Edith and Eric Friedheim Lifetime Achievement Awards for Distinguished Travel Literature Award

Edith Hall Friedheim presented the award to the following winners at the UF Tourism Summit in 2017:

william least Heat-moon

William Least Heat-Moon has ancestry of both Native American and Euro-American lineages. His ancestry is reflected in his names: the Trogdon family name comes from his Euro-American lineage, and the Heat-Moon name reflects his Native American lineage. William’s father is Heat-Moon, his elder brother is Little Heat-Moon, and he is thus Least Heat-Moon.[1] Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Least Heat-Moon grew up in Missouri and attended the University of Missouri, where he earned bachelor’s, master’s, and Ph.D. degrees in English as well as a bachelor’s degree in photojournalism. He was a member of the Beta-Theta chapter of Tau Kappa Epsilon, and he also served as a professor of English at the university.

Paulette cooper noble

Paulette Cooper Noble, author of 23 books and winner of 8 writing awards — two for her travel writing — started her career off with a splash.  Not literally because she didn’t fall off a ship.  But at the age of 28, she successfully stowed away for a week on one, namely the famed Leonardo Da Vinci. Her experiences became her first travel article, which appeared in The Sunday Times of London and was picked up by other press all over the world. Her story was also optioned for a movie and she appeared on many radio and TV shows discussing her daring experience. Soon, her travel articles were appearing in such prestigious markets as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Christian Science Monitor, Cosmopolitan etc. She developed a column called “Travel Tips,” carried by the National Press Syndicate, that appeared regularly in 40 newspapers throughout America. 

Michael moran

Michael Moran has led a varied and adventurous life. Born and educated in Australia and Europe, he spent his twenties wandering the islands of Polynesia and Melanesia. Subsequently he obtained a position at a Swiss Educational Foundation in London where he lectured on a variety of subjects ranging from the music of Fryderyk Chopin and François Couperin to British art and architecture and the colonial history and culture of the South Pacific region. At the same time he pursued a career in music studying the piano and harpsichord professionally. His historical novel, Point Venus, set on Norfolk Island in the South Pacific, a former British penal settlement and home to the descendants of the Mutiny on the Bounty, was successfully published in Australia (Brandl & Schlesinger, Sydney 1998). 

LES STANDIFORD

Les Standiford is the author of twenty-one books, including the critically acclaimed works of non-fiction, Last Train to Paradise:  Henry Flalger and the Spectacular Rise and Fall of the Railroad that Crossed an Ocean; Meet You in Hell:  Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick and the Bitter Partnership that Transformed America, and Washington Burning: How a Frenchman’s Vision for Our Nation’s Capital Survived Congress, the Founding Fathers, and the Invading British Army; The Man Who Invented Christmas:  How Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol Rescued His Career and Revived our Holiday Spirits (a New York Times Editors Choice); Bringing Adam Home:  The Abduction that Changed America (a New York Times best-seller); and most recently, Water to the Angels:  William Mulholland, His Monumental Aqueduct & the Rise of Los Angeles, a featured alternate of the History Book Club.