​Richard Harris Award
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The Richard Harris Award was founded in 2012 to honor the memory of the late NMBA president, Richard Harris, who died in 2011 at the age of sixty-four, having written more than 250 books. He was widely considered the preeminent author of guides to the American Southwest and Mexico. People who were privileged to know Richard Harris say he was an immensely talented writer who loved books and everything about them. Equally at home designing books and discussing copyright questions, he lectured widely at writing and publishing conferences

The NMBA presents the Richard Harris Award annually to the author of a book whose excellence in writing, editing, design, production and lasting influence in New Mexico exemplifies the ideals of publishing to which Richard Harris devoted his writing career.
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On Sunday, it gave me great pleasure to announce the 2023 Richard Harris Award, a beautiful book of poetry and stories entitled Sánii Dahataał The Women Are Singing by Luci Tapahonso, inaugural Poet Laureate of the Navajo Nation. In her book, Luci shares memories of her home in Shiprock, New Mexico, and of the places and people there. Through these celebrations of birth, partings and reunions, she displays her love of the Navajo world and her resonant use of language while inviting the reader into her culture of familial warmth and support through stories that keep the past alive.

​By Shirley Melis

​“I came here expecting to buy produce, and here I am, buying books!”  The tall man in khakis and a blue polo shirt cradled three books in one arm while his wife listened to another author at the table pitch her book.
  
    Home-Grown Authors, sponsored by the New Mexico Book Association, is the brainchild of Maxine Davenport, a local author who writes compelling short stories and novels about strong women.  Love Is a Legal Affair is her latest. As many as six local authors can be found indoors at Santa Fe’s Farmers Market every Tuesday morning until Thanksgiving.  Their works of fiction and non-fiction run the gamut from westerns and murder mysteries to memoir and travel stories.
  
•    Gone to the Dogs is author Tom Lohr’s story of his 103-day odyssey to find the best combination of baseball and hot dogs at major league baseball parks in North America.
  
•    Belinda Perry, author of An Old Woman’s Lies, also writes westerns, using the name William Luckey.  “When I started writing westerns, I figured no one would buy a western written by a woman,” Belinda confides. 
 
•    Taking the act of walking seriously is author Michael Metras’s mission.  Germany to Rome in 64 Days: Our Pilgrimage is Michael’s book about a walk he took with his wife, whom he met on a walk across northern Spain.  On the Germany-to-Rome trek, each went through nine pairs of shoes.