Wright State graduate Ann Weisgarber shortlisted for Ohioana Book Award

Ann Weisgarber is one of six finalists in the fiction category for the Ohioana Library’s 2011 Ohioana Book Awards.

Wright State University alumna and award-winning author Ann Weisgarber is one of six finalists in the fiction category for the Ohioana Library’s 2011 Ohioana Book Awards. Weisgarber was nominated for her first novel, The Personal History of Rachel DuPree.

Published in August 2010 by Viking Adult, The Personal History of Rachel DuPree portrays the struggles of the title character, an African American woman in 1917, living in the South Dakota Badlands with her husband and children. It is a rare glimpse into the lives of an African American ranch family in the American West.

“I received word about the nomination a few weeks ago, and I’m still floating,” said Weisgarber. “I wrote the novel with one intention and that was to give voice to an unnamed woman in a photograph. The Ohioana Book Award nomination honors this woman, and I like to think that she knows.”

Ohioana will announce the winners near the end of August, and recipients will be honored at the annual Ohioana Awards Ceremony the weekend of October 14, 2011.

First released in the United Kingdom in 2008, The Personal History of Rachel DuPree received the 2009 Steven Turner Award for Best Work of First Fiction. The book has also received numerous accolades since its U.S. release, including being selected by Barnes & Noble for its Discover Great New Writers program, Fall 2010, and as one of 10 fiction books for 2010 summer reading by the Chicago Sun-Times.

Weisgarber graduated from Wright State University in 1976 with a B.A. in social work. She is currently at work on her second novel about the 1900 Galveston hurricane that claimed 6,000 lives.