Harry Rosenfeld, the retired editor and current editor-at-large of the Times Union, is a book award finalist for his memoir, "From Kristallnacht to Watergate: Memoirs of a Newspaperman.

 

"Each year, Foreword Reviews gives out awards in 64 different genres including autobiography and memoir. Foreword editors narrowed 1,600 books down to the best contenders.

 

After Foreword editors made their picks, independent bookstores and librarians further narrowed the field.

 

Rosenfeld's book is one of 14 finalists, along with other autobiographies, including "Called Again," by Jennifer Pharr Davis, the first female to hold the overall record on the Appalachian Trail and "Don't Call Me Mother," by Linda Joy Myers, about three generations of daughters who long for their absent mothers.

 

Rosenfeld was born in August 1929 and fled Nazi Berlin with his family at the age of 10. He learned English after his family settled in the Bronx. He used his life experiences to navigate his passion for writing, and after graduating from Syracuse University, he was hired as an editor at the New York Herald-Tribune. After the Herald-Tribune folded in 1967, he went to The Washington Post, where he became the local news editor.

 

Rosenfeld oversaw the Post's reporting of the Watergate scandal. His book provides an inside view to the successes, setbacks and discussions as the story unfolded. Within the 349-page memoir, Rosenfeld tells the heartbreaking story of his childhood, as he still can picture his father being taken away by the Gestapo in the darkness.

 

Three winners in each of the 64 categories will be announced on June 27 at the annual American Library Association Conference in Las Vegas.

 

"Harry is up against some stiff competition, but making it to the finalist round is definitely saying something," said Foreword associate editor Allyce Amidon.