Firecracker Award
| Firecracker Award | |
|---|---|
| Awarded for | Literary excellence |
| Sponsored by | Community of Literary Magazines and Presses |
| Date | June |
| Reward(s) | $1,000–$2,000 |
| First awarded | Original version: 1996–2002; new version: 2015 (2014 publications) |
| Last awarded | Active |
| Website | www |
The Firecracker Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards focusing on small-press publishing. Previously known as the Firecracker Alternative Book Awards (FABs), in the current form they are known as the CLMP Firecracker Awards for Independently Published Literature, and are administered by the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses (CLMP).
The Firecracker Alternative Book Awards were established in 1996 and were presented through 2002. The Firecracker Awards returned in 2015, "to celebrate books and magazines that make a significant contribution to our literary culture and the publishers that strive to introduce important voices to readers far and wide."[1]
Neither version of the Firecracker books awards are related to an identically named award given to "women photographers born or working in Europe."[2]
Process[edit]
CLMP Firecracker Awards are given to one winner annually in each of five categories: Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, Poetry, Best Debut in Magazine, and General Excellence in Magazine. A shortlist of nominees in each category is announced beforehand.[3] (There have previously been other categories but they have been retired or subsumed in the existing five.)
According to a 2014 Publishers Weekly article, the awards are "judged by a panel of writers, editors, booksellers, and agents. Members of the Firecracker Committee include representatives from, in addition to CLMP and the ABA, Tin House, Workman Publishing, Random House, Byliner, Greenlight Books, and a host of literary agents...."[4]
In the book categories, winning presses receive $1,000-2,000, and authors or translators receive $1,000.[1] Magazine winners receive $1,000 each.[1] The winning titles are also showcased in CLMP's national publicity campaigns.[1][5][4]
Generally, the Firecrackers are announced each June. Each ceremony includes the naming of that year's recipient of the Lord Nose Award, "given in recognition of a lifetime of superlative work in literary publishing."[6]
History[edit]
The Firecracker Alternative Book Awards were established in 1996 by John Davis of Koen Book Distribution,[4] and "were designed to honor books on the 'unmapped edges of contemporary culture' that 'sharpen the cutting edge.'"[4] Categories included Fiction, Poetry, Nonfiction, Politics, Sex, Music, Graphic Novel, Zine, Kids/Young Adult, Art/Photo, Drugs, Sex, and Special Recognition/Wildcard. Winners "were selected via an online voting system."[4]
The FABs were administered by volunteers rather than an official organization, and after 2002 the task became "unsustainable."[4] CLMP was approached at that time about continuing the awards, but the organization passed on the opportunity for a couple of reasons, one being that the voting system "bore a lack of transparency that raised concerns,"[4] and the other being that CLMP felt it needed to gain more solid financial footing before it took on administering a set of literary awards.
The revitalized CLMP Firecracker Awards returned in 2015,[5][4] "broadening the focus from strictly unorthodox works."[4]
Winners[edit]
FABs (1996–2002)[edit]
 | This section is missing information about individual category winners. (May 2024) |
| Year | Category | Author | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Fiction | Georges Perec | A Void |
| Nonfiction | Carl Jensen and Project Censored | Censored: The News that Didn't Make the News — and Why | |
| Poetry | S. E. Anderson | In Defense of Mumia | |
| Politics | Leonard Weinglass | Race for Justice: Mumia Abu-Jamal's Fight Against the Death Penalty | |
| Graphic Novel | Art Spiegelman & Robert Sikoryak, eds. | The Narrative Corpse | |
