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Libraries exhibit Lynd Ward Prize's five years of graphic novel honors

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State's University Libraries exhibit "The Lynd Ward Graphic Novel Prize: the First Five Years" showcases the work of the prize's initial honorees from Aug. 20 through Jan. 20, 2016, in Sidewater Commons, Pattee Library, on the University Park campus.

The Lynd Ward Graphic Novel Prize, also known as the Lynd Ward Prize for the Best Graphic Novel of the Year, honors Ward’s seminal influence in the development of the graphic novel. It also celebrates the gift of an extensive collection of Ward’s wood engravings, original book illustrations and other graphic art donated to Penn State University Libraries by his daughters, Robin Ward Savage and Nanda Weedon Ward.

Between 1929 and 1937, Ward published his six groundbreaking wordless novels — “Gods’ Man,” “Madman’s Drum,” “Wild Pilgrimage,” “Prelude to a Million Years,” ”Song without Words” and “Vertigo” They hav been re-issued by The Library of America in a two-volume boxed set entitled “Lynd Ward: Six Novels in Woodcuts,” the first time the nonprofit publisher has included a graphic novelist in its award-winning series.

First issued in 2011 and sponsored by Penn State University Libraries and administered by the Pennsylvania Center for the Book — an affiliate of the Center for the Book at the Library of Congress — the Lynd Ward Graphic Novel Prize is presented annually to the best graphic novel, fiction or nonfiction, published in the previous calendar year by a living U.S. or Canadian citizen or resident.

The announcement of the award takes place each spring and a prize of $2,500, the two-volume set of Ward’s six novels published by the Library of America and a suitable commemorative is presented each fall to the creator(s) of the award-winning book at a ceremony to be held at Penn State.

In addition to the winning book, Honor Awards also are given to works which the judges believed deserve attention.

Content from the 2015 Lynd Ward Prize winner, "This One Summer" by Mariko Tamaki (writer) and Jillian Tamaki (artist), published by First Second, an imprint of Roaring Brook Press, and from 2015 Honor Award recipient "Here" by Richard McGuire, published by Pantheon, a division of Random House is included in the exhibit.

Last Updated August 24, 2015

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