Local author Patricia Kokinos has been presented with an IRWIN award by the Book Publicists of Southern California for the year's Best Fiction Campaign.

Her novel, "Angel Park," a philosophical mystery about a woman who discovers how to transform the public schools and rescue the American Dream, was one of 10 national finalists for Book of the Year in Literary Fiction from Foreword Magazine.

The first foreign translation of "Angel Park," in Turkish, debuts this week at the Istanbul Book Fair.A veteran educator, Kokinos has discussed her views about ways to change our current system of "mass education" with local press and radio hosts from the Lifestyle Radio Network to KNX NewsRadio in Los Angeles.

This Saturday, she will be the featured speaker at the West Valley Branch of the California Writers Club, 1 p.m. at the Motion Picture and Television Fund complex at 23388 Mulholland Drive, Woodland Hills. For more information, call (818) 883-2825."We're operating factory schools in a boutique world," says Kokinos, who last served as assistant principal at Oak Park High School, named by Newsweekmagazine as one of the top 100 high schools in the nation.

"Most high schools and even middle schools are too large and impersonal to be effective with today's kids, who need to be coached and empowered to meet the intellectual challenges of the Information Age," Kokinos said. Her novel, which won Editors Choice, Publishers Choice and Readers Choice awards from its independent publisher, iUniverse, has gained notice for the inside story it reveals about the forces that are holding American schools hostage: power politics, institutionalized racism, blind tradition and unchecked ego.

The fictional world that Kokinos creates in "Angel Park " shrinks the public education issue down to human size so the reader can relate to the struggles of the characters and feel the emotional toll of continuing "business as usual." "A solution to the drop-out problem becomes obvious ifwe step back far enough to see that the system itself - conceptualized to meet the needs of an impersonal factory era - is crying for a complete overhaul," Kokinos said.The IRWIN award, Industry Recognition for Writers in the News, is presented annually by BPSC to their outstanding members in 13 categories. This year's presentations were made by Kelly Lange, former TV news anchor and now best-selling novelist.

Kokinos' novel, "Angel Park," is available at the Santa Monica and Ventura Barnes & Noble stores, at Amazon.com and other online sources, and through her Web site, www.changetheschools.com.