Three authors will be awarded the first-ever Center for History and Culture Annual Book Prizes, March 26 at a 5 p.m. reception in the University Event Center on the 8^th floor of the Mary and John Gray Library on the campus of Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas.

The prizes are for the best book related to the history, culture, or creative activities of Southeast Texans and the Upper Gulf Coast.

Selected for the best book in the history category are co-authors Ellen Rienstra and Jo Ann Stiles for their book “The Long Shadow: The Lutcher-Stark Lumber Dynasty.”

Stiles retired from Lamar University as a history professor in 2002, after 36-year career as a history professor, independent author and researcher. Rienstra is a contract historian and author for the Nelda C. and H. J. Lutcher Stark Foundation and the coauthor of several books.

The Long Shadow goes into depth about the past three generations of the Lutcher and Stark families and how they significantly influenced the history and development of East Texas, the American lumber industry, and the University of Texas. The book also confirms that the family’s legacy lives on through the Nelda C. and H.J. Lutcher Stark Foundation, which was established by Lutcher Stark and his wife Nelda in 1961.

The Lutcher and Moore Company was founded in Orange, at one time it was one of the largest lumbering company’s in the nation. This is the first time that a complete history of the three generations has written.

Awarded to prize in the creative category is Gretchen Johnson for her book, “Single in Southeast Texas.” Johnson is an assistant professor of English at Lamar University. She joined the LU faculty from Minnesota in 2006, shortly after Hurricane Rita’s devastation of the region. Her latest book is her third. LU’s Literary Press published her first two books, while her latest is published by Golden Antelope Press.

In the novel, Johnson gives her perspective on singleness and the dating scene in Beaumont in a humorous, witty, optimistic and thoughtful passage through a plethora of memorable characters at once both individual and archetype.

“Gretchen Johnson’s keen ear for dialogue and sharp eye for detail invigorate her account of serial monotony in Southeast Texas,” wrote Jerry Bradley, University Professor of English at LU and author of Crownfeathers and Effigies. “The novel begins in the eye of a hurricane, but its real force is her fidelity to her subject and her breezy style that is acerbic, winsome, and forthright all at once.”

Immediately after the prizes are awarded, a panel discussion on “Beaumont and Southeast Texas Fiction” will be held, followed by book signings by the authors and participants.