Bestselling author Colum McCann wins Christopher Award

New York author Colum McCann won a Christopher Award for the book American Mother (Etruscan Press), that he wrote with Diane Foley, Wolfeboro, N.H. It is one of 12 books for adults and young people as the Christopher Awards program marks its 76th year.

The Awards celebrate authors, illustrators, writers, producers and directors, whose work “affirms the highest values of the human spirit” and reflect the Christopher motto, “It’s better to light one candle than to curse the darkness.”

“American Mother” is the story of a woman who, in the course of confronting her son’s killer, gets to the heart of violence and forgiveness. Foley’s son is James W. Foley, an American freelance journalist captured and beheaded by ISIS in 2014. Seven years later, she spent three days with the murderer in a Virginia courthouse, inspiring her to tell her life story. The book is a compelling narrative channeled into searing reality by National Book Award-winner McCann, who brings readers on a journey of strength, resilience and radical empathy.

McCann is the bestselling author, internationally, of 10 works of fiction and one nonfiction book. The recipient of many honors, including the National Book Award, the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, and a Guggenheim fellowship, he was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland. McCann serves as President and co-founder of Narrative 4, a non-profit storytelling organization which helps build empathy in young people, encouraging them to improve their communities.

Foley is President and Founder of the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation, [JWFLF], which she created less than a month after the public beheading of her son Jim. In 2015, she led JWFLF efforts to fund the start of Hostage US and the international Alliance for a Culture of Safety, ACOS. She actively participated in the National Counterterrorism Center hostage review which culminated in the Presidential Policy Directive-30. This directive created the current US hostage enterprise consisting of an interagency Hostage Recovery Fusion Cell, Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs and a White House Hostage Response Group to free innocent Americans taken hostage or wrongfully detained abroad. JWFLF was instrumental in the passage of the Robert Levinson Hostage Taking and Accountability Act.

She has been a tireless hostage, wrongful detainee and family advocate within the US hostage enterprise, Congress and every presidential administration since 2014. She has raised awareness of international hostage taking and wrongful detention using the award-winning documentary, “Jim, the James Foley story,” opinion pieces in The New York Times, Washington Post and USA Today and media interviews.

Foley has spoken on the power of forgiveness in various faith communities and was included in “200 Women,” edited by Geoff Blackwell. She is the author of a chapter called, “Life for A Voice: The Work of Journalist James W. Foley through the Eyes of his Family” in “Living Precariously,” edited by Christina Lee and Susan Leong. Previously, Foley worked as a community health nurse and family nurse practitioner for 18 years. She received both her undergraduate and master’s degrees from the University of New Hampshire. She is active in her Roman Catholic parish of St Katherine Drexel in Wolfeboro, NH, where she lives with her husband, Dr. John W. Foley. She is the mother of five children.

Christopher Awards were also given to creators of 9 TV/Cable shows and feature films. They celebrate authors and illustrators as well as writers, producers and directors whose work “affirms the highest values of the human spirit” and reflects the Christopher motto, “It’s better to light one candle than to curse the darkness” which also guides the organization’s publishing and radio programs.

Tony Rossi, The Christophers’ Director of Communications, said, “Our award-winning stories, both true and fictional, highlight people who have the odds stacked against them, but who face their challenges with faith and perseverance, allowing them to move through the darkness into the light and serve a higher purpose than themselves. In other words, these books, films, and TV programs don’t just engage and entertain; they teach, they heal, and they inspire.”

The Christophers, a nonprofit founded in 1945 by Maryknoll Father James Keller, is rooted in the Judeo-Christian tradition of service to God and humanity. More information about The Christophers is available at www.christophers.org.

Social media: #ChristopherAwards, Facebook: The Christophers / X: @ChristophersInc

The link for paperback is https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/...