NAMI-NYC Metro's Kenneth Johnson Memorial Research Library hosted its 9th annual Ken Book Awards breakfast on Thursday, May 4, at the Yale Club in New York City. Winners are selected based on their outstanding literary contributions to a better understanding of mental illness.

This year the library honored Pete Earley, Eric Kandel, Kim Mueser and Susan Gingerich, Katharin Noel, and Garry Trudeau. Previous Ken Book Award winners have included Wally Lamb, Rick Moody, Kay Redfield Jamison, Simon Winchester, and Jane Pauley.

The Ken Book Awards are presented each spring in memory of Kenneth Johnson, the son of Patricia Warburg Cliff. Ms. Cliff founded the Kenneth Johnson Memorial Research Library in 1996; it is housed at the NAMI-NYC Metro offices and includes hundreds of books, journals and videos, and is host to monthly book, movie, and poetry clubs.

Kenneth Johnson Memorial Research Library founder Patricia Warburg Cliff with her husband Karl von Frieling.

Left to right: Ken Book Award Key Note Speaker and NAMI National Board Member Anand Pandya, NAMI-NYC Metro Board President Charlotte Moses Fischman, and NYS OMH Medical Director Lloyd Sederer.

Garry Trudeau - pictured here with his wife, television journalist Jane Pauley - received a Ken Book Award for The War Within: One More Step at a Time. Ms. Pauley received a Ken Book Award in 2005 for her memoir, Skywriting: A Life Out of the Blue.

NAMI-NYC Metro Vice President Jay Neugeboren presented the Ken Book Award to Eric Kandel for In Search of Memory: The Emergence of a New Science of Mind. Dr. Kandel received the Nobel Prize in 2000 for his contributions to the field of neuroscience.

Spencer Eth, M.D., presented the Ken Book Award to Susan Gingerich (above) and Kim Mueser (below), co-authors of The Complete Family Guide to Schizophrenia.

Pete Earley (left) received an award for Crazy: A Father’s Search Through America’s Mental Health Maze. The Center for Court Innovation’s Carol Fisler (right) presented his award.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Madeleine Blais (left) presented the award to Katharine Noel for her debut novel, Halfway House. Ms. Blaise received a Ken Book Award in 2002 for her memoir, Uphill Walkers: Portrait of a Family.

Left to right: Garry Trudeau with award presenter John Katzenbach. Mr. Katzenbach’s novel The Madman’s Tale was honored at the 2005 Ken Book Awards.

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