Goddard Riverside announces first literary prize
“Eviction’s fallout is severe,” begins Matthew Desmond’s 2016 book “Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City.” “It invites depression and illness, compels families to move into degrading housing in dangerous neighborhoods, uproots communities and harms children.” The award-winning volume on housing and poverty got the attention of Stephan Russo, former director of Goddard Riverside, and partly inspired the organization to create its new Stephan Russo Book Prize for Social Justice.
Goddard Riverside announced that the new contest would accept published books as well as bound, unpublished galleys and manuscripts on the themes of housing, early childhood and secondary education, older adult life, city arts and social policy. “Ideally, the prize [will go to] someone who is courageous, who really endeavors to talk and engage people in social justice themes,” said Dr. Roderick Jones, who replaced Russo as executive director. Books published in the U.S. between Oct. 1, 2016 and Sept. 31, 2016 will be eligible for the prize.
Judging the contest will be Jeffrey Toobin, a New Yorker staff writer and legal analyst for CNN; Barbara Simon, an associate professor at the Columbia School of Social Work; Douglas Bauer, executive director of The Clark Foundation; and Michael Zisser, who recently retired as CEO of University Settlement and The Door. There is no financial award for winning.
Goddard Riverside is one of New York City’s leading settlement houses, which provide services and assistance to people, especially the homeless and those of lower incomes, throughout the course of their lives. Reflecting the organization’s mission and values, Jones said, was a priority in establishing the new literary prize. The center has hosted an annual book fair for about 30 years, the sales from which support its many programs.
Josh Marwell, president of sales at Harper Collins and a Goddard Riverside board member, called the relationship between the book publishing industry and the center “legendary.” Last October, Russo told Publisher’s Weekly that there is “a good fit between the publishing industry, which I would say is very concerned with certain issues, particularly literacy and education, and what Goddard Riverside was doing.”
Books in the social justice category may not be at the top of New Yorkers’ must-read lists, but Marwell anticipates that that may change. “With what’s going on in the world, there’s a lot of heightened interest in many of these subjects,” he said. “The idea being that social justice is very broadly defined, as the mission of a settlement house is broadly defined.”
Between Goddard Riverside’s new contest, the launch of the citywide reading initiative “One Book, One New York” and First Lady Chirlane McCray’s book clubs at Gracie Mansion, it’s a good time to be both a reader and a writer in the city.
Madeleine Thompson can be reached at newsreporter@strausnews.com