New England Book Festival Award Winner

Torn Apart Wins Gay Category in 2011 New England Book Festival

BOSTON (December 29, 2011) _ The 2011 New England Book Festival has completed its judging for the year and made its determination of the best books of the holiday season.

It considered non-fiction, fiction, biography/autobiography, children’s books, young adult, how-to, cookbooks, science fiction, photography/art, poetry, gay and compilations/anthologies. All entries for this contest were in English.

The awards ceremony will be held in Boston on January, 14, 2012 at the Omni Parker Hotel. Grand prize winner Edward J. Delany, author of Broken Irish, Turtle Point Press, will receive $1500 and airfare to the award ceremony.

Genre category winners, like Rickard, will receive a combination of books, software, cash awards and free vendor tables at our New York or Hollywood Book Festivals. Torn Apart: United by Love, Divided by Law, shares Rickard’s own story of the federal law discrimination faced by LGBT binational couples. Rickard is not able to sponsor her UK national wife Karin for immigration to the U.S. because of current federal marriage and immigration law. Twenty other stories are presented in the book, which also includes information and updates on legislation, extensive resources and information on groups to help affected families.

For a free excerpt of the book, go to:  http://bit.ly/eIyGxh

For a short video of Rickard and her wife talking about the issue with MSNBC’s Thomas Roberts, go to:Find out more about Judy and Karin at Someone You MUST Know: Immigration Equality Advocate & Author Judy Rickard at 10,000 Couples's January 2011 Issue

http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/same-sex-couples-fight-for-immigration-rights/6f4pydo?from=

To order Torn Apart: United by Love, Divided by Law directly from Findhorn Press online, go to:

http://www.findhornpress.com/relationships-43/torn-apart-392.html

Submitted works were judged by a panel of industry experts using the following criteria:

1) General excellence and the author’s passion for telling a good story.
2) The potential of the work to reach a wider audience.

The 2011 New England Book Festival is part of the JM Northern Media family of festivals, which include the DIY Convention: Do It Yourself in Film, Music & Books, New York Book Festival and Hollywood Book Festival. For more information, contact:

JM Northern Media LLC
attn: New England Book Festival
7095 Hollywood Boulevard
Suite 864
Hollywood, CA 90028-0893
Phone: 323-665-8080