esteemed as malcolm to the 74th

national book awards ceremony. tonight's host is levar burton, renowned actor, producer and literacy advocate whose decades long >> esteemed guests, welcome to the 74th national book awards ceremony. tonight's host is levar burton, renowned actor, director, producer, and a lifelong literacy advocate, whose decades long body of work includes roots, star trek: the next generation, and reading rainbow. he is the honored recipient of seven naacp awards, a peabody award, a grammy award, and 15 emmy awards. please welcome levar burton. >> [ applause ] >> that my people!

[ laughter ] oh, thank you, thank you so much for that warm welcome, and welcome, everyone, to the 74th national book awards. yes. >> [ applause ] >> i had the tremendous honor of serving as master of ceremonies for the 70th national book awards in 2019, and it genuinely means the world to me to join you all again on this stage to celebrate the importance of literature to our shared culture. before we got going, are there any imams for liberty in the house? mom's for liberty? no? good. then hands will not need to be thrown tonight. >> [ cheers and applause ]

>> [ laughter ] we call the national book awards ceremony the biggest night for books, and i have been saying it for the last three weeks that this is on the planet, the best room to begin on this night. >> [ applause ] >> there are hundreds of you beautiful people here in the room tonight, and thousands more tuning in online worldwide, shout out to my sister leticia, who actually taught me how to read, thank you, leticia. >> [ applause ] >> she is watching the live feed. it is a very special thing, to be in community with those who believe like i do, in the power of reading. it was four years ago on this stage that i spoke a bit about my mother, an english teacher.

it was my mother who taught me at a very young age that if you can read, in at least one language, you are, by her definition, free. and the idea -- >> [ applause ] >> and that idea of freedom feels especially fraught in this global political moment. there are wars and rumors of wars and machinery of war and work on the home front, we are fighting for control of truth and how we interpret truth. in this country. books are being banned, words are being silenced, and writers and others who champion books are under attack.

and there is a reason, i believe, why books are under attack. it is because they are so powerful. stories are the tool that enable us to better understand ourselves, and yes, our history. to live over the course of the few pages and the experiences of another, and to create a world where we can all be free. thank you to the 2023 national book award finalist who help us believe in a brighter future, and -- yes. >> [ applause ] >> and who wield their words so masterfully, with so much compassion and insight. so tonight, we are celebrating books set from literally around

the corner to around the globe, from the past, through the present, and into the future. you see what i did there? the diversity of these works illuminate our shared humanity, our world as it is and as it could be. and now, it is my honor to welcome to the stage this evening's special guest, miss oprah winfrey. >> [ cheers and applause ] >> [ music ] >> oh, great.

>> [ cheers and applause ] >> [ singing ] oh, what a night, what a great, great, great joy for me to be here to share the same space with all of you, my heroes and heroines, because books have rescued me, books have delivery meet, books have exalted me and helped me discover more of myself. i am having flashback memories right now of getting my first library card at the national hadley park library. >> [ cheers and applause ] >> and being in on that i got to take five books home, and being so overwhelmed by the power of

authors and their words. i couldn't understand how you all did that. and now, for me to be able to stand in the same room with all of you who do that is such a privilege and great joy for me. thank you. >> [ applause ] thank you, ruth dickey, and the whole team at the national book foundation. >> [ cheers and applause ] >> thank you, levar burton. >> [ cheers and applause ] >> who loves books as much as i. and again, to the finalists, to every single writer who has graced us this year with your words and with your wisdom. to all of you who faithfully labor at putting pen to paper, fingers to computer, creating inspired connections to our imaginations.

