2020 NEW ENGLAND BOOK FESTIVAL HONORS ‘THE MENU’

NEW ENGLAND_ A spiritual journey and love story that’s perfect for the season is the winner of the 2020 New England Book Festival, which honors the best works of the holiday season.

Author Steven Manchester’s “The Menu” (Luna Bella Media) is the story of Phinn Reed, who enters the world with the promise of finding his soul mate. With heaven's memories erased, his romantic quest teaches him that the heart often sees clearer than the eyes, and that not everyone has ordered the same items from The Menu.

This inspirational love story is heartfelt evidence that love stories come in many different forms.

Other winners in the competition:

WILD CARD

WINNER: The Wingless Angel – Fabrice Wilfong

RUNNER-UP: Soul Mates – Lisa Jagmohan

GENERAL NON-FICTION

WINNER: The Hanford Plaintiffs – Trisha Pritikin

RUNNER-UP: Only the Lucky Grow Old – Kristine Fontaine

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

• A White Killing Frost – Barney Beard
• She Got Up – Janice Freeman

BIOGRAPHY/AUTOBIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR

WINNER: Abandon Brandon – Brandon J. McDermott

RUNNER-UP: Anchorless – Jolie P. Hoang

COMPILATIONS/ANTHOLOGIES

WINNER: Voices from the Pandemic – Don Helin

RUNNER-UP: Wandering In Greece, Athens, Islands and Antiquities - Linda Watanabe McFerrin and Joanna Biggar

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

• Anthropocene – Dean Gessie
• Lady Columba Venus Revelations – Dr. Raymond A. Keller

SPIRITUAL/RELIGIOUS

WINNER: The Menu – Steven Manchester

RUNNER-UP: An Irish Lullaby – Louis Michael Manzo

HONORABLE MENTION:

• Zach’s Quest: A Christmas Tale – Matt and Melanie Dragovits

YOUNG ADULT

WINNER: The Bookseller’s Daughter – Steven Burt

RUNNER-UP: The Redemption – Lauren Hudson

HONORABLE MENTION:

• Last Letter to Gettysburg – Jan Thornton Jones
•  Stanley – Megan Allen

GENERAL FICTION

WINNER: Bread Bags & Bullies – Steven Manchester

RUNNER-UP: An Irish Lullaby – Louis Michael Manzo

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

• The Old Cape Hollywood Secret - Barbara Eppich Struna
• The Last Lumenian – SG Blaise
• Operation Olive Tree – Jemil Metti
• Panic in the Pits – D.G. Stern
• All That Jazz & Other Pathbreaking Tales - Lopamudra Banerjee
• White Skies Black Mingo – Kevin D. Miller
• The Meat Hunter – Megan Allen
• The Slave Players – Megan Allen
• Crossing Over – Paul Clayton
• Stanley – Megan Allen

CHILDREN’S BOOKS

WINNER: Time Tale – D.G. Stern

RUNNER-UP: The Amazing Adventure of Carter and the Pie Rats – Barney Beard

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

• To Be or Knot to Be – Melanie Burgess
• The Adventures of Wandala – Daniel Boyd

SCIENCE FICTION

WINNER: The Last Lumenian – SG Blaise

HOW-TO

WINNER: How To Write: A Primer – Barney Beard

POETRY

WINNER: An Ordinary Man: A Poem – Barney Beard

RUNNER-UP: Swerve: Poems on Environmentalism, Feminism and Resistance - Ellery Akers

HONORABLE MENTION:

• As Butterfly to a River – Gedda Ilves

PHOTOGRAPHY/ART

WINNER: The Undersea Art of Indonesia - Charles Rawlings, Lobbu, Leah Perez