Curtis Stone
I’m proud to announce that on Sunday night, my latest book, Precious Cargo: How Foods From the Americas Changed the World, won Best Culinary History Book at the annual IACP Awards Ceremony held at the Marriott Renaissance Hotel in Washington, D.C. The IACP is the International Association of Culinary Professionals. The ceremony, hosted by Curtis Stone, the Australian celebrity chef, author, and television personality, was highly entertaining. Winners were allowed to make an acceptance speech, and for once, instead of lengthy explanations of how their families endured their writing obsessions, the winners made their comments short and to the point. I took less than two minutes to thank my wife and make the comment that it was no coincidence that our soon-to-be-celebrated 30th wedding anniversary coincided with the length of my writing career. Then I thanked my longtime agent Scott Mendel and my editor, Jack Shoemaker, who liked the book so much he asked us to package it for Counterpoint Press. And that led to my praise for Lois Manno, my longtime art director, personal editor, and good friend. Lois edited and designed the book, and it truly is beautiful. The irony for this book winning a major book award is that it was rejected by about 20 other publishers before Jack Shoemaker discovered it and was determined to publish it. This is my first book award and it will be interesting to see what it leads to. You can buy the book or Kindle edition at Amazon.com, here.