thank you for all the momentous relationships that you have dealt with us through the magic and the majesty, and the simplicity of your words. so, the book club, oprah's book club -- >> [ cheers and applause ] >> i know there are a lot of book clubs now, but we are the og, okay? hello. >> [ applause ] >> back in 1996, the book club started on the oprah show, because my producer, alice mcgee, at the time, and i come had our own private book exchanges going for years, and she suggested one day, she said since you love books and authors so much, why don't you share your excitement with our viewers? and i said, alice, you cannot do a show with office who write

fiction, because the audience is not going to know what we are talking about. and she said they will if you give them time to read the book. and 27 years and 103 book club pics later -- >> [ applause ] >> i am grateful for the sense of safety, the sense of purpose and growth that this community has given me. every day, i got invigorated by opening a book, often by reading that first sentence. first, i got myself born, says damien fields on page one of demon copperhead. thank you, barbara king saw there. you know, until that moment, i never thought of it quite that way before, that we get to own our own entrance into the world. or how about this, on a hot night in apartment c4, watkins exits her body. she is only 18

years old, but she spent most of her life wishing for this to happen, that was a test for the rabbit hutch. i want to especially thank tonight the readers here and at home, the people who poured through all 735 pages of the epic novel set in india with me, hello, abraham and the covenant of water. >> [ cheers and applause ] >> or wept over a memoir or opened their minds to the ideas of a nonfiction book about our culture and our world, not to mention all those young people out there who found their voices in books written for them or by them, hello, amanda gorman. i am talking about the readers who picked up the color purple 40 years ago and found the kind of truth that i found in those pages. dear god, i am 14 years old, i

have always been a good girl, maybe you can give me a sign, letting me know what is happening to me. truth that translated into a movie, into a broadway musical, and now the movie version of that musical, opening this christmas at a theater near you. that is the power of a story well told. thank you, alice walker. it has been 24 years since my last time on this stage in front of the podium, and since then, as levar stated, between 2021 and 2022, the american library association saw a 70% increase in requests to banned books from public schools and libraries, and it looks like this year is going to be even worse. early data shows us that number has already risen by 20%, so over 75% of those books banned were specifically written for younger readers.

41% had lgbtq themes are characters, and 40% had a mean or secondary character of color, so who exactly is trying to keep these books off the shelves? it is not the majority of parents. this september, 67% of parents surveyed by every library institute agreed that banning books is a waste of time. meanwhile, there has been dozens of dozens of dozens of bomb threats against libraries. at least 10 of last year's threats were verified and almost every case had been linked to somebody who was disgruntled about the right to read. amanda jones, a louisiana school librarian, in july of 2022, went to a public library board meeting to speak out against an attempt to banned books. and that day, she showed up at that meeting as just a concerned citizen. she didn't say where she worked, she just spoke about

the importance of having diverse books. immediately, she had -- people began posting nonstop, making accusations about her abusing the young readers at her library, children she dedicated 23 years of her life to educating. she started getting death threats, all for standing up for our right to read. two years later, she is still nervous to go out in her community, she has her groceries delivered, she says, but she has not stopped fighting against book bans or stopped advocating for access to diverse stories. the numbers back her up. this year, the nonprofit first book found just six months after diverse books were added to classroom libraries, classroom reading time increased by four hours per week. i was 15. >> [ applause ] >> i was 15 years old when i read my first diverse book,

maya angelos i know why the caged bird sings. and the whole world fell away from me. it was the first book at 15 i ever read with a black protagonist. that book gave a voice to my silences, my secrets, it gave words to my pain and my confusion of being harmed at nine years old. until caged bird, i didn't know that there was a language, there were words for what had happened to me. or that any other human being on earth had experienced it. that is the power of books. and yet -- >> [ applause ] >> and yet, i know why the caged bird sings is among the top 100 banned or challenged books for the past three decades. it was the third most banned

book from 1980 to 1999, and then 2020 two 2009, and then the 88th from -- it is currently banned in libraries in pennsylvania, and despite that, tonight at my table, i have the honor of sitting beside two time national book award winner and author of my most recent book club selection, let us descend, jasmine award. >> [ applause ] >> in 2022, jasmine's first novel salvage the bones was challenged in guilford county, north carolina. and thanks to the efforts of teachers and parents and students and citizens, just ordinary folks, came together, stood together, the book remained in the high school curriculum because the community said it should and would. make no mistake, to

