---
title: 'Archive 2015'
date: '2016-01-04T15:53:15-06:00'
type: post
word_count: 444
char_count: 2797
tokens: 578
categories:
  - Uncategorized
---

# Archive 2015

![hplimgone](//law.ua.edu/wp-content/uploads/archive/main/hplimgone-190x300.png)TUSCALOOSA, Ala. ­– For her work in *The Secret of Magic*, Deborah Johnson will receive the 2015 Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction. The prize, authorized by Lee and co-sponsored by The University of Alabama School of Law and the *ABA Journal*, is given annually to a book-length work of fiction that best illuminates the role of lawyers in society and their power to effect change.

Johnson is the first woman and African-American author to win the coveted Prize.

“I am thrilled and I thank The University of Alabama, the *ABA Journal*, and the judges so very much for this wonderful honor,” Johnson said.

*The Secret of Magic* was chosen by a distinguished panel of judges. They are: Wayne Flynt, author and Alabama historian; Mary McDonagh Murphy, independent film and television writer and producer; and Michele Norris, NPR host and special correspondent.

The Selection Committee said *The Secret of Magic* embodies the spirit of *To Kill a Mockingbird*.

“Unforgettable characters, suspense that builds straight to the last pages and straight plain prose, all the necessary ingredients to win a prize named for Harper Lee. Deborah Johnson does a lovely job,” Murphy said.

Johnson’s book, *The Secret of Magic*, will be honored during a ceremony on Sept. 3, at 5 p.m., at the Library of Congress’s Jefferson Building in Washington, D.C. in conjunction with the National Book Festival. Following the award presentation, the Selection Committee will convene a panel discussion of *The Secret of Magic*, in relationship to Harper Lee’s *To Kill a Mockingbird*.

![hplimgtwo](//law.ua.edu/wp-content/uploads/archive/main/hplimgtwo-245x300.png)**About Deborah Johnson**

Johnson was born below the Mason-Dixon Line, in Missouri, but grew up in Omaha, Nebraska. After college, she lived in San Francisco and then for many years in Rome, Italy, where she worked as a translator and editor of doctoral theses and at Vatican Radio. Deborah Johnson is the author of *The Air Between Us*, which received the Mississippi Library Association Award for fiction. She now lives in Columbus, Mississippi, and is working on her next novel.

*One of America’s leading public law schools, and the “#1 Best Value Law School” in the nation, according to* the National Jurist, f*or two years in a row (2012 and 2013), The University of Alabama School of Law offers a challenging curriculum with over 150 electives, several dual enrollment opportunities, Master of Laws degrees, and a J.S.D. With a student-to-faculty ratio of approximately 11:1, the Law School offers students a rigorous, hands-on learning experience, with strong student engagement in clinical programs, law review, moot court, and trial advocacy.*