Author Edward Stanton Honored in 2018 Feathered Quill Book Awards

ST. LOUIS - March 5, 2018 - PRLog -- Edward Stanton's novel, Wide as the Wind (2016, Open Books Press) has been awarded its third international book award: the silver Feathered Quill Book Award for teen fiction (13–18 years).

Wide as the Wind, also the winner of the 2017 Next Generation Indie Book Award for Young Adult Fiction and the 2017 silver Moonbeam Children's Book Award for historical young adult fiction, is a timely piece of environmental fiction. The first novel to deal with the stunning, tragic history of Easter Island, it is both a stirring novel of adventure and a prophetic tale for our times.

A Feathered Quill Book Award judge said that the main character, Miru, is "a young man to fight for!" The 15-year-old-son of a tribal warrior must leave island, ravaged by wars and starvation, to bring back seeds capable of reforesting his homeland.

School Library Journal recommends Stanton's novel for "ambitious middle and high school readers who appreciate a depiction of a little-discussed but significant historical period and culture" as well as for historical fiction collections in libraries and bookstores. With discussion questions included, it is an excellent pick for a classroom read or a book club, both for teens and adults.

"Wide as the Wind transports us to an island world both outside time and urgently relevant to us in the 21st century," says Leatha Kendrick, author of Almanac of the Invisible. "This novel reminds us of what is important and what we might be called upon to set aside in order to make a world where we and our descendants can live and thrive."

To purchase copies of Wide as the Wind or schedule author Edward Stanton for an event, please contact publisher Jennifer Geist at jennifer@openbookspress.com or (314) 827-6567.

Other Winners

For a complete list of winners, please visit the award page, https://featheredquill.com/2018-winners/.

About the Feathered Quill Book Awards

Started in 2008 by a small group of dedicated, enthusiastic reviewers, Feathered Quill has become one of the preeminent online review sites. In the summer of 2013, it opened

submissions for the first annual book award program, and since that time, the award

program has grown substantially. This year, the number of award nominations increased

by more than 20%, with nominations coming from all types of publishers including the one book self-publisher all the way up to the major New York houses.

About Edward Stanton

Edward Stanton's Wide as the Wind is based on ten years of travel and research on Easter Island, whose name he has changed in his novel in order to extend its imaginative reach to all of Polynesia. Born in Colorado and raised in California, he resides in Kentucky after having lived in Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile and Spain. Stanton is the author of eleven books, some of which have been translated and published in Spanish, Arabic and Chinese. Road of Stars to Santiago, the story of his 500-mile walk on the ancient pilgrimage route to Compostela, was called one of the two best books on the subject by The New York Times. Pulitzer Prize-winning writer James Michener said, "Edward Stanton recounts his adventures with stylish conviction." Stanton has also published fiction, poems, translations and essays in magazines, journals and newspapers in countries throughout the world. He has been a professor of literature at universities in the U.S., Europe and South America. The Fulbright Commission and the National Endowment for the Humanities have awarded him grants for travel, research and writing. His students and colleagues recently published a volume of essays in his honor. At present he is completing a travel memoir titled VIDA: A Life.

About Open Books Press

Open Books Press is dedicated to publishing quality nonfiction for adults and fiction for all ages. Open Books Press, established in 2010, is an imprint of Pen & Publish, Inc., a small press founded in 2005 to serve schools and nonprofits.

Pen & Publish serves a variety of markets through its three imprints. Transformation Media Books (2009) is its body/mind/spirit imprint. Brick Mantel Books was added in 2015 to foster literacy by publishing literary fiction and poetry.