VMFA and Library of Virginia Announce Winner of Annual Art in Literature Award
Fourth recipient to be honored at 2016 Virginia Literary Awards
The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and the Library of Virginia are pleased to announce the winner of the annual Art in Literature: The Mary Lynn Kotz Award.
This year’s finalists for the Art in Literature Award are: French Riviera and Its Artists: Art, Literature, Love, and Life on the Côte D’Azur by John Baxter, María Izquierdo and Frida Kahlo: Challenging Visions in Modern Mexican Art by Nancy Deffebach, Portraits at an Exhibition by Patrick Horrigan, Hold Still: A Memoir with Photographs by Sally Mann, and The Master of the Prado by Javier Sierra.
About the Author
Born and raised in Reading, Pennsylvania, Patrick E. Horrigan received his BA from The Catholic University of America and his PhD from Columbia University. He is the author of the novel Portraits at an Exhibition (Lethe Press), about a young man’s search for the meaning of life amid a gallery of old masters portraits, and Widescreen Dreams: Growing Up Gay at the Movies (University of Wisconsin Press), an analysis of several popular films from the 1960s and ‘70s. He has written artists’ catalog essays for Thion’s Limi-Tate: Drawings of Life and Dreams (cueB Gallery, London) and Ernesto Pujol’s Loss of Faith (Galeria Ramis Barquet, New York). His essay “The Inner Life of Ordinary People” appears in Anthony Enns’ and Christopher R. Smit’s Screening Disability: Essays on Cinema and Disability (University Press of America). His one-act play, Messages for Gary: A Drama in Voicemail, composed entirely of answering machine messages received by the activist and socialist scholar Gary Lucek, was a critically acclaimed hit at the Third Annual New York International Fringe Festival. With his husband, the actor and writer Eduardo Leanez, he co-wrote the solo show You Are Confused! about the relationship between a gay Venezuelan boy and his charismatic mother. He and Leanez are the hosts of Actors with Accents, a recurring variety show in Manhattan’s East Village. Winner of the 2015 David Newton Award for Excellence in Teaching, he is an associate professor of English at the Brooklyn campus of Long Island University. He lives in Manhattan.
About the Award
Art in Literature: The Mary Lynn Kotz Award recognizes an outstanding book in fiction or nonfiction published in the previous year that is written primarily in response to a work (or works) of art while also showing the highest literary quality as a creative or scholarly work. Submissions can include works of journalism, poetry, fiction, biography, or history, as well as museum exhibition catalogs. This unique award, established in 2013, is named in honor of Mary Lynn Kotz, author of the award-winning biography Rauschenberg: A Life. The inaugural award recipient was The Innocence of Objects by Nobel Laureate Orhan Pamuk. The 2014 award winner was Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda for The Embrace: Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. Last year’s winner was Susan Vreeland for her novel Lisette’s List.
The Art in Literature Award is presented each year during the annual Virginia Literary Awards Celebration weekend, which will take place in Richmond, Virginia. The events begin on Friday evening, October 14, with a program celebrating the winning author of the Art in Literature award. The award itself will be presented on Saturday evening, October 15, at a gala reception and dinner held at the Library of Virginia.
Programs
Friday, October 14, 2016
Art in Literature: An Undying Love Affair
VMFA, Pauley Center Parlor, 6:00 PM–7:30 PM
This event will feature a presentation by the award recipient, Patrick Horrigan, followed by a book signing and reception in the Marble Hall.
Visit www.vmfa.museum to purchase tickets for this event.
Saturday, October 15, 2016
Literary Luncheon
Greater Richmond Convention Center, Noon–2:00 PM
The Library of Virginia’s 2016 Literary Luncheon features a question-and-answer session with this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, Nikki Giovanni, as well as medal presentations for all Literary Award finalists and a keynote presentation. Giovanni and some finalists will be available for book signings after the luncheon.
Visit www.literaryva.com to purchase tickets for this event.
Saturday, October 15, 2016
The Library of Virginia Literary Awards Celebration
Library of Virginia, 6:30 PM–10:00 PM
The Library of Virginia Literary Awards are given to outstanding Virginia authors in the areas of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction, as well as a Lifetime Achievement Award. Nikki Giovanni will receive this year’s Literary Lifetime Achievement Award, but the winners of the fiction, nonfiction, and poetry awards are kept secret until the awards evening on October 15. The well-known and delightful author Adriana Trigiani returns again this year as mistress of ceremonies for the evening.
Visit www.literaryva.com to purchase tickets for this event.
About the Library of Virginia
The Library of Virginia (www.lva.virginia.gov), located in historic downtown Richmond at 800 East Broad Street, holds the world’s most extensive collection of material about the Old Dominion and has been a steward of the Commonwealth’s documentary and printed heritage since 1823. The story of Virginia and Virginians has been told in many ways since 1607. At the Library of Virginia it is told through 121 million manuscripts, more than 350,000 photographs and images, and more than 1.9 million books, serials, bound periodicals, microfilm reels, newspapers, and state and federal documents, each an individual tile in the vast and colorful mosaic of Virginia’s experience.
About the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
VMFA’s permanent collection encompasses more than 33,000 works of art spanning 5,000 years of world history. Its collections of Art Nouveau and Art Deco, English silver, Fabergé, and the art of South Asia are among the finest in the nation. With acclaimed holdings in American, British Sporting, Impressionist and Post-Impressionist, and Modern and Contemporary art—and additional strengths in African, Ancient, East Asian, and European—VMFA ranks as one of the top comprehensive art museums in the United States. Programs include educational activities and studio classes for all ages, plus lively after-hours events. VMFA’s Statewide Partnership program includes traveling exhibitions, artist and teacher workshops, and lectures across the commonwealth. VMFA is open 365 days a year and general admission is always free. For additional information, telephone 804-340-1400 or visit www.vmfa.museum .
For Further Details Contact:
Maggie Allbee
Reference Librarian
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
maggie.allbee@vmfa.museum
804.340.1625
Jan Hathcock
Public Information Officer
Library of Virginia
jan.hathcock@lva.virginia.gov
804.692.3592