banned books is to snuff out the flame of truth, of what it means to be alive, what it means to be aware, what it means to be engaged in the world. to banned books is to cut us off from one another. to shroud us in a solitary darkness, a soulless echo chamber. ted ban books is to strangle off what sustains us and makes us better people. connection and compassion, empathy, understanding. and my hope is that kids will come to reading for the same reason that all of us in this room have come to reading. jesse themselves and the characters they read point to feel recognized. to feel understood. and when someone feels understood, they can understand. they can pick up a book about people who they have nothing in

common with and cry for them and root for them and celebrate with them. that is how reading spells into our everyday lives, how it opens us to the world, the whole world, not just our cozy corner of it. so, let us vowed to keep our books right where they belong, in reach of everyone to choose for themselves what to read. because that, dear friends, is called freedom. and as you know, i am a great believer in toni morrison, who once said that the function of freedom is to freeze somebody else. so, god bless you all here tonight. for continuing to liberate us one page at a time! thank you so much. >> [ cheers and applause ]

>> oprah winfrey, y'all. oprah winfrey. >> [ cheers and applause ] >> oh, brother, i am now going to say one or two things i was going to say before you jumped up and took the stage. there is no one, no soul on this planet who has done more to advance the cause of the written word than you, oprah. >> [ applause ] >> i shared with oprah earlier this evening, we were taking a picture backstage, and i whispered to her, you know, for two people who are descendents of the enslaved, to become

symbols for literacy, literature, and the written word, >> [ cheers and applause ] >> oprah, you are the patron saint of books and literature. your presence here tonight has been a blessing, a benediction for us all. thank you, thank you, thank you. >> [ applause ] >> now i am going to compose myself and we will continue

with this evening's celebrations with recognizing national book foundation's two incredible achievement -- lifetime achievement honorees. paula and rita dove. >> [ applause ] >> so, first is the 2023 e award for outstanding service to the american literary community, which is given to recognize the honorees remarkable dedication to expanding the audience for books and for reading. past recipients include lawrence , dr. maya angelo, and most recently, tracy hall, the former executive director of the american library association. >> [ applause ] >> and tonight's recipient is a lifelong bookseller who has paved a path forward for readers locally and globally. adhere to present the award to paula is 2011 letter very

recipient himself, mitchell kaplan, native of miami beach, florida, mitchell is the owner of the storybooks and books, the establishment in miami, and the cofounder of the miami book fair. y'all, it gives me great pleasure to welcome to the stage mr. mitchell kaplan. >> [ applause ] >> [ music ] >> well, well. i want to thank opera and lubar for those remarkable opening comments, and i'm also here to think somebody who is a friend, who is a friend to all of us in this room and is doing all of the kind of work that we heard them talk about. and i'm going to talk with a

little story, because we are among the storytellers, right? so, i was 18 years old once. believe it or not. it was 1974, i was an english major then, at that point, at the university of colorado, and they ended up in boulder from miami beach, after reading a book, a book by jack. i had never before seen mountains or snow, but somehow, i figured, as only an 18-year-old can figure, that my destiny was to hang out on the mountaintop, watch for fires, and write poetry. that this was colorado instead of oregon, and that unlike jack, i was a poet, and wouldn't recognize a fire in the wilderness unless that wilderness included lots of palm trees. didn't matter to me. i was heading west, i was on the road.

and as you probably see where this story is going, at my first break, thanksgiving weekend, i headed further west. i drove across the rockies, straight for san francisco, straight for city lights bookstore. once they are, i was in awe. so many books with such unusual conversations with each other. every section unlike any i had ever seen before. browsers were everywhere. broadsides on the walls, and all those city lights, timeless. ginsberg was even there, browsing the poetry room. that night, he and gregory corso would be having a reading together just down the street. i found might have been, and i only wished i could stay forever. i did strike up a conversation with a bookseller that day. what we talked about, i don't really remember in great detail. i do remember, though, that he

was very gracious, very patient, and that he regaled me with the history of the store and suggested i might like that new city lights anthology that had just been published, the one with that great, broader illustration on the cover, the one i still have. although there is no way for me to be sure, and this is a story, i want to believe that that bookseller on that date in city lights was paul yamazaki. it probably wasn't. but it makes perfect sense if it were. because that trip and that bookseller showed me the possibility of what my future could be, and that is the kind of effect that paul has. so, let's just say it once, paul. and let me just say, thank you, paul. and tonight, we all think paul point we gather to honor the

