NEW YORK, April 30, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Quality Paperback Book Club and William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins, announced the winner of the 2011 New Visions award today. The award has been given to Conor Grennan for his book Little Princes: One Man's Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal (William Morrow).

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120430/NY96977)

The New Visions award and cash prize is presented by Quality Paperback Book Club to a nonfiction author who is recognized for changing or challenging readers' thoughts on a subject in a meaningful way. Past award-winners include Joan Didion for The Year of Magical Thinking, Abraham Verghese for My Own Country: A Doctor's Story, Anchee Min for Red Azalea and Michael Pollan for Second Nature: A Gardener's Education.

"It's never easy to break through the noise of popular culture and we're thrilled to be able to call attention to writers who are breaking down barriers and opening up a thoughtful dialogue with readers through their writing," said Michael Connor, Senior Editor, the Quality Paperback Book Club.

Winner Conor Grennan said, "I was thrilled to learn that Little Princes has been awarded the 2011 New Visions award. We strive to spread the story of the children of Nepal far and wide, and QPB just made our job a little easier with this recognition."

"True stories of the joys and heartbreaks of childhood can always move us, but in Conor Grennan's hands, the stories of the children of Nepal are also refreshingly alive and have the power of great fiction. We at William Morrow are proud to join QPB in congratulating him on this honor," said David Highfill, Executive Editor, William Morrow.

About the winning book:

Little Princes: Conor Grennan's volunteering stint at a Nepalese orphanage was just supposed to be the start of a yearlong jaunt around the world, but the horde of gleeful boys and girls showering him with warm welcomes changed his mind. As he soon learned, their smiles hid untold pain, for many of them were not orphans at all, but victims rescued from human traffickers. Moved by their plight, he vowed to return and reunite them with their families. His quest -- told with humor and grace in Little Princes not only changed their lives, it also led him to a reward he never expected. Conor went on to found the organization Next Generation Nepal, which continues his work of reconnecting trafficked children with their families in post-conflict Nepal. Visit http://www.nextgenerationnepal.org/ for more information.

Founded in 1974, the Quality Paperback Book Club is one of the best-known and most-respected book clubs in the world. It serves a large audience of general-interest readers, offering a vast selection of the best new titles available only through the club in exclusive paperback editions. Subjects include literary fiction, nonfiction, popular culture, self-help and more. You can visit Quality Paperback Book Club at www.qpb.com. Quality Paperback Book Club is operated by Direct Brands' affiliate Bookspan. Direct Brands is also home to Doubleday Book Club, Book-of-the-Month Club and Columbia House.

HarperCollins, one of the largest English-language publishers in the world, is a subsidiary of News Corporation (NASDAQ: NWS, NWSA; ASX: NWS, NWSLV). Headquartered in New York, HarperCollins has publishing groups around the world including the HarperCollins General Books Group, HarperCollins Children's Books Group, Zondervan, HarperCollins UK, HarperCollins Canada, HarperCollins Australia/New Zealand and HarperCollins India. HarperCollins is a broad-based publisher with strengths in literary and commercial fiction, business books, children's books, cookbooks, mystery, romance, reference, religious and spiritual books. With nearly 200 years of history, HarperCollins has published some of the world's foremost authors and has won numerous awards including the Nobel Prize, the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award,
the Newbery Medal and the Caldecott. Consistently at the forefront of innovation and technological advancement, HarperCollins is the first publisher to digitize its content and create a global digital warehouse to protect the rights of its authors, meet consumer demand and generate additional business opportunities. You can visit HarperCollins Publishers on the Internet at http://www.harpercollins.com/.

SOURCE Quality Paperback Book Club