On April 18, 2009, Shirley Gordon Jackson (far right), author of A Place to Be Someone: Growing Up with Charles Gordone, took part in the unveiling of a marker in her family's hometown of Elkhart, Indiana, honoring her brother, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright. (At left, assisting in the ceremony, is Dean Hupp, president of the board of directors of the Elkhart County Historical Society.)

In Elkhart Jackson spoke to several groups, including local students, about the city's racial divide in Elkhart in the 1940s. "Jackson's heart-wrenching stories," writes Jodee Shaw of Elkhart WINS, "leave the reader appalled at the bigotry of the past and inspired that it could lead Gordone to a successful future as an actor, playwright, and college professor and led Jackson to publish her first book at age 79."  Read more >>

 

Editor Judith Keeling (left) and author Melodie Cuate of the Mr. Barrington's Mysterious Trunk series of time-travel novels for young readers accepted the Western Heritage Award for Best Children's Book in April from the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. The award for Journey to Gonzales was the second annual honor for Cuate, whose Journey to San Jacinto won in 2008.