Awards

Local author’s book nominated for award

MERIDITH KAUFMAN / News Herald Writer

2011-10-19 18:15:43

PANAMA CITY — Panama City author Olivia deBelle Byrd

has been nominated for the 2011 Florida Publishers Association

President’s Book Awards.

Byrd wrote “Miss Hildreth Wore Brown — Anecdotes of a Southern Belle”

in May 2010, and it is nominated, along with two other finalists,

in two categories for Florida Fiction for Adults and Cover Design.

“I found out early last week and I am thrilled,” Byrd said. “I wrote the book

because I always loved telling stories, and one day my husband told me

to write them down. So I did, but it was like someone had turned on a

faucet and I just couldn’t stop.”

Byrd wrote for the next six months about her experiences growing up in the South but used embellishment and exaggeration to turn the true stories into fiction. By the end of the process, she had 41 anecdotes taking her readers through everyday Southern life.

“It covers everything from raising kids to stories of Southern dams and gentlemen,” Byrd said. “Readers from all over have enjoyed it, because even though different places have their own geographical and cultural differences, the South is unique and comes through in this book.”

The book’s cover was an idea Byrd had relayed to her daughter. So as a surprise, her daughter had a friend design the cover to the exact specifications her mother had talked about.

“My daughter surprised me on my birthday with the design that we had talked about and her friend, who is very talented, and it was better than I had imagined,” Byrd said. “So a few months later, an editor at my publishing company called and asked if I had any input for the cover, and I sent it to the publishers. They called back and said they loved it, and they hardly ever love ideas for covers, but the only thing they were going to change was the font.”

Byrd is still thrilled with how the book turned out and people seem to love it.

“I’m very excited. Even if I don’t win, this is wonderful because some judges who don’t know me and never met me liked the book and cover,” Byrd said. “I hope that all of my readers are just thoroughly entertained.”

Byrd is shown in Sarasota, Florida, accepting her silver medals for Cover Design and Florida Fiction for Adults from Chris Angermann, President of

the Florida Publishers Association.