Annal:1998 Golden Kite Nonfiction Award

Martha Graham: A Dancer's Life

Russell Freedman

• 1998 Golden Kite-nonfiction winner
• 1998 Horn Book-nonfiction honor
• Score: 16.48

Martha Graham, the American dancer, teacher, and choreographer, revolutionized the world of modern dance. She possessed a great gift for revealing emotion through dance, expressing beliefs and telling stories in an utterly new way. Newbery Medalist Russell Freedman documents Martha Graham’s life from her birth in 1894 to her final dance performance at the age of seventy-five and continued career as a choreographer until her death in 1991. Graham’s own recollections as well as those of her dancers, students, friends, and lovers reveal Graham’s unwavering dedication, her extraordinary sense of artistry, and the fierce intensity that left an impression on all who saw her perform. Original research based on interviews and a remarkable collection of photographs not widely reproduced give this biography a rare and unparalleled depth. Includes notes,a bibliography, and an index.

Restless Spirit: The Life and Work of Dorothea Lange

Elizabeth Partridge

• 1998 Golden Kite-nonfiction honor
• Score: 6.48

Dorothea Lange’s desperate and beautiful pictures of the migrant workers in California and her heartbreaking photographs of Japanese Americans interned during World War II put human faces on some of the darkest episodes in America’s history.

Restless Spirit is an intimate portrait of a woman who struggled to balance her passion for her career and her love for her family, all the while producing some of the most celebrated, powerful photographic works in America’s history.