remarkable work he has done for all of us for over five decades. writers, readers, publishers, and booksellers. his commitment to the very deep waters of our literary life has made a difference, a profound difference. that paul came to bookselling as a way to get an early release from a prison sentence, rendered because of his activism , is legendary, and it is so right. his well-developed sense of justice and inclusion brought a fresh vibrancy to city lights when he took over as head buyer. and in a broader sense, his championing and passion for new and diverse voices and for small and independent presses set an early example for booksellers everywhere. he demonstrated that he is

voices, and presses, would find their readers when given a chance. he continues to be a catalyst for change, a transformational change that we witness today and each and every lay down tuesday. i recently saw this post, i think it was by and tell berg, and i thought of paul. she writes, this is what is great about booksellers, it is embrace of the plural, whether within the store or broadly across the land. and broadly across the land, paul's embrace of other booksellers is profound. his warmth, his humility, the way he listens, that smile of his. the joy he wears so well. he is a friend and a mentor to young and old, once just starting out or those more established.

and i have gathered a few of those voices for you, just a few. if i went further, there would be hundreds. melinda powers writes: one of the qualities i love and admire most in paul is his curiosity and the way it guides him with such kindness and humility. he is curious about the craft of bookselling. it's myriad approaches. he is interested and his colleagues perspectives, regardless of their experience, and he seeks out understanding through relationships, building bridges between writers, publishers, and booksellers, creating more space for everybody. underneath it all is his love for the books. his keen understanding of the numbers and his high standard of excellence. all of which you so generously shares, elevated us all. and this is from jeff deutsch, a marvelous bookseller, but to me, he is more important as the

publisher of the book that paul is about to publish, it is by paul, and it is called reading the room. and i have read an early copy of it, and i recommended to this entire room, it is really remarkable. jeff says: paul yamazaki has raised up generations of booksellers. he teaches by example, including the lesson that discernment and commitment and need not compromise kindness and generosity. in paul's peaceable kingdom, engagement, listening, and curiosity are the marks of greatness and enthusiasm, the work. we are lucky to live in the time of yamazaki. well said, jeff. >> [ applause ] >> yes, we are. host of that wonderful podcast pour it over writes: paul was

the beacon i didn't know i needed when i met him 30+ years ago. a cool cat, a dude who read everything. an asian american bookseller, paul held the door open for me, and i do the same because he taught me how. i state because paul stated. yes. >> [ applause ] >> and if you have ever come to any literary events like these are the american booksellers association convention, you know that there is paul and rick, right? so, this is from rick simonson of elliott bay, another hand four, too. >> [ cheers and applause ] >> of paul, so much to say but this, that his abiding interest in and attention to those who

have come before our time, to those who are coming and will come after, and to the world this all happens in, speaks an old soul, evident in him when he was young. and a young soul evident now that he is an elder. paul yamazaki carries the immensity and humility of being human with purpose, passion, and a radiant spirit that is rare among us. he does indeed. square books, the wonderful square books in oxford, mississippi -- yes, rick. >> [ applause ] >> for richard howarth, the founder of square books, says: paul yamazaki, one of the nicest people i have known, is the wise and gifted bookseller, who for a half-century has given his head and heart and enjoyed to one of america's

iconic book stores and its community. what a pleasure and great good fortune it is to have known him as a model, mentor, and drinking buddy. >> [ laughter ] >> i mean, yeah, drinking buddy, thanks, richard, i almost forgot that. because you know, paul, with a martini in hand, is an indication that all is right in the world, right? anyone who has done drinking with paul knows that. and since i have the distinct pleasure of bestowing upon a paul yamazaki the 2023 literary and award, i ask that all of us raise a glass in recognition of paul's outstanding service to the american literary community. paul yamazaki. >> [ music ] >> [ applause ]

