By JAMES D. WATTS JR. World Scene Writer on Aug 18, 2013, at 2:30 AM Updated on 8/18/13 at 3:00 AM
Award-winning author Jim Murphy, whose re-creations of historical events have earned him two Newbery Honors, will be in Tulsa this weekend to receive the 2013 Anne V. Zarrow Award for Young Readers' Literature, presented by the Tulsa Library Trust.
Murphy will be presented the award - a $7,500 cash prize and an engraved crystal book - at an event 7 p.m. Friday at Gilcrease Museum, 1400 N. Gilcrease Museum Road.
On Saturday, Murphy will give a public talk about his work, and present the awards in the library's annual Young People's Creative Writing Contest. This event will be at 10 a.m. Saturday at Connor's Cove in the Hardesty Regional Library, 8316 E. 93rd St.
Murphy will sign books at both events, and books will be available for purchase.
In an interview with the Tulsa World earlier this year, Murphy said, "I've written fiction ... but the nonfiction has always received the most attention. I don't really have an idea as to why these books have taken off, other than the fact that the most successful books are the ones that I was really interested in the subject.
"When you spend a year or two researching a subject, and you're still fascinated by it, that's a good indicator that what you're doing will appeal to others, as well," he said.
Murphy's works include "The Long Road to Gettysburg," which personalizes the horrors of the Civil War while exploring the battles through two vantage points - through the eyes of two actual participants, John Dooley, age 18, a Confederate lieutenant, and Thomas Galway, 15, a Union soldier.
"An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793" re-creates the fear and panic that swept over Philadelphia during that extremely hot, humid summer when the swamps around the city turned to muddy puddles and swarms of mosquitoes filled the air.
In his book "Blizzard! The Storm That Changed America," Murphy recounts the massive, raging snowstorm of 1888 that killed 800 people in New York City alone.
Murphy's latest work, "The Giant and How He Humbugged America," is an entertaining, riveting account of how the 19th-century Cardiff Giant mystery snowballed into one of America's biggest money-making spectacles - and scams.
Murphy has earned many awards for his books, including two Newbery Honor Book awards, a National Book Award finalist medal, three Jefferson Cup awards, two Golden Kite awards, a Boston Globe-Horn Book Award and the 2010 Margaret A. Edwards Award, which is a lifetime achievement honor.
For more information about the Anne V. Zarrow Award, call 918-549-7323 or visit
tulsaworld.com/library
James D. Watts Jr 918-581-8478
james.watts@tulsaworld.com
Original Print Headline: Author to get Zarrow Award on Saturday
Books
If Jeff Kinney had not missed getting on a plane in May, it's possible he would not be making a trip to Oklahoma later this month.
It's been several years since the publication of Daniel Woodrell's slim, harrowing and much-celebrated "Winter's Bone." Now "The Maid's Version" has finally hit the bookstores, and it's even slimmer - just 164 pages.
