Anne Enright’s novel The Forgotten Waltz and Robert Massie’s biography Catherine the Great won the first Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in literature this week.

The awards are the first adult prizes ever sponsored by the American Library Association, which manages the top honors for children’s literature, the John Newbery and Randolph Caldecott medals.

Enright and Massie each will receive $5,000. In its announcement, the library association praised Enright’s “supple prose” and Massie’s “compulsively readable” style. The Carnegie selection committee was chaired by Seattle-based librarian and NPR commentator Nancy Pearl.

Win a trip

Miami author Heather Graham is offering readers the chance to win a trip to New Orleans for the 2012 Writers for New Orleans conference.

Readers can email Graham in 100 words or less how they “give back” to their own communities at hgrahamcontest@tbtpr.com. The winner gets round-trip airfare to New Orleans, two nights at the Monteleone Hotel and a series of workshops, dinner theater, breakfast buffet and Sunday tea. Deadline is Aug. 10.

The annual event, created by Graham and scheduled for Dec. 14-16, is intended to aid the literary scene post-Hurricane Katrina. Graham’s new book is The Unholy (Mira, $7.99 in paper).

Silva to appear

July tends to be a quiet time in the publishing world — and in the author appearance world as well. But Books & Books plans to host a big name at the end of July: thriller writer Daniel Silva, author of the Gabriel Allon series.

Silva will appear at 7:30 p.m. on July 26 at the Coral Gables Congregational Church for Books & Books to talk about his new novel, Fallen Angel (Harper, $27.99), in which Allon — Israeli spy, art restorer and assassin — must investigate a murder at the Vatican. Free tickets required and available starting Monday at stores in Gables, Bal Harbour and Miami Beach. Visit www.booksandbooks.com.

Connie Ogle