It’s gratifying to know that this blog reaches beyond the State of Wisconsin. The May 5, 2015, post, Sholes Award Winner’s Book Picks did just that.
Andrew Maraniss of Nashville, Tennessee and author of Strong Inside, a biography of the first American of African descent to play basketball in the Southeaster Conference, replied to that blog post with this:
“I saw the post on the Wisconsin Writers blog regarding Daniel Goldin’s award recognition and his list of favorite new books by writers with Wisconsin ties … What a pleasant surprise to see my book STRONG INSIDE on the non-fiction list!
“While I live in Nashville these days, I was born in Madison and remain a die-hard Brewers and Packers fan … My family has deep ties to Wisconsin, as my grandfather was editor of The Capital Times, my grandmother was an editor at the University of Wisconsin Press, and my parents both went to the University of Wisconsin. My father David is an author who was inducted into the Wisconsin Writers Hall of Fame in Milwaukee a few years ago.
“Anyway, even though I haven’t lived in Wisconsin for decades I still consider it my true home, and I’m excited/anxious/proud to be speaking about my book in Milwaukee (June 22 at Boswell’s) and Madison (June 24 at Hotel Red, with the store Mystery to Me selling books) soon.
“My book is a biography of the “Jackie Robinson of southern college sports,” the first African American basketball player in the Southeastern Conference, Perry Wallace of Vanderbilt. Wallace is now a law professor at American University in DC, a brilliant person, and the book is more than a sports tale – placing his pioneering journey into the context of the place and times in which he operated, the Deep South of the late 1960s. STRONG INSIDE is published by Vanderbilt University Press and has surprised the experts by ranking on the New York Times bestseller lists in both the sports and race categories in its first four months in print.”
Maraniss’s book sounds fascinating. I hope to read it before his Boswell Book Company event and to be able to meet him then.
And I’m really looking forward to Daniel Goldin receiving the Sholes Award this Saturday, May 16, at the Council for Wisconsin Writers Annual Awards Banquet at the Wisconsin Club in Milwaukee. Reservations can be made at the CWW website, http://www.wiswriters.org/2015%20banquet.htm. Reservation deadline is Tuesday, May 12. Hope to see everyone there!