Hayes, American Book Award Recipient for Blonde Indian

Juneau, Alaska

University of Alaska Southeast Asst. Prof. of English Ernestine Hayes is a winner of the 28th annual American Book Awards for 2007 for Blonde Indian, an Alaska Native Memoir. Past winners include such well-known writers as Russell Banks, Gerald Vizenor, and José Antonio Burciaga.

Since its publication in 2006, Hayes’s memoir has earned regional, national, and international acclaim. It was a finalist for the Kiriyama Prize and a creative nonfiction finalist in the PEN Center USA Literary Awards.

The American Book Award was established in 1978 by the Before Columbus Foundation to recognize outstanding literary achievement from America’s diverse literary community.