December 8, 2009

Kerry Madden. Download image.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The new book Harper Lee: Up Close (Viking) written by University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Assistant Professor Kerry Madden, MFA, has been named as one of the "Best Young Adult Books of 2009" by Kirkus Reviews.

The book focuses on the life of Monroeville native Harper Lee, whose 1960 novel To Kill a Mockingbird won the Pulitzer Prize and became an international bestseller. Lee's book later became an Academy Award-winning film. Earlier this year, Madden's book made Booklist's Top 10 Biographies of 2009 for Youth.

Madden also is the author the Maggie Valley Trilogy, published by Viking Children's Books. The trilogy includes Gentle's Holler (2005), Louisiana's Song (2007) and Jessie's Mountain (2008). Her first novel Offsides was a New York Public Library Pick for the Teen Age in 1997.

Madden teaches creative writing in the UAB Department of English. She earned her bachelor's degree and an MFA in playwriting from the University of Tennessee. She joined the UAB Department of English this fall.

The Kirkus Reviews, founded in 1933, publishes reviews of 5,000 titles each year, including fiction, nonfiction and children and young adult books.

About the UAB Department of English

The UAB Department of English offers an undergraduate degree in English with concentrations in creative writing, linguistics or professional writing and public discourse and graduate degrees in literature, rhetoric and composition, and creative writing.