Over the weekend, the winner of the 2019 Readers’ Choice Award was announced at the inaugural Houston Literary Awards Gala. The contest began in August with a field of over 200 nominated local authors. The top five who garnered the most votes proceeded to the final round in September. The nominees included: Mary Ann Faremouth, Fallon Renee Hamilton, Darrell Lee, Danielle Metcalfe-Chenceil and the winner, Nkem DenChukwu.

The Houston Public Library Foundation (HPLF) hosted the Houston Literary Awards Gala, on Saturday, October 19, 2019, to celebrate talented writers who have a renowned impact on our world and call Houston home.

The gala honored four of Houston's authors acclaimed globally from a variety of genres and presented a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Bapsi Sidhwa, the Lifetime Achievement recipient, is an award winning, internationally acclaimed Pakistani novelist. Among her many honors Sidhwa received the Bunting Fellowship at Radcliffe/Harvard, the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Writer’s Award, the Sitara-i-Imtiaz, Pakistan’s highest national honor in the arts, the LiBeraturepreis in Germany and the 2007 Primo Mondello Award in Italy. She has taught at Brandeis, Columbia U, Mount Holyoke College, Southampton University and University of Houston.

Literary Award recipients: Katherine Center, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Roger Leslie, PhD and Annetra Piper, PhD.

The gala evening featured a social meet and greet with the authors, book

signings, a harpist playing beautiful music and gourmet dining, held at the historic Julia Ideson Building downtown and emceed by Mary Benton, Deputy Communications Director and Press Secretary for the City of Houston.

In attendance: Donna and Tony Vallone, honorary chairpersons; Zarine Boyce, chairperson and Vice Chair, HPLF; Dr. Rhea Lawson, Library Director – City of Houston; Mayoral candidate, Tony Buzbee and Francis Moody; Feroze and Shernaz Bhandara, Tina and Mitja Peterman, David Mincberg, Minnette Boesel, Janet and Leonard Tallerine, Regina and Larry Payne among others.

This year's Houston Literary Awards Gala raised funds for HPLF, which connects philanthropy to the Houston Public Library in support of life-changing programs.

The event planner and fundraising consultant, Mignonne Anderson, said “I’m truly looking forward to continuing to partner with HPLF’s Executive Director, Sally Swanson, for next year’s Houston Literary Awards Gala on Saturday, October 3, 2020, and I encourage everyone to mark your calendars! It will be an evening that you won’t want to miss.”