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BOOK COMMITTEE REPORT 
BLACK ACADEMY OF ARTS AND LETTERS


The Book Committee, composed of 22 members, held its first meeting in the Spring with three attendees:  Paule Marshall, John Clarke and myself; the second wast [[was]] attended by Chuck Stone, Ernest Dunbar, John Killens and Paule Marshall.  The last meeting of the Committee was held on September 9th with three members:  Dorothy Porter, John and myself.  Mrs. Prettyman was in attendance each time.

At the last meeting we discovered that some books that had been nominated had not been published during 1970, the year for which the awards are to be given.  And some books were by Fellows of the Academy.  These two categories were automatically disqualified.  We also disqualified plays in book form, since we felt that plays represent the performing arts first and foremost, and are written mainly to be acted out and not read.  We also disqualified anthologies, feeling that the emphasis of the Academy's awards ought to be on creativity and not complication.  However, it was agreed that creative anthologies that fill a need should be considered each year and, if necessary, set in a special category.

Of the 42 books submitted for the Letters competition, and the 77 which were eligible for consideration, drew responses through the evaluation form, or less than 1/4 of the total number of books were even considered by the members of this Committee.  And of the 26, one was published in 1969 and two by Fellows of the Academy, thus becoming disqualified, and some authors were white.

We were distressed to note how little fiction had been submitted.  Of the five fiction nominees, one novel had been published in 1969, and one was not even a novel, but an autobiography.  The novel selected by the Committee for the Fiction Award, was nominated, but nowhere appears on the tally of the evaluation sheets.

The Poetry Award was made from the tally sheet, which showed Miss Evans to have the highest score, and the Committee felt itself in accord.

In the Scholarly category, although nominated, Frankin [[Franklin]] Knight's book does not appear on the tally sheet.  The Committee members concurred that in this light another tally, made by those present, was necessary, and Knight's book was chosen for this award.