2024 WARE Legacy

Award Honorees

[NOTE: Our Honorees have been invited, however, their attendance is not guaranteed.]

2024 WARE Legacy Award Recipient

Stacey Abrams

STACEY ABRAMS is a New York Times bestselling author, serial entrepreneur, nonprofit CEO and political leader. After serving for eleven years in the Georgia House of Representatives, seven as Democratic Leader. In 2018, Abrams became the Democratic nominee for Governor of Georgia, winning more votes than any other Democrat in the state’s history. Abrams was the first black woman to become the gubernatorial nominee for a major party in the United States, and she was the first black woman and first Georgian to deliver a Response to the State of the Union. Stacey has written 22 nonfiction and fiction titles to include a children's book...all while doing the important work of her people. For these and other phenomenal achievements, she is a 2024 WARE Legacy Award recipient.

2024 WARE Legacy Award Recipient

Terry McMillan

TERRY MCMILLAN is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Waiting to Exhale, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, A Day Late and a Dollar Short, and The Interruption of Everything and the editor of Breaking Ice: An Anthology of Contemporary African-American Fiction. Each of Ms. McMillan’s seven previous novels was a New York Times bestseller, and four have been made into movies: Waiting to Exhale (Twentieth Century Fox, 1995); How Stella Got Her Groove Back (Twentieth Century Fox, 1998); Disappearing Acts (HBO Pictures, 1999); and A Day Late and a Dollar Short (Lifetime, 2014). Terry is a recognizable literary tour de force with work that has seamlessly and successfully translated into other art forms...which is why she is WARE's 2024 Legacy Award recipient.

2024 WARE Icon Award Recipient

Victoria Christopher Murray

VICTORIA CHRISTOPHER MURRAY is the author of over 30 Books; she is a NYT Best Seller, USA Today Best Seller, Essence Bestselling Author, and the recipient of two NAACP Image Awards—both for Outstanding Literary Work, the recipient of the Phillis Wheatley Trailblazer Award for being a pioneer in African American Fiction, the recipient of the Golden Pen Award for Best Inspirational Fiction, and over 9 African American Literary Awards. Her books, THE PERSONAL LIBRARIAN and THE FIRST LADIES were instant NYT Bestsellers and have received numerous accolades in literature. The PERSONAL LIBRARIAN is being made into a mini-series, and five novels from her Seven Deadly Sins series were optioned and broadcasted on the Lifetime network. She’s written across genres to include adult fiction, YA, and now historical fiction. She is a beloved author who continuously gives back to the literary community often hosting workshops and encouraging new authors to continue the course to literary success. WARE proudly proclaims Victoria the recipient of the Icon Award.

2024 WARE Legacy Award Recipient

James Patterson

JAMES PATTERSON is one of the best-known and biggest-selling writers of all time. His books have sold in excess of 375 million copies worldwide. He is the author of some of the most popular series of the past two decades – the Alex Cross, Women’s Murder Club, Detective Michael Bennett and Private novels – and he has written many other number one bestsellers including romance novels and stand-alone thrillers. James is passionate about encouraging children to read. Inspired by his own son who was a reluctant reader, he also writes a range of books for young readers including the Middle School, I Funny, Treasure Hunters, Dog Diaries and Max Einstein series. James has donated millions in grants to independent bookshops and has been the most borrowed author of adult fiction in UK libraries for the past eleven years in a row. Because of his extraordinary success in the literary arena across genres, he is a 2024 WARE Legacy Award Recipient.