UF Center for Latin American Studies
November 14, 2018
Join us in congratulating Dr. Paul Ortiz, director of the Florida Samuel Proctor Oral History Program and Center affiliate, for receiving the 2018 PEN Oakland /Josephine Miles Library Award. Ortiz received the award thanks to his recent book An African American and Latinx History of the United States, published by Beacon Press in the ReVisioning American History Series.
"PEN Oakland, founded in 1989, is a chapter of PEN USA and PEN International, begun in 1921. Dubbed "the blue collar PEN" by the New York Times, PEN Oakland annually sponsors the PEN Oakland-Josephine Miles Book Awards, named for the late poet and faculty member of U.C. Berkeley's English Department. This year marks the 26th anniversary of the awards. Each year PEN Oakland presents an award to outstanding book titles published in the previous year. The Awards were created twenty-six years ago to honor writers of exceptional works often not acknowledged by the mainstream literary community. Judged by respected writers, the awards honor books that both reflect a multi-cultural or marginalized viewpoint and represent the highest standards of literature."
