Heidi Durrow reports from the NAACP Image Awards
For the last few weeks my to-do list has read something like this:
Pack
Unpack
Write thank you notes
Finish essay
Laundry
Wash dishes
Pick up dry cleaning
Try to get to gym!
But last week, I set aside all those everyday tasks because it was time to glam up for the NAACP Image Awards. I was nominated for Outstanding Literary Debut (for my novel The Girl Who Fell from the Sky) along with my friend Dolen Perkins-Valdez (Wench), Isabel Wilkerson (The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration), Maaza Mengiste (Beneath the Lion’s Gaze), and Peter Akinti (Forest Gate).
I love to get gussied up and gussy up I did: I got my toes and nails done, and went to the hair salon twice in one week!
Thursday night was the cocktail gala and my first red carpet ever. At first, I thought I might faint dead I was so nervous. I calmed down a bit when I spotted my friend, the event photographer Wilki Tom, who always takes a good photo! I was grinning like crazy as I made my way into the building—I’d experienced a tiny little moment of fame.
The highlight of the cocktail party had to be when the talented poet Camille Dungy (also a nominee for Suck on the Marrow) introduced me to actor Anthony Mackie. Be still my heart. That is a most handsome man.
Friday was the awards presentation, another red carpet, and another fabulous night. I was so glad to catch up with the extraordinary writers Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Bernice McFadden, and Carleen Brice (whose book to film won an Image Award–go Carleen!). And how lovely is Terry McMillan? She gave a shout out to me and the other writers nominated. A class act that lady is. I am so excited to do the Algonquin Book Club event with her on August 18.
The night ended on a surreal note when I ran into Vanessa Williams (yes, THE Vanessa Williams!) who I met several years ago when I sent her my manuscript. She remembered meeting me! We ended up sitting and talking for a long while and then Holly Robinson-Peete and her husband, Rodney Peete, joined us.
I ended the night thinking: I’ve got to hurry up and write the new book finished so I can have an opportunity to go to the Image Awards again! I am still buzzing from the excitement of the night.
Oh, yeah, and I didn’t win the Image Award (it went to Isabel Wilkerson), but it sure was a winning night!
–Heidi Durrow, author of The Girl Who Fell from the Sky
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Dear Ms. Durrow,
You’re a winner in our eyes, and I must say, your dress rocked! 🙂
Also, I can’t believe you got to meet Terry McMillan, I love her work! AND Anthony Mackie?!?!?! Wow, I’d give an arm and a leg to meet him, he truly is an incredibly handsome man! Thank you for sharing your night with us.
Sincerely,
~Hira H.
Thanks for this fun commentary on a “star-studded” evening!
Meeting Vanessa Williams? I am sure I would become speechless.
But of course I must ask, did you get to see Terrence Howard or Denzel Washington there? I’m quite sure I would faint if I were in the same room with either of them …
Anyway, your book The Girl Who Fell From the Sky is just brilliant — thank you for writing it, thank you Algonquin for publishing it! The audiobook is very well-done adn engaging also …
Thanks for this fun commentary on a “star-studded” evening!
Meeting Vanessa Williams? I am sure I would become speechless.
But of course I must ask, did you get to see Terrence Howard or Denzel Washington there? I’m quite sure I would faint if I were in the same room with either of them …
Anyway, your book The Girl Who Fell From the Sky is just brilliant — thank you for writing it, thank you Algonquin for publishing it! The audiobook is very well-done adn engaging also …
Thanks for this fun commentary on a “star-studded” evening!
Meeting Vanessa Williams? I am sure I would become speechless.
But of course I must ask, did you get to see Terrence Howard or Denzel Washington there? I’m quite sure I would faint if I were in the same room with either of them …
Anyway, your book The Girl Who Fell From the Sky is just brilliant — thank you for writing it, thank you Algonquin for publishing it! The audiobook is very well-done adn engaging also …
Greetings! Very helpful advice in this particula article!
It’s thhe little changes that wiill make the biggest changes.
Many thanks for sharing!
Greetings! Very helpful advice in this particula article!
It’s thhe little changes that wiill make the biggest changes.
Many thanks for sharing!
Greetings! Very helpful advice in this particula article!
It’s thhe little changes that wiill make the biggest changes.
Many thanks for sharing!