News and Notes
The Dayton Literary Peace Award
The Dayton Literary Peace Award ceremonies in Ohio were a sober thrill for me, if that's a proper term. Civic leaders in Dayton created these prizes to honor the legacy of the 1995 Dayton Accords that ended the war in Bosnia. Previous winners of the lifetime achievement prize include my friend Studs Terkel, who was too frail to attend. (He died a month later at 96, after a remarkable and treasured career.)
The organizers allowed my mother to join me from Atlanta as the ideal substitute for Christy, who was traveling on business in Turkey. She made friends all weekend. I knew two of the other honorees: Cullen Murphy of the Atlantic Monthly Magazine, and the Haitian non-fiction writer Edwidge Danticat. Juno Diaz, the fiction winner, entertained everyone with his distinctive blend of poignance and wit. To introduce me, the organizers chose Edwin Moses, the three-time Olympian and gold medalist in the high hurdles. Moses, a native of Dayton, now runs a global foundation that uses sports as a vehicle to help reclaim at-risk young people. It was a privilege to meet him. In my acceptance remarks, I spoke about Dr. King's nonviolence as a neglected intellectual challenge and the hidden nuclear energy for peace, symbolized in the ballot.
STILL NONVIOLENT, BUT SILLY. Here the surviving classmates in Off Our Rocker (l-r, myself, John Yelverton, Bill Guy) finish work on The Blue Album. On a lark, we recorded harmonies we have loved since our weekend band jobs forty years ago. Our debut CD in 2006, OverTime, "went plastic to sell dozens of copies." The Blue Album, released in November, contains 16 Beatles hits from "Help" to "Sun King," including our version of "Julia," John Lennon's plaintive love song for his late mother. For free samples and sales info on both CDs, go to www.offourrocker.biz.
Baltimore NPR interview on the Beatles, Obama, and the Clintons (12/8/08)
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Obama Supporters Could Help Fix Communities, Morning Edition (11/6/08)
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Jonathan Schell and Taylor Branch in conversation (5/15/08)
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Taylor Branch writes New York Times Op Ed (4/06/08)
The Last Wish of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Taylor Branch speaks at the National Cathedral (3/31/08)
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Taylor Branch reviews soldiers, freedom and the GI Bill for the New York Review of Books (4/12/07)
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At Canaan's Edge awards to date
Winner
2008 Lifetime Achievement Award, Dayton Literary Peace Prize
Winner -
2006 Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize for Non Fiction
Finalist -
The 2006 National Book Award (Non Fiction)
Finalist -
The 2006 National Book Critics Circle Award (Biography)
Finalist -
2006 J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize
Finalist -
2006 Los Angeles Times Book Prize (History)