News

New Yorker Victoria Christopher Murray to receive Phillis Wheatley Award

Popular writer Victoria Christopher-Murray will receive the 2006 Phillis Wheatley Award for excellence in contemporary fiction at the kickoff reception of the 8th annual Harlem Book Fair on Friday.

Christopher-Murray, a native of Queens, is the author of six Christian-based fiction novels. She is currently on tour to promote her latest novel, A Sin and A Shame, that was released nationally last month. For Christopher Murray, receiving the award is perhaps one of the major highlights of her literary career.

“I’m so excited about this opportunity,” she said recently in a recent interview with the Amsterdam News. “I’m honored to be in the company of so many wonderful people.”

Christopher Murray , who holds an MBA from New York University, spent more than 10 years working in Corporate America before eventually starting her own financial services business. She self-published her first book, Temptation in 1997. The book was eventually picked up and published by Warner Books.

“I didn’t even know that Christian fiction existed,” she said. “I knew that I wanted to write a book that was entertaining, compelling and put God in the middle and still have the book be a page-turner.”

Since those early days, Christopher-Murray’s books have regularly earned her a spot on Essence magazine’s bestseller’s list and garnered her a nomination for a 2001 NAACP Image Award.

The Wheatley Book award was established to recognize literary excellence and achievement that transcends culture, boundary and perception, according to Max Rodriguez, the former publisher of QBR—The Quarterly Black Book Review and an organizer of the Harlem Book Fair. Past recipients include, Dr. Maya Angelou, Maryse Conde, Carol Jenkins and Haki Madhubuti. In addition to Christopher-Murray, this year’s honorees include, Walter Dean Myers, author of the 1993 biography of Malcolm X; Omar Tyree, the outspoken and acerbic author of 13 books that focus on urban hip-hop culture; Chester Higgins, a photojournalist, whose works have appeared in the New York Times, Black Enterprise and Art News and Jan Carew, an educator and author whose works entwine some of his experiences as an educator and author in Europe, Guyana and the U.S.

Christopher-Murray will receive her award Friday night at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem between 7-9 p.m. She will meet fans and autograph copies of her books after the event.

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