The Association of American Publishers has established a new $5,000 publishing award to be given annually to a book publisher outside the U.S. "who has demonstrated courage and fortitude in the face of political persecution." The award will be named after Jeri Laber, one of the founding members of the AAP's International Freedom to Publish Committee and an adviser to the committee for the past 27 years. The first recipient will be named in the spring of 2003.
Pat Schroeder, AAP president, said, "One of AAP's guiding principles has been the understanding that if one of us is denied the right to publish, that threat affects us all. Jeri Laber has provided superb leadership in this effort."
Laber's memoir, The Courage of Strangers: Coming of Age with the Human Rights Movement, was published in May by Public Affairs Books.
