The New England Independent Booksellers Association, representing 350 independent bookstores in New England and New York, announces the 2007 winners of the New England Book Awards:

• Julius Lester for Children's;
• Gregory Maguire for Fiction;
• Roy Blount Jr. for Non-fiction; and
• Shambhala for Publishing.

Presented annually, the New England Book Awards were established in 1990 to recognize New England authors and publishers who have produced a body of work that stands as a significant contribution to the region's literature. Each author award is accompanied by a $500 grant from NEIBA to a literacy organization chosen by the winner.

Gregory Maguire is the author of five novels for adults and more than a dozen novels for children. His adult novels are Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, praised by John Updike in the New Yorker as "an amazing novel," Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, Lost, Mirror Mirror and Son of a Witch. He has lived abroad in Dublin and London, and now makes his principal home in Massachusetts.

Roy Blount Jr. is the author of twenty books including his latest Long Time Leaving: Dispatches From Up South. He is a panelist on NPR's Wait Wait . . . Don't Tell Me! a columnist for Oxford American, a contributing editor to The Atlantic Monthly, and president of the Authors Guild. He lives in western Massachusetts.

Julius Lester has written numerous books for both adults and children including Cupid: A Tale of Love and Desire, Days of Tears, Tales of Uncle Remus and To Be A Slave for which he won a Newbery Honor Medal. In 1971 he joined the faculty of the University of Massachusetts where he is a professor in the Judaic and Near Eastern Studies Department and adjunct professor of History. He lives in western Massachusetts.

Shambhala Publications was formed in 1969 as an outgrowth of Shambhala Booksellers, a metaphysical bookstore in Berkeley, CA. In 1976 they moved to Boulder, CO before settling in Boston 1985. Shambhala specializes in books that "present creative and conscious ways of transforming the individual, the society, and the planet." Their titles include Tao of Physics, When Things Fall Apart and The Art of War.

Previous Winners

Fiction
2006 Ernest Hebert
2005 William Martin
2004 Archer Mayor
2003 Jodi Picoult
2002 Chris Bohjalian
2001 Elinor Lipman
2000 Suzanne Strempek Shea
1999 Wally Lamb
1998 Anita Shreve
1997 Elizabeth Berg
1996 Jamaica Kincaid
1995 Howard Norman
1994 Richard Russo
1993 Jill McCorkle
1992 Cathie Pelletier
1991 Howard Frank Mosher
1990 May Sarton

Non-Fiction
2006 Kevin Phillips
2005 Jane Brox
2004 Linda Greenlaw
2003 Simon Winchester
2002 Howard Zinn
2001 Robert Finch
2000 John Hanson Mitchell
1999 Bill Bryson
1998 Bernd Heinrich
1997 James Carroll
1996 David Herbert Donald
1995 Doris Kearns Goodwin
1994 Tracy Kidder
1993 Donald Hall
1992 Jonathan Kozol
1991 Geoffrey Ward, Ric Burns, Ken Burns

Children's Books
2006 Jane Yolen
2005 Marc Simont
2004 Molly Bang
2003 Lois Lowry
2002 Leonard Everett Fisher
2001 Joan Bauer
2000 Marcia Sewall
1999 Karen Hesse
1998 Susan Meddaugh
1997 Natalie Kinsey-Warnock
1996 Steven Kellogg
1995 Natalie Babbitt
1994 Ashley Bryan
1993 William Steig
1992 Katherine Paterson
1991 Barbara Cooney
1990 Jan Brett

Editorial Excellence
1997 Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Literary Excellence
2001 John Edgar Wideman
1999 Mary Oliver
1995 Peter Davison

New England Publishing
2006 Commonwealth Editions
2005 Chelsea Green
2004 Storey Publishing
2003 Candlewick Press
2002 University Press of New England
2000 Steerforth Publishing
1998 Houghton Mifflin
1996 Curbstone Press
1994 South End Press
1993 Alyson Publications
1992 Beacon Press
1991 University of Massachusetts Press
1990 David R. Godine, Publisher