Lopez friends get IPPY award…wow!

Iris Graville (left) accepts the Independent Publisher award from the IPPY presenter.

When I first saw Hands at Work: Portraits and Profiles of People Who Work with Their Hands, I thought it was a winner. As a book, it has incredible production values – great layout, wonderful evocative photography, and a super job of binding. Then you read it – and it grabs you. Well-written stories that stick – it’s great.

And I’m not the only one who thinks so… Independent Publisher just named Lopez Island author Iris Graville & Lopez photographer Summer Moon Scriver’s book as an Outstanding Book of the Year. (You’ll remember Summer Moon’s work was a winner in that Ansel Adams competition here last winter.) Here’s more:

Independent Publisher just announced winners of its 13th annual book awards competition (IPPY) and named Hands at Work—Portraits and Profiles of People Who Work with Their Hands an Outstanding Book of the Year.

Hand at Work

One of 3,380 books entered in the national contest, Hands at Work was awarded a gold medal in the “Most Life-Changing Book” category.  It also was selected for five awards by Indie 2009 Next Generation Book Awards including the grand prize for Best Cover Design and winner in the Coffee Table Book Category. Both the IPPY and the Indie are national competitions specifically for small, independent presses and self-published books such Hands at Work, published by Heron Moon Press of Lopez Island, WA.

Hands at Work, a 144-page hardcover coffee-table book has been called “deep, meaningful and profound” by Matthew Fox, author of The Reinvention of Work.  It offers profiles and images of people passionate about working with their hands. In vivid interviews, a boat builder, potter, chef, reef net fisherman, quilter, physical therapist, and others explore the mystical rightness of deeply fulfilling work. Most of those interviewed live and work in Puget Sound; many are from Lopez Island, home to the book’s author and publisher, Iris Graville, and photographer, Summer Moon Scriver. “We’re thrilled that Hands at Work was selected for these awards,” says Graville.  “The people presented in it are such models of the rewards that come from doing work with the hands.”

Hands at Work retails for $34 and is available at book stores and gift shops throughout Puget Sound, through Amazon.com, and at www.handsworking.com.

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