March 8, 2017 --- Six of the most distinguished writers of travel literature will be honored Thursday, April 27, 2017 at the UF Tourism Summit, being held at Walt Disney World. 

Frances Mayes, David Molyneaux, Les Standiford, Michael Moran, Paulette Cooper Noble and William Least Heat-Moon will be in attendance and bestowed The Edith and Eric Friedheim Lifetime Achievement Award for Distinguished Travel Literature.

Edith Friedheim, the widow of Eric Friedheim also a distinguished writer, will be in attendance. The Eric Friedheim Tourism Institute (EFTI) at the University of Florida is sponsoring the EFTI Gala Awards Dinner which begins with a reception at 6 pm, followed by dinner and the awards at 7 pm.  The gala will be held in the ballroom of Disney's BoardWalk Inn.

Tickets for the gala are now available online at www.UFTourismSummit.com and seating will be limited. Media are invited to attend, please complete press credentials here.

To see full biographies of these winners, go to this link

FRANCES MAYES Twenty years ago, in Under the Tuscan Sun, Frances Mayes introduced readers to a wondrous new world when she bought and restored an abandoned villa in the spectacular Tuscan countryside. With her signature evocative language and vivid sensory descriptions, she described the beauty and simplicity of life in Italy, inspiring generations to embark on their own journeys.

Mayes is a University of Florida alumni.

DAVID G. MOLYNEAUX is an award-winning writer and editor who has been guiding his legions of traveling and arm chair readers for more than 30 years. David specializes in cruises, cruise ships, and tales from ports around the world. He writes for newspapers, their websites, and for other sites on the Internet. David is president of the Society of American Travel Writers Foundation, which oversees the distinguished annual Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Competition.

LES STANDIFORD is the author of twenty-one books.  He is also the author of ten novels, and received the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Award, the Frank O'Connor Award for Short Fiction, and Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. He is Founding Director of the Creative Writing Program at Florida International University in Miami and was appointed holder of the Peter Meinke Chair in Creative Writing at Eckerd College for the Spring of 2016.

MICHAEL MORAN has led a varied and adventurous life. Born and educated in Australia and Europe, he spent his twenties wandering the islands of Polynesia and Melanesia. He has been a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in London for many years, has lectured there on both Papua New Guinea and Poland and is an incessant traveler. He lives in Warsaw.

PAULETTE COOPER NOBLE, is the author of 23 books and winner of 8 writing awards. In 2001 she wrote the first book on what was to become a major trend for the travel industry: destination weddings.  Her book, "The Most Romantic Resorts for Destination Weddings, Honeymoons & Renewals," described 135 hotels and cruise ships in the Caribbean, Mexico, Hawaii and the US., that featured these soon-to-be- popular events.

WILLIAM LEAST HEAT-MOON.  William Trogdon, who writes under the name pen name William Least Heat-Moon, is the author of nine books, five of them best-selling works of travel literature:  BLUE HIGHWAYS, PRAIRYERTH, RIVER-HORSE, ROADS TO QUOZ, and HERE, THERE, ELSEWHERE (this last a collection of his short-form travel pieces taking readers to Europe, Asia, Central America, and New Zealand. In April of this year, his first novel appeared, CELESTIAL MECHANICS, which has been called “a Blue Highways of the mind.”

ABOUT THE UF TOURISM SUMMIT - The 2017 Tourism Summit will address the transformation and disruption of the global tourism industry, and how to lead in this new environment.  Sponsored by the University of Florida, this 2-day Summit will be held April 26-27, 2017 at the BoardWalk Inn at Walt Disney World.

For more information and to purchase tickets to attend the EFTI Gala Awards Dinner, please visit www.uftourismsummit.com