Askew 's first novel '' The Mercy Seat '' ( 1997 ) was nominated for the PEN/Faulkner Award , the Dublin IMPAC Prize , was a Boston Globe Notable Book , and received the Oklahoma Book Award and the Western Heritage Award in 1998 . In 2002 , her second novel '' Fire in Beulah '' ( 2001 ) , about the Tulsa race riot , received the American Book Award and the Myers Book Award from the Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights . Askew 's third novel , '' Harpsong '' ( 2007 ) , is set in 1930 's Oklahoma . '' Harpsong '' received the Oklahoma Book Award , the Western Heritage Award , the WILLA Award from Women Writing the West , and the Violet Crown Award from the Writers League of Texas in 2008 . Her novel about state immigration laws , " Kind of Kin , " was published by Ecco in 2013
Tulsa race riot
Tulsa race riot
Rilla Askew