>> i am really, really stunned and humbled to be here. there are so many people in this room who have meant so much to me, who have made me look a lot smarter than i actually am. but it is, timmy, it's the recipient of the literarian

award, it's such a tremendous honor it's not something that you seek out, it's not something that you aspire to, but it is what you have heard so much tonight, our passion and curiosity for the written word, for the book, for what the authors do for us. right now, as we live in such troubled times, in such turbulent times, it is the writers who really kind of bring forward how we are able to kind of determine a course through our lives, but it is -- the whole world is kind of shaped by what the writers do, at least from my perspective as a bookseller, there is so much

that we do not or i do not get without reading the books, without having the conversations. and so, as i stand here, as the current recipient of the literary and award, i have been preceded by three amazing booksellers, publishers who have directly affected me. but first, i would like to think david steinberger and the board of directors of the national book foundation. >> [ applause ] >> and ruth dickey. and the staff who have assembled us here, but not just for this evening, but for the work that they do constantly, around the year, >> [ applause ] >> to bring writers and readers closer together.

that's what we all do together, we are the planks in the bridge towards building that closer connection. but it is the staff and board of the national book foundation that actually put those planks in place, so we thank you very, very much for all of that. so, >> [ applause ] >> we are kind of here not to hear me speak, but to celebrate the writers, and in this troubled time, it is the writers who really give us a guidepost to how we can move forward with compassion and humanity, and to be able to make kind of -- not preconceived notions of what we should be doing, but how the various kind of fonts that we can use to make our own determinations. so, i have been really very privileged to have these amazing comments that mitchell assembled, and so, what has

happened here -- so, lawrence, mitchell kaplan, all people who have directly affected my career as a bookseller. and so, i will spend a little time explaining exactly how they did that. so, with mitchell, they were really able to create a foundation, an oncology, if you will, of the book world. shape how we move forward, how we shape sustainability. so, for all the booksellers in the room, we know how difficult it is just on a day-to-day basis, to create a sustainability, not only for our stores, not only for our readers, but for our booksellers. and so, it is mitchell and or in who really created a template for us that we still follow, and it is through those

conversations and the systems that they have put forward that we can move forward like this. i would be standing here today without them, but most importantly, lawrence, the 2005 recipient of the literary award, the first one that was given out by the national book foundation, had the wisdom to hire me while i was serving two concurrent sentences in san francisco county jail. >> applause mac >> and it is what mitchell has done in miami, what lawrence did with me, is to show that if you don't shut doors, if you open the doors, there is so much that is possible, there is so much that we can do. the authors here today and who have been nominated, a long

list, shortlist, the ones that we as booksellers and librarians are able to have the privilege of presenting to our readers, offer so many different bridges and pathways to think about how we resolve our various issues in the world today. so, as we move forward, we have to kind of -- each one of us question how we do our books. for editors, for booksellers, there is always finite space, there is the economics of what we do, there is the space of what we do, and it is kind of the privilege of the bookseller that we are able to take, for each one of our individual communities, our individual readers, how we are able to bring those readers forward. and i think one of the things that is so key, what mitchell has done in miami, is to show that if you open the doors, if

you don't shut the doors, you will be able -- people will come in. they will walk with you. and i think one of the major things for me as a bookseller over the years is that -- trust the writer, trust the reader, and you really don't have to think about much else, because if you have that trust, if you have that conversation, people will walk with you. and it is kind of like after five decades as a bookseller, i can categorically state that trust is always there, and so, for all of us together, we can kind of continue to build those reading audiences. and i think right now, what is so important -- that in the turmoil we are facing right now, and we can see this with all the nominees and all the categories today, that each one of them is an individual path for us to think about, to

follow, to be able to kind of like cogitate upon and move forward. so, i would like to think -- all my planned remarks, i have just kind of thrown out the window. kind of like -- what mr. burton, what miss winfrey, what mitchell have all done, have kind of so beautifully encapsulated what our purpose is here today, so i would like to thank all of you so much for bestowing this upon me, to have these conversations, and to move forward. so, we know that there is a lot, a lot of work that we all have to do about race and class, about how the conflicts in the world are going, but it is the authors today and moving forward that will help us set those guideposts to have these conversations, but thank you, mitchell.

