A University of New Orleans Press title has won a national literary award. The book, “Be About Beauty,” authored by New Orleans writer Kalamu ya Salaam, has been awarded a 2019 PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Award.

The award honors well-known and emerging authors for excellence in multicultural literature.

The book, published through the UNO Press in 2018, is a collection of poems, essays and speeches on the topic of “essential human beauty and goodness.” The book’s editor, Chelsey Shannon, will travel to California on Dec. 7 to accept the award on behalf of the author.

The UNO Press seeks work that contributes to the rich cultural tradition of New Orleans and the surrounding region, as well as work that contributes to the intellectual and aesthetic life of academic and general audiences everywhere.