Virginia is home to many authors whose works have enriched our lives and filled our libraries. The Library is proud to present the Annual Library of Virginia Literary Awards Celebration as a way of thanking these authors and celebrating the power of the written word. The 14th Annual Literary Awards Celebration will be held the evening of Saturday, October 15, 2011. We are grateful for the support of presenting sponsor Dominion, event sponsors Weinstein Properties and Media General, and media sponsor the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

The Library of Virginia Literary Awards are given to outstanding Virginia authors in the areas of poetry, fiction, nonfiction (and, in the case of nonfiction, also by any author about a Virginia subject), and literary lifetime achievement. These are juried awards and winners in each category receive a cash prize and an engraved crystal book. Past winners include Barbara Kingsolver, Annette Gordon-Reed, Debra Nystrom, Lisa Spaar, Carrie Brown, Helon Habila, Deborah Eisenberg, Wesley Hogan, Scott Nelson, Melvin Ely, James I. Robertson Jr., Charles Wright, Constance Merritt, and R. T. Smith—to name just a few. Each year the Library also grants a Lifetime Achievement Award to recognize outstanding and long-lasting contributions to literature by a Virginian. The 2011 recipient, Earl Hamner, joins a distinguished list of previous winners including Tom Wolfe, William Styron, Rita Dove, Lee Smith, and John Grisham.

The Carole Weinstein Prize in Poetry, founded in 2005, is given each year to a poet with strong connections to central Virginia. The $10,000 annual prize recognizes significant recent contributions to the art of poetry and is awarded on the basis of a range of achievements in the field of poetry.

Also awarded at the Celebration are the Annual People’s Choice Awards for the best works of fiction and nonfiction by a Virginia author and the Whitney and Scott Cardozo Award for Children’s Literature.