On Wednesday, December 2, the Beverly Hills Hotel's Crystal Ballroom was the place to be for the literary and entertainment elite when PEN USA's 19th Annual Literary Awards Festival celebrated the freedom to write and honored the best writing in the west with a gala dinner and festivities.

After a cocktail hour and raffle to support PEN USA's Freedom to Write program, dinner started off with an introduction by Benefit Co-Chairs Marvin Putnam and Jamie Wolf, and PEN Executive Director Adam Somers, before Lawrence O'Donnell, Emmy-winning producer, political analyst and Master of Ceremonies for the evening, took the stage. O'Donnell entertained the crowd with hilarious quips such as "Holderlin was Marlowe to Goethe’s Shakespeare or if you prefer Avis to his Hertz," "For creative nonfiction...the winner is...NOT Sarah Palin," and many more. He also moved the audience with a loving tribute to comedy writer, former Lit Fest MC and recipient of PEN's 2008 Lifetime Achievement Award, Larry Gelbart who died this year. A tribute video to Gelbart, starring Judd Apatow, Seth Rogan and Terence Winter was played.

The 2009 PEN USA Literary Awards then went to the following inspirational writers:

     Fiction:  KIM BARNES, A Country Called Home (Alfred A. Knopf) -- presented by James Ellroy
     Creative Nonfiction:  STEVE LOPEZ, The Soloist (G.P. Putnam's Sons) -- presented by Patt Morrison
     Research Nonfiction:  LESLIE T. CHANG, Factory Girls (Spiegel & Grau) -- presented by Drex Heikes
     Poetry:  SEIDO RAY RONCI, The Skeleton of the Crow (Ausable Press) -- presented by Amy Gerstler
     Children’s Literature:  KATHI APPELT, The Underneath (Atheneum Books for Young Readers) -- presented by Ron Koertge
     Translation:  MAXINE CHERNOFF & PAUL HOOVER, Selected Poems of Friedrich Hölderlin (Omnidawn Publishing) -- presented
           by Stephen Yenser
     Journalism:  KAREN OLSSON, Before and After (Texas Monthly) -- presented by Amy Wallace
     Drama:  MARISELA TREVINO ORTA, Braided Sorrow (El Centro Su Teatro) -- presented by Prince Gomolvilas
     Teleplay:  GEORGE MASTRAS, Breaking Bad: Crazy Handful of Nothin’ (Sony/Gran Via/Highbridge) -- presented by Vince
          Gilligan & Mark Johnson
     Screenplay:  DUSTIN LANCE BLACK, Milk (Newmarket Press) -- presented by Bruce Cohen

Later, PEN Programs Manager Michelle Meyering introduced Pen in the Classroom students from Animo Film & Theater Arts Charter School, Josh Ramirez and Sergio Peralta, who read from their poetry. The two students astonished the crowd with an emotional and moving performance.

Additionally, Claire Hoffman presented the 2009 Award of Honor to her husband Ben Goldhirsh and GOOD Magazine. GOOD is a multi-platform media company whose efforts include print, video, online, and live events "for people who give a damn." Active in both regional and international philanthropic endeavors, Goldhirsh is also one of the Directors of The Goldhirsh Foundation, which supports dynamic social programs, environmental initiatives, innovative medical research, and leading cultural institutions.

Other highlights of the evening included the screening of a clip from the HBO documentary Shouting Fire, for which Liz Garbus and Sheila Nevins won this year’s First Amendment Award (received by Kelly Collelo), the great James Ellroy presenting the Fiction award to Kim Barnes for A Country Called Home, and Dustin Lance Black’s confessional speech on the anti-gay backlash he received after winning the Oscar for Milk. His witty response to having seen graffiti at a college event that read, "You a fag," was "Well, you're right but at least you could've given me a verb."

Finally, the legendary movie producer Walter Mirisch (The Magnificent Seven, In the Heat of the Night) presented PEN's 2009 Lifetime Achievement Award to his longtime friend, Elmore Leonard. Leonard, or "Dutch" as his friends called him, is author of more than 42 novels, including Swag, Freaky Deaky and Tishomingo Blues, which are not only classics of the crime genre, but some of the best writing of the last half century, as well as blockbuster movies like Get Shorty, Out of Sight and Jackie Brown. Leonard mused about the old days of Hollywood when he first stayed at the Beverly Hills Hotel in 1969 for $28 a night and saw the Grateful Dead perform at the Whiskey A Go-Go.

Thanks to everyone who attended the event, and very special thanks to Jamie Wolf, Marvin Putnam, the entire Benefit Committee, Lawrence O’Donnell, Corrinne Mann, the staff of Mann Productions, SDL Studio, the PEN USA staff and volunteers.

More photos after the break (click to enlarge)....