Oklahoma Book Awards honor state authors

Gerard, of Muskogee, was astounded when his name was announced as a winner Saturday night.

“‘God's Acres' is about our family, and is loosely based on them. And like a lot of American families, we were pretty good but mostly dysfunctional.”

The awards reception and banquet drew a crowd of more than 200 that included authors, publishers, librarians, book editors and people who love to read. Former Lt. Gov. Jari Askins served as master of ceremonies.

The event was sponsored by the Oklahoma Center for the Book, part of the state Libraries Department and a state affiliate of the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress. The awards recognize books written the previous year by or about Oklahoma. This year, 122 books were entered in the competition.

Gerard, 57, a freelance writer who was formerly an editor for the Muskogee Phoenix, has said much of his novel, “God's Acres,” was woven out of his own boyhood experiences, and that he worked on the book for about 20 years. “I'd put it down for a while, then pick it up and start on it again,” he said in an interview last year when the book was published.

In addition to the literary awards, Oklahoma-native novelist Rilla Askew was presented with the Arrell Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award for a body of work contributing to the state's literary heritage. The award is named for the Norman historian who was the first president of the Oklahoma Center for the Book.