gift of Change: Spiritual Guidance for a Radically New Life), by Marianne Williamson (Rayo/HarperCollins)

Best Religious Book
Vive sin miedo: Despierta la fuerza interior de tu alma (Living Fearlessly: Bringing Out Your Inner Sould-Strength), by Paramahansa Yogananda (Self-Realization Fellowship)

Best Self-help Book
Ser angelical: Transforme su vida hacia el conocimiento divino (Angelical Being: How to Transform Your Life and Obtain Divine Wisdom), by Mabel Iam (Llewellyn Epañol)

Best Reference Book
Qué sé yo de la historia: Todo lo que necesitas saber acerca de la historia de los Estado Unidos (Don’t Know Much About History: Everything You Need to Know About American History but Never Learned), by Kenneth C. Davis (Rayo/HarperCollins)

Read the complete list of the 8^th Annual International Latino Book Awards winners.