Akhtar, Ehrenreich among winners of American Book Awards

NEW YORK (AP) — Ayad Akhtar’s acclaimed novel “Homeland Elegies,” Ben Ehrenreich’s environmental warning “Desert Notebooks” and an illustrated edition of the late William Melvin Kelley’s postmodern narrative “Dunfords Travels Everywhere” are among this year’s winners of American Book Awards for works that highlight the country’s diversity. The awards are presented by the Before Columbus Foundation, a nonprofit established in 1976 by Ishmael Reed to promote and popularize  multicultural literature. The author and scholar Maryemma Graham, who in 1983 founded the Project on the History of Black Writing, was given a lifetime achievement award.