Novacek’s Border Crossings Wins 2013 Eric Hoffer Awards
I am delighted to share that the Eric Hoffer Book Award Committee has announced Charles’ book Border Crossings: Coming of Age in the Czech Resistance has won the 2013 Eric Hoffer Award Honorable Mention in the category of Memoir. Border Crossings was also named a finalist for three other 2013 Eric Hoffer Awards: the Montaigne Medal for most thought-provoking book, the da Vinci Eye for best cover art, and the Eric Hoffer Grand Prize Award.
The naming of Border Crossings: Coming of Age in the Czech Resistance as a finalist on the Grand Prize Award “short list” is an honored distinction of its own announced publicly during the spring of each award year.
The judging committee commented: Border Crossings: Coming of Age in the Czech Resistance, Charles Novacek, 1021 Press – 
In this well articulated memoir, Charles Novacek pays tribute to the heroes of his past. “My country comes first,” is the lesson young Charles learns from his father. Courageous and inquisitive, our hero comes to age through the horrors of World War II, spends his tumultuous youth fighting Communism, and finds peace in a land away from home. Like many before him, coming to America becomes an act of self- preservation, not an abandonment of the homeland. Part memoir and part history lesson, this book captures a time long gone, with moments of normalcy and love in the midst of suffering and struggle. The passage of years fails to erase the author’s memory of remarkable events, which he recounts in captivating detail. This book makes an important contribution to the literature of World War II and communism in Eastern Europe. Kudos to Sandra Novacek, the author’s “last love,” for entrusting this remarkable personal account to the printer.
The Eric Hoffer Book Award was established in 2001 to honor the memory of the great American philosopher Eric Hoffer, (July 25, 1902 – May 21, 1983). Former migratory worker and longshoreman, Hoffer became a social writer and author of ten books. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in February 1983.
“The Award honors freethinking writers and independent books of exceptional merit. . . Many of the top literary prizes will not even consider independent books. The Hoffer honored prose is largely unpublished and the books are chiefly from small, academic, and micro presses, including self-published offerings. The Hoffer Award will continue to be a platform for and the champion of the independent voice.”
For more information on Hoffer’s remarkable life and the awards:
