Sue Monk Kidd

The Secret Life of Bees is the winner of the 2003 SEBA Book of the Year Award for fiction. The award is given annually by the Southeastern Booksellers Association, and according to its Executive Director, honors a novel of exceptional merit that is set in the South or by a Southerner. Finalists were: The Heaven of Mercury by Brad Watson, The Last Girls by Lee Smith, The Little Friend by Donna Tartt, The Half-Mammals of Dixie by George Singleton, and A Parchment of Leaves by Silas House.