The Seven Sisters Book Awards were established in 2015 by author Lynne Hinton to honor women writers. Hinton, an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, is the author of 20 books, including the bestselling novel, Friendship Cake (Harper, 2002). Awards are given for books in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and for best first book. Two of this year’s winner have current ties to the academic world.
Jacqueline Allen Trimble, chair of the department of languages and literatures at Alabama State University in Montgomery was named as the recipient of the Seven Sister Book Award in poetry and for the best book of the year. Dr. Trimble was honored for her book American Happiness (NewSouth Books, 2016), a collection of poetry. The prize committee said that Professor Trimble’s poems were “written with passion and beauty. This is a collection that should be required reading for every American today. With truth and loveliness, theses poems will take your breath away.”
Dr. Trimble is a graduate of Huntingdon College in Montgomery, Alabama. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Alabama.
Kathy Giuffre, a professor of sociology at Colorado College, won the Seven Sisters Book Award in the fiction category. She was honored for her debut novel The Drunken Spelunker’s Guide to Plato (John F. Blair, 2015). In a congratulatory letter from Lynne Hinton, Professor Giuffre was told “you have a wonderful gift and the world is a better place because you are in it. You inspire and touch many more people than you will ever know.”
Professor Giuffre’s research focuses on social networks, culture, communities, and Polynesian society. An earlier book was An Afternoon in Summer: My Year on a South Sea Island, Doing Nothing, Gaining Everything, and Finally Falling in Love (Awa Press, 2010). Dr. Giuffre is a graduate of Harvard University. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.