| Music | Henry Rollins | Get in the Van: On the Road with Black Flag | |
| Drugs | Dale Pendell | Pharmako/Poeia: Plant Powers, Poisons, and Herbcraft | |
| Sex | Kitty Tsui | Breathless: Erotica | |
| Special Recognition/Wildcard | David Robinson | Saving Graces | |
| Peter Lamborn Wilson | Pirate Utopias | ||
| 1997 | Graphic Novel | Ted Rall | Real Americans Admit: "The Worst Thing I've Ever Done" |
| Art/Photo | Susie Bright & Jill Posener, eds. | Nothing but the Girl: the Blatant Lesbian Image: A Portfolio and Exploration of Lesbian Erotic Photography | |
| Special Recognition/Wildcard | Paul Joannides with Dærick Gröss Sr. (illus.) | The Guide to Getting it On | |
| 1998 | Fiction | Scott Heim | In Awe |
| Nonfiction | Carolyn Lei-Lanilau | Ono Ono Girl's Hula | |
| Poetry | Gerry Gomez Pearlberg | Queer Dog: Homo/Pup/Poetry | |
| Politics | Howard Zinn | The Zinn Reader: Writings on Disobedience and Democracy | |
| Graphic Novel | Bob Fingerman | Minimum Wage Book 2: Tales of Hoffman[7] | |
| Kids | Javaka Steptoe | In Daddy's Arms I Am Tall: African Americans Celebrating Fathers | |
| Music | Laurent de Wilde | Monk | |
| Drugs | Bobcat Press | The Joint Rolling Handbook | |
| Sex | Tristan Taormino | The Ultimate Guide to Anal Sex for Women | |
| Special Recognition/Wildcard | Max Cannon | Red Meat: A Collection of Red Meat Cartoons From the Secret Files of Max Cannon | |
| Jim Jarmusch | Original Sin: The Visionary Art of Joe Coleman | ||
| Constance Penley | NASA/Trek: Popular Science and Sex in America | ||
| 1999 | Fiction | Carol Queen | The Leather Daddy and the Femme |
| Poetry | Michael Madsen | Burning In Paradise[8] | |
| Politics | Gary Webb | Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Cocaine Explosion | |
| Graphic Novel | Eric Drooker | Street Posters and Ballads: A Selection of Songs, Poems, and Graphics | |
| Music | Michael J. Moynihan and Didrik Søderlind | Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground | |
| 2000 | Poetry | Alan Kaufman (writer), ed. | The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry |
| Children's Book | Subcomandante Marcos | The Story of Colors/La Historia de los Colores: A Bilingual Folktale from the Jungles of Chiapas | |
| Graphic Novel | Julie Doucet | My New York Diary | |
| 2001 | Fiction | Neal Pollack | The Neal Pollack Anthology of American Literature |
| Politics | Ralph Nader | The Ralph Nader Reader | |
| Graphic Novel | Chris Ware | Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth | |
| Special Recognition — Spoken Word | Daphne Gottlieb | Why Things Burn | |
| 2002 | Fiction | Beth Lisick | This Too Can Be Yours |
| Nonfiction | Eric Schlosser | Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal | |
| Poetry | Dodie Bellamy | Cunt-Ups | |
| Politics | Noam Chomsky | 9-11 | |
| Graphic Novel | Joe Sacco | Palestine | |
| Art/Photo | Chris Cooper | Devil's Advocate: The Art of Coop | |
| Kids | Art Spiegelman | Strange Stories for Strange Kids | |
| Music | Daniel Sinker | We Owe You Nothing | |
| Drugs | Phil Shoenfelt | Junkie Love | |
| Sex | Annie Sprinkle | Hardcore from the Heart: The Pleasures, Profits and Politics of Sex in Performance |
CLMP Firecrackers Awards (2015–present)[edit]
| Year | Category | Author | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015[5] | Fiction | Jeffery Renard Allen | Song of the Shank |
| Creative Nonfiction | Marie NDiaye | Self-Portrait in Green | |
| Poetry | Bernadette Mayer | Sonnets: Expanded 25th Anniversary Edition | |
| Graphic Novel | Hubert Boulard and Kerascoët | Beauty (Beauté) | |
| Young Adult | Patty Blount | Some Boys | |
| Magazines/For Poetry | Poetry | ||
| Magazines/Best Debut | Story | ||
| Magazines/General Excellence | Tin House | ||
| 2016[9] | Fiction | Andrés Neuman | The Things We Don't Do |
| Creative Nonfiction | Joni Tevis | The World is On Fire: Scrap, Treasure, and Songs of Apocalypse | |
| Poetry | Anne Boyer | Garments Against Women | |