thank you, rick simmons and, thank you for all the booksellers in this room, thank you for my colleagues at city lights who have made this all possible for me. and most of all, my wife sarah chen, who kind of has guided me through this whole process. >> applause mac >> so, thank you very much. >> [ applause ] >> so, we will continue at tonight's celebrations with the 2023 medal for distinguished contribution to american letters. each year, the metal is given to a writer who has over the course of their year, enriched our shared literary and cultural heritage. previous recipients include toni morrison, isabel, and most

recently, graphic novelist and comics artist, art. yeah. yeah, art. >> applause mac >> tonight's honoree has written in just about every genre, mentor to hundreds, if not thousands of emergent poets and writers, and served as the first black poet laureate of these united states. >> applause mac >> here to present the medal to rita dove is that mr. gerald. >> [ applause ] >> jericho is the author of please, which won an american book award, the new testament, and the tradition, which was a national book award finalist, and won the 2020 pulitzer prize for poetry.

ladies and gentlemen, give it up for jericho brown. >> [ applause ] >> [ music ] >> thank you so much for that introduction. i hope my sister saul that levar burton said my name. thank you so much to the national book foundation for inviting me here. it is so nice to be in a room where everyone knows i am a poet and nobody is stressed out about it. [ laughter ] i know for a fact that in this room, no one has ever tried to ban a book by jericho brown. >> [ cheers and applause ] >> i don't know that in every room, but give yourselves a hand. so, i feel at home here, though i have traveled some distance, i have come all the way from

georgia, so you can hear and see me thank god for sending a particular poet to walk the earth with us, a light that shines brighter than my tuxedo. [ laughter ] my challenge today is to tell you, just one of the many ways my life has been changed by the lady you know as the pulitzer prize winner, the former poet laureate of the united states of america, the lady we refer to around my house as our best example, the lady i refer to in my mind as my sister. tonight's medal for distinguished contribution to american letters recipient , rita dove. >> [ applause ] >> rita dove won the pulitzer

prize when i was in elementary school and she was poet laureate of the united states by the time i was in high school. i'm going to pause there because i know you are a writer, so you need some time to do math. i imagine i don't have to tell you what scenery does dates on the posters in schools and libraries where i was reared meant to me and my sense of possibility for living my life as a poet. possibility is a particularly strong word for us. the people who populate this room, each of us showing up just to make sure -- no, i am not crazy, or at least i am not the only crazy one. possibility is what allows us the nerve to write and to believe that something can be made of our scribbles. most of us are here in spite of and sometimes because of the fact that someone else thought the life we chose, the artist's life, was not a sustainable life. and here we are, proving the naysayers wrong. >> [ applause ]

>> i am here today because i am the descendent of a people who against all odds, believed my existence possible. people who were not allowed to write, and then people who worked so hard with their hands for so many hours that to think about writing would only lead to further exhaustion, and yet, these people dreamed of me before i was born. they thought someone like me could be. a reading, writing, black poet. they may not have been educated, but they knew i would need an education. well, i ended up with so much education that i am now a college professor with a phd and i would like to teach you a poem i love by rita dove. >> applause mac >> canary, from michael s harper. billie holiday is a burnt voice had as many shadows as lights. a mournful candelabra against a

sleek piano. the gardenia, her signature, under that ruined face. now you are cooking, drum of the base, magic spoon, magic needle, take all day if you have to with your mirror and your bracelet of song. fact is, the invention of women under siege has been to sharpen love in the surface of myth. if you can't be free, be a mystery. i love that one. >> [ applause ] >> talk about lines that remind us of the power of possibility, this column is a constellation of ancestry. before we can get to its major subjects, billie holiday, we have to understand the dedication to the great jazz poet, michael harper. i mean, by the time you get

