“Proudly Made” author wins book award – GantNews.com
Grow Rural PA is pleased to report that a book about local economic development and stewardship efforts is gaining national recognition, as is author Tataboline Enos, a former director at Grow Rural PA.
PROUDLY MADE: A Story of Reinvention in the Big Woods and Small Towns of the Pennsylvania Wilds received a Silver Nonfiction Award from the Nonfiction Authors Association, which called the memoir “exceptional” and “very much worth the read.”
“I am not at all surprised that Ta’s book is receiving national notoriety,” said Deborah Pontzer, President of Grow Rural PA. “Ta’s work, as founder and CEO of the PA Wilds Center for Entrepreneurship, positions her as an authoritative voice for local economic development. The book adds new insights about Ta’s personal journey and the region she calls home.
“PROUDLY MADE tells the collective story of the PA Wilds,” Pontzer added. “It lifts up our rural region and our collective voice. That is so important to sustaining the future of rural PA. I’d encourage everyone to pick up a copy.”
The book was published in June under Sunbury Press’ Catamount Press imprint, which focuses on Northern Appalachia.
“The author’s voice is charming, modest, and inviting—her storytelling filled with indelible images that linger long after the last page,” the award judges noted. “While the book is framed as a memoir and devotes considerable attention to the author’s personal journey, its value lies in documenting the formation, and the sustained development of a nonprofit initiative. Enos not only describes how the Pennsylvania Wilds was launched, but also outlines a thoughtful strategy for maintaining momentum over time. This emphasis on sustainability is one of the book’s key strengths. While the writing is conversational and rooted in personal perspective, it offers candid insights that may benefit ventures seeking to balance mission, scale, and longevity.”
The Pennsylvania Wilds, home to the greatest concentration of public lands in the Commonwealth of PA – more than Yellowstone National Park – today is a state-designated conservation landscape and designated tourism region in Pennsylvania. It gets about 7 million visitors a year, fueling a tourism sector that supports many rural, locally owned businesses. It has been highlighted in numerous national studies as a model for rural, asset-based development.
PROUDLY MADE captures how the Pennsylvania Wilds brand and movement were born, including its rocky moments, intertwined with Enos’ own backstory of growing up in rural PA and Alaska. It also covers how she came to be one of the movement’s chief instigators, eventually founding the PA Wilds Center, the nonprofit that today leads the effort across 13 rural counties.
PROUDLY MADE has been compared to Cheryl Strayed’s writing in WILD: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, and to Jeannette Walls’ memoir, The Glass Castle. Enos, CEO of the PA Wilds Center, said that while the book was a personal project, she wrote it to help advance the Wilds cause and others like it.
“Locally-led, place-based development is happening in communities all across the country and is so deserving of support,” Enos said. “My hope was there were lessons from our journey in the Wilds that could translate and be useful to others. I’m thrilled the award judges called that out.”
PROUDLY MADE is available through SunburyPress.com, BarnesandNoble.com, BooksAMillion.com, BookShop.org, Amazon.com, and independent bookstores worldwide.
A free Book Club Discussion Guide for PROUDLY MADE is available for download at Ta-Enos.com; Book Clubs can also use the site to request a virtual meeting with the author.
