“Nazaré,” a novel by WNMU writer-in-residence JJ Amaworo Wilson has won the 24th annual Foreword INDIES Book of the Year.
“Nazaré” is a magical realist story inspired by the Arab Spring of 2010-11. The novel was called “rare and ground-shaking” by U.S. Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera, who said, “I celebrate Nazaré for its power, tenderness, and transcendence.”
Amaworo Wilson is the author or co-author of over 20 books. His 2016 novel “Damnificados” was named a Top 10 book in “O” magazine and also won the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, the Independent Publisher Book Award, the New Mexico-Arizona Book Award, and the Prix Révélation de Traduction for the French translation. Two of Amaworo Wilson’s non-fiction books saw him honored at Buckingham Palace in 2008 and 2011.
The Foreword INDIES awards recognize the best books published in 2021 from small, independent, and university presses. For this year’s competition, over 2,700 entries were submitted in 55 categories, with Foreword’s editors choosing the finalists. Those titles were then mailed to librarians and booksellers charged with picking the Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Honorable Mention winners, as well as the two top awards, the Editor’s Choice in both Non-fiction and Fiction, which “Nazaré” won.