| Literary Magazine | A Public Space | ||
| 2017 | Fiction | Ananda Devi with Jeffrey Zuckerman (trans.) | Eve Out of Her Ruins |
| Creative Nonfiction | Renee Gladman | Calamities | |
| Poetry | Douglas Kearney | Buck Studies | |
| Magazines: Best Debut | Bennington Review | ||
| Magazine: General Excellence | Prairie Schooner | ||
| 2018 | Fiction | Rivers Solomon | An Unkindness of Ghosts |
| Creative Nonfiction | Aisha Sabatini Sloan | Dreaming of Ramadi in Detroit | |
| Poetry | Javier Zamora | Unaccompanied | |
| Magazines: Best Debut | Flock Literary Journal | ||
| Magazines: General Excellence: | One Story | ||
| 2019 | Fiction | Casey Plett | Little Fish |
| Creative Nonfiction | Shaelyn Smith | The Leftovers | |
| Poetry | Sesshu Foster | City of the Future | |
| Magazines: Best Debut | Aster(ix) | ||
| Magazines: General Excellence | ZYZZYVA | ||
| 2020[10] | Fiction | Johannes Anyuru with Saskia Vogel (trans.) | They Will Drown in their Mothers' Tears |
| Creative Nonfiction | Jehanne Dubrow | throughsmoke | |
| Poetry | Jena Osman | Motion Studies | |
| Laura Moriarty | Personal Volcano | ||
| Magazines/Best Debut | Porter House Review | ||
| Magazines/General Excellence | Two Lines Journal | ||
| 2021[11] | Fiction | Aoko Matsuda with Polly Barton (trans.) | Where the Wild Ladies Are |
| Creative Nonfiction | Melissa Valentine | The Names of All the Flowers | |
| Poetry | Justin Phillip Reed | The Malevolent Volume | |
| Magazines/Best Debut | Lucky Jefferson | ||
| Magazines/General Excellence | Mizna | ||
| 2022[12][13] | Fiction | Celeste Mohammed | Pleasantview |
| Creative Nonfiction | Allison Cobb | Plastic: An Autobiography | |
| Poetry | Truong Tran | book of the other: small in comparison | |
| Magazines/Best Debut | Sistories | ||
| Magazines/General Excellence | Obsidian: Literature & Arts in the African Diaspora | ||
| 2023[14] | Fiction | Zain Khalid | Brother Alive |
| Creative Nonfiction | Douglas Kearney | Optic Subwoof | |
| Poetry | Solmaz Sharif | Customs | |
| Magazines/Best Debut | 128 Lit | ||
| Magazines/General Excellence | Ecotone |
References[edit]
Citations[edit]
- ^ a b c d "Firecracker Awards". Community of Literary Magazines and Presses. Retrieved 2022-06-28.
- ^ ROHTER, LARRY (Sep 2, 2013). "Images of Her Russian Aunts Win Award for Brooklyn Photographer". The New York Times.
- ^ "Firecracker Awards Winners archive". CLMP.org.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Swanson, Clare (May 29, 2014). "BEA 2014: Firecrackers Are Back". Publishers Weekly.
- ^ a b c "The 2015 Firecracker Award Winners". CLMP. Archived from the original on 8 August 2017.
- ^ "The Lord Nose Award". CLMP.org.
- ^ "Fingerman Collection Wins Book Award". News Watch. The Comics Journal. No. 205. June 1998. p. 27.
- ^ Waldo, Thea (July 16, 2006). Celebrities and Their Culinary Creations: Autographed Photos, Biographies, Trivia, & Recipes. iUniverse. ISBN 978-0-595-39753-2 – via Google Books.
- ^ "Announcing the 2016 Firecracker Award Winners". CLMP. 2016. Archived from the original on May 25, 2016.
- ^ "Awards: CLMP Firecracker Winners". Shelf Awareness. 2020-07-02. Retrieved 2022-06-28.
- ^ "Awards: Firecracker Winners". Shelf Awareness. 2021-06-25. Retrieved 2022-06-28.
- ^ "Awards: Firecracker Winners". Shelf Awareness. 2022-06-27. Retrieved 2022-06-28.
- ^ Schaub, Michael (2022-06-24). "CLMP Announces Firecracker Award Winners". Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved 2022-06-28.
- ^ "Here are the winners of the 2023 Firecracker Awards". Literary Hub. 2023-06-23. Retrieved 2023-09-25.
Sources[edit]
- "Firecracker Awards Winners archive". CLMP.org.
- "CLMP Firecracker Award". LibraryThing. Retrieved May 17, 2024.
Given by Community of Literary Magazines and Presses (CLMP). Other Names: Firecracker Alternative Book Award, Firecracker Award, Firecracker CLMP award.
- "Firecracker Alternative Book Awards". ReadersRead.com. Archived from the original on Mar 4, 2009.