Borders Original Voices Selection

The Borders Original Voices program was launched in 1995 to highlight innovative and ambitious books from new and emerging talents, as well as outstanding books from established authors. Every month, we select fiction and nonfiction titles, which we then display prominently in our stores and feature in our monthly store magazine, Inside Borders. To celebrate the best of the Original Voices books, Borders established the annual Original Voices Awards in 1998. The awards process starts at the store level as employees submit nominations, which are then forwarded to fiction and nonfiction committees at the corporate offices. These committees read all the nominees and vote for annual winners in both categories. Original Voices has been home to some of the most distinctive voices of our time. We're pleased to make our monthly selections available to you online.

THE FOURTH TREASURE

by Todd A. Shimoda

Tina is a student in neuroscience at UC Berkeley. When her boyfriend's calligraphy teacher has a stroke that makes it impossible for him to communicate by any means other than his art, she decides that he would make an ideal subject of study. Interwoven with this contemporary tale is a story from the sensei's youth, and the history of the fabled inkstone he will carry from Kyoto to America. Illustrated throughout with beautiful calligraphy, The Fourth Treasure is an original, surprising novel, written with the elegance and restraint of Japanese poetry.