‘Boogie Nights’ Script Among Literary Winners

PEN Center USA West has announced the winners of its Literary Awards Competition, which honors writers from the Western states. The awards were for work as diverse as a nonfiction book on snakes to the movie script for “Boogie Nights.”

The winners “represent the cross-section of writers across the West,” said Executive Director Sherrill Britton.

Each winner received $1,000 and will be honored at a dinner in October. They are:

* James Salter, “Burning the Days” (Random House, 1997) for creative nonfiction;

* Harry W. Greene, “Snakes: The Evolution of Mystery in Nature” (UC Press, 1997) for research nonfiction;

* Molly Gloss, “The Dazzle of Day” (Tor Books, 1997) for fiction;

* Linda Bierds, “The Profile Makers” (Henry Holt, 1997) for poetry;

* Paul S. Jacobs, “James Printer: A Novel Rebellion” (Scholastic Press, 1997) for children’s literature;

* Michael Henry Heim, translator of “A Bohemian Youth” by Josef Hirsal (Northwestern University Press, 1997) for translation;

* Mark Arax, Los Angeles Times article, “A Labor of Love for Boys of McFarland,” for journalism;

* Naomi Iizuka, “Polaroid Stories,” Actors Theatre of Louisville, Ky., for drama;

* Larry Gelbart, “Weapons of Destruction,” HBO, for teleplay;

* Paul Thomas Anderson, “Boogie Nights,” New Line Cinema, for screenplay.

PEN West is part of an international professional writers association dedicated to building a literary community and protecting the rights of writers around the world.