The nomination period for the 2011 award is closed. Please save the date for the award Ceremony in Baton Rouge on Thursday, January 26, 2012.

Victor LaValle’s won the 2010 book award for his novel “Big Machine”. Big Machine “is drawing comparisons to the work of Ralph Ellison and Thomas Pynchon,” wrote the Wall Street Journal in its review. The book was chosen by Publisher’s Weekly among the 10 best published last year and The Nation said it was the most valuable of the year.

The award, initiated by donors of the Baton Rouge Area Foundation to honor Mr. Gaines, is designed to inspire and recognize rising African-American writers of excellence as they work to achieve the literary heights for which Ernest J. Gaines is known.