through the first line, you are already steeped in blackness. it reminds me that my ancestry, my family is an extended family, that like my hard-working forbearers, rita dove had been writing with someone in like me in mind long before ever meeting me. she knows how to do that because she knows michael harper dreamed of her existence. she knows billie holiday dreamed that if only there were a michael harper, maybe we could also end up with a rita dove someday. the poem, as so many rita dove pollens do come lets me know that it is okay for me to expect that everyone ought to prepare for and know that tradition from which i was born, just as much i am prepared for another tradition in which past recipients of this honor like ray bradbury and arthur miller and john ashbury were born. poetry is something we can use, then this poem fights for us, it lets us know that some of the feelings we once had of invisibility had a lot to do

with who we thought needed to be looking at us. and it doubles down on that directive in one final line of the commandment, if you can't be free, be a mystery. it is my pleasure to present to you the novelist, the playwright , the songwriter, the recipient of the national humanities medal from president bill clinton and the national medal of arts from president barack obama, and the author of several beloved volumes of poetry, i give you our best example, my sister, rita dove. >> [ applause ] >> [ music ]

>> wow. oh, jericho. wow. thank you, man. i am going to try to step up to that crystal stair you just laid out, you know? st gratitud. i can't explain what an honorud. this is. but i do have a confession for you from the moment that ruth

dickey me, i would be receiving this. i began to fret about my acceptance speech and not because of this audience. because you, the labor behind every triumph or failure you are in essence my peeps. now i fretted because i have always away from mulling over things like or intention or what my work might have on others, especially when i'm in the moment of writing the process of writing, which is when i am intention or what impact my work might have on others, especially when i'm in the moment of writing the process of writing, which is when i am most grounded in myself, in all the selves, i have been and that have come before me and all the s selves that i might still become.

so, how then could i compose 3 to 5 minutes worth of clear insightful sentences? when a poet can easily spend 3 to 5 hours debating the effect a of a comma versus a dash. i think that the translators here in our midst may understand best that what a poet manages to ink onto a page or put into a computer's memory as it were is just a silhouette, a shadow of that essential enigma that we call life. the poet is called upon to use words like stepping stones to

carry herself and her readers across that unarticulated rs turbulence, the unwed depths within us. granted, that's pretty frightening stuff, which may be why many people are wary of poetry, afraid they won't understand it the right way in today's endangered intellectual climate. my cynical self might say that it's why the woefully growing list of censured and banned books in america's schools and libraries includes relatively little poetry unless a commercial success the ears of those reactionary book burners who rather than risk y,being asked to explain what exactly it is that strikes them as dangerous in our stanzas have left us to our corner of the sky, hoping that no one can hear us above their shouts. but we keep on strumming our harps. grateful for the village of

publishers, editors, printers, distributors, marketers, booksellers, and readers who help keep those strings tuned. so tonight, i would like to give proper thanks to a few of those villagers who helped me along the way. to jerry costanzo at carnegie mellon university press who, 40 plus years ago, i can't believe that, um, believed in a fledgling poet enough to publish my first three books and gave me his blessing when ww norton came calling and then to the inimitable carol h. smith, my editor at, at norton for 20 years. yeah, until her death in 2009. and to my editor now, the

marvelous jill bowski who seems to know just when i need a hug or a nudge. and of course to my partner in crime and passion for nearly half a century, my husband fred. yeah. but finally, i'd like to give a huge thank you to levar burton for hosting this evening's festivities. ng but also for the hours of babysitting that reading rainbow, reading rainbow provided when our daughter aviva was growing up in the eighties. now, day after day, you stepped into our living room to guide her on her book driven adventures. she still remembers the volcano episode by the way. and it was a time when to

glimpse a portion of that luminous rainbow arch meant promise. i hope that this nation can find that openhearted joy again for the fear that has engendered so much hate that has closed minds and stifled imagination is precisely what literature, what all art seeks to dismantle. so i thank you all for being here and sustaining me. thank you. >> [ applause ] [ music ] >> rita dove!

rita dove! i did not expect to come here id and cry in front of people, but there you go. thank you so much, miss dove. you know, she said something really interesting about art and i believe that artistic expression is in fact love, artistic expression is love in action. and so all of you in this room who have any connection to art and artistic endeavor. and for me, the written word is at the highest rung of, of art itself.

god bless. god bless. ladies and gentlemen, let's please