Amy Irvine’s Trespass Creative Nonfiction Winner

ASPEN – Fourteen talented members of Colorado’s literary community were honored as recipients of Colorado Book Awards at the Doerr-Hosier Center in Aspen on June 22, with about 150 guests gathered for the event.

Norwood’s Amy Irvine won the creative nonfiction award for her book Trespass: Living at the Edge of the Promised Land. Another local writer, Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer of Placerville was a finalist for the poetry award.
“The awards and event celebrate individuals who are exceptionally gifted in their chosen craft,” said Josephine Jones, Colorado Humanities Director of Programs and Center for the Book. “They also provide an opportunity for readers and book creators to meet face-to-face on an occasion that honors the place of books, and the people who create them, in our lives.”

Brief readings from the winners of each competition category provided a venture into the work in the author’s own voice. Audience members later attended a book signing reception for the CBA winners and finalists, giving them a rare chance for conversation with the world’s literary best. 
“The event is a way for the community to say ‘thank you’ to the honorees for enriching our lives with their insight, humor, and artistry,” said Jones. 
The Colorado Book Awards are presented annually by Colorado Humanities & Center for the Book to recognize outstanding contributions by Colorado authors, editors, illustrators, and photographers in 12 book categories: biography, children’s literature, creative non-fiction, fiction/literary, general nonfiction, genre fiction, health and well-being, history, juvenile literature, pictorial, poetry, and young adult. 

2009 Colorado Book Awards Winners
Biography – Polk: The Man Who Transformed the Presidency and America by Walter R. Borneman, Random House
Children’s Literature – M Is for Mischief: An A to Z of Naughty Children by Linda Ashman, illustrated by Nancy Carpenter, Dutton Children’s Books
Creative Nonfiction – Trespass: Living at the Edge of the Promised Land by Amy Irvine, North Point Press/Farrar, Strauss and Giroux
Fiction/Literary – The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski, Ecco
General Nonfiction – Storey’s Illustrated Breed Guide to Sheep, Goats, Cattle and Pigs by Carol Ekarius, Storey Publishing, LLC
Genre Fiction – Breath and Bone by Carol Berg, ROC/NAL Penguin Group
Health and Well-Being – Unexpected Intimacy: Everyday Connections that Nourish the Soul by Sarah Gabriel, Great Room Press
History – Killing for Coal: America’s Deadliest Labor War by Thomas G. Andrews, Harvard University Press
Juvenile Literature – The Totally Made-Up Civil War Diary of Amanda MacLeish by Claudia Mills, Farrar Straus & Giroux
Pictorial – Colorado Scenic Byways: Taking the Other Road by Jim Steinberg and Susan J. Tweit, Portfolio Publications
Poetry – A Murmuration of Starlings by Jake Adam York, Southern Illinois University Press
Young Adult Literature – Fact of Life #31 by Denise Vega, Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers