A book featuring the loveable faces and captivating stories of some of the rescued animals who reside at the bi-coastal shelters of Farm Sanctuary has won the Gold Medal in the Animals/Pets category of the Independent Publishers Awards (referred to in the publishing industry as the “IPPY Awards”). Ninety-Five: Meeting America’s Farmed Animals in Stories and Photographs, released last year by nonprofit publisher No Voice Unheard, has already caused thousands of readers to reevaluate their assumptions about farmed animals.
Flush with beautiful, full-color photographs, Ninety-Five [ISBN: 978-0-97283-875-7; 168 pages; $19.95] is a compilation of work by vegan photographers and writers, telling the fascinating stories of farmed animals living in sanctuaries and homes across the country. From the irrepressible Fiona, a pig at Farm Sanctuary’s New York Shelter who wins the hearts of all who visit, to a sheep aptly named Lucky Lady, who cheated death by escaping an auction house and journeying through the streets of New York City, to California Shelter residents Loretta and Harrison, the inseparable mother-son bovine duo who were reunited to ensure their survival after Harrison was found near death as a tiny calf, their stories are compelling, enlightening, and always moving.
“Thanks to this book, people who may not have an opportunity to visit our shelters in New York and California will still be able to get to know some of our residents,” says Susie Coston, national shelter director for Farm Sanctuary. “When people meet farm animals, either in person or through stories and photographs, it changes the way they think about these complex beings. Suddenly, they are individuals with likes, dislikes, hopes, and desires that aren’t so different from our own.”
Animal advocates have adopted the book as a personal outreach tool, giving it as a gift to friends and family to “show them why I’m veg.” They are also keeping copies on their desks or coffee tables and spreading the animals’ stories via social media. Writes one advocate: “I have been able to get 30 copies in schools and libraries throughout my county. Working on churches next.”
According to Diane Leigh, No Voice Unheard co-founder, “For every person who reads Ninety-Five and decides to adopt a vegan diet, we know that approximately 95 animals are spared – hence the title of the book. We publish to honor animals and eliminate suffering; that is our ultimate goal.”
Ninety-Five previously received an Eric Hoffer Book Award, which “honors the memory of the great American philosopher Eric Hoffer by highlighting salient writing, as well as the independent spirit of small publishers.”
Copies of Ninety-Five: Meeting America’s Farmed Animals in Stories and Photographs can be ordered here.
About Farm Sanctuary
Farm Sanctuary is the nation’s leading farm animal protection organization. Since incorporating in 1986, Farm Sanctuary has worked to expose and stop cruel practices of the “food animal” industry through research and investigations, legal and institutional reforms, public awareness projects, youth education, and direct rescue and refuge efforts. Farm Sanctuary shelters in Watkins Glen, N.Y., and Orland, Calif., provide lifelong care for hundreds of rescued animals, who have become ambassadors for farm animals everywhere by educating visitors about the realities of factory farming. Additional information can be found at the Farm Sanctuary web site or by calling 607-583-2225.
