Award-Winning Book from USU Press

A book published by USU Press, Rain In The Valley by Helen Papanikolas, recently won the 2005 Utah Book Award for Fiction. The book award, sponsored by the Utah Center for the Book, honors books judged to best represent the literary culture of the state in fiction, nonfiction, poetry and children’s/young adult literature.

Papanikolas was one of Utah’s most revered authors, said Kathleen Kingsbury, marketing manager for University Press and Scholarly Publications at USU. Papanikolas was known and respected nationally and internationally as the preeminent narrator of the Greek American experience. She was appreciated in Utah particularly for her documentation of its multicultural history and was widely admired for her storytelling through fiction and memoirs.

 

Rain in the Valley, her last book, is a culmination. Kingsbury describes it as a narrative rich with life, insight and experience as Papanikolas portrays the generations of a Greek-American family. The family’s story is rooted in sheepherding, set primarily in Helper, Utah, and shaped by the changes that the 20th century brings. Rain in the Valley was the last work Papanikolas completed before her death in late 2004.

 

For more information, visit the Utah State University Press Web site.