Jan Karon, author of Putnam’s #1 New York Times bestseller, Come Rain or Come Shine, was honored with the Library of Virginia’s Lifetime Achievement Award this past weekend.
The award recognizes a Virginian who has made an outstanding and long-lasting contribution to literature. Previous Lifetime Achievement Award winners include Edgar Allan Poe, Booker T. Washington, and John Grisham.
Ms. Karon was the featured speaker at the library’s literary luncheon, where she was ![jankaron]()
interviewed by Sandy Treadway, the Librarian of Virginia, and she was presented the award at a ceremony that took place Saturday night in Richmond. Putnam President Ivan Held and VP Executive Editor Christine Pepe (pictured here with Ms. Karon) attended the award ceremony to celebrate her achievement, as well as the close of her successful book tour that included two bookseller events in Richmond.
Ms. Karon wrote her first novel when she was 10 years old, the same year she won a short-story contest organized by the local high school. At age 50, she left a career in advertising to be an author and her first series of books began as a weekly installment in her local newspaper. Eventually she published At Home in Mitford, her first novel, which has been reprinted more than 80 times and nominated three times for an ABBY (American Booksellers Book of the Year Award). Her novels have also won the Christy and Gold Medallion awards for outstanding contemporary fiction and the Library of Virginia’s People’s Choice Award for Fiction.
Her two most recent Mitford novels both were very successful: Somewhere Safe with Somebody Good, spent 17 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list, and Come Rain or Come Shine debuted at #1 on The New York Times bestseller list on October 11. A special hardcover gift edition of At Home in Mitford will be released on October 27. She is also the author of 13 other books, including two Father Tim novels, a cookbook, and several books for children.
interviewed by Sandy Treadway, the Librarian of Virginia, and she was presented the award at a ceremony that took place Saturday night in Richmond. Putnam President Ivan Held and VP Executive Editor Christine Pepe (pictured here with Ms. Karon) attended the award ceremony to celebrate her achievement, as well as the close of her successful book tour that included two bookseller events in Richmond.
Ms. Karon wrote her first novel when she was 10 years old, the same year she won a short-story contest organized by the local high school. At age 50, she left a career in advertising to be an author and her first series of books began as a weekly installment in her local newspaper. Eventually she published At Home in Mitford, her first novel, which has been reprinted more than 80 times and nominated three times for an ABBY (American Booksellers Book of the Year Award). Her novels have also won the Christy and Gold Medallion awards for outstanding contemporary fiction and the Library of Virginia’s People’s Choice Award for Fiction.
Her two most recent Mitford novels both were very successful: Somewhere Safe with Somebody Good, spent 17 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list, and Come Rain or Come Shine debuted at #1 on The New York Times bestseller list on October 11. A special hardcover gift edition of At Home in Mitford will be released on October 27. She is also the author of 13 other books, including two Father Tim novels, a cookbook, and several books for children.The post Author Jan Karon Honored with Library of Virginia’s Lifetime Achievement Award appeared first on Penguin Books USA.