J Lewis

J. William Lewis (Law ’68) has been named among the winners of this year’s Feathered Quill Book Awards for his debut novel The Essence of Nathan Biddle. A national book awards program that celebrates excellence in book publishing, the Feathered Quill Book Awards is sponsored by Feathered Quill Book Reviews, a preeminent online book review. Recognizing books from both large and independent presses, the Feathered Quill Book Awards honor the best books in numerous categories. The prestigious awards program, now in its ninth year, features a judging panel comprised of editors, writers, critics and other literary professionals.

The Essence of Nathan Biddle was awarded the Silver Medal in the Adult Fiction category of the 2022 Feathered Quill Book Awards.

A timeless, sweeping tale that unfolds on the Alabama coast in the 1950s, The Essence of Nathan Biddle has been met with high praise from critics and readers alike. A beautifully written, marvelously told tale about coming to terms with the necessity of engagement with life’s pain, pleasure and absurdity, The Essence of Nathan is intelligent, clever, captivating—and utterly unforgettable.

According to Ellen Feld, editor of Feathered Quill, “it is a great honor to announce The Essence of Nathan Biddle by J. William Lewis as the Silver Medalist in the Adult Fiction category of our awards program. Adult fiction is one of the most popular categories for entries and this year was no exception. We were nothing short of humbled by the volume of—and the exemplary quality of—this year’s entrants. Our judges were faced with the challenging task of combing through so many worthy contenders. Even amongst such a fine list of books, there were titles that rose above. The Essence of Nathan Biddle was one of those.  The Essence of Nathan Biddle is an extraordinary book: beautifully written and tremendously powerful. This is the type of book a reader won’t forget, and a book that begs to be read and reread. We commend Mr. Lewis on an exquisite debut novel and we are proud to name The Essence of Nathan Biddle our Silver Medalist, Adult Fiction in our 2022 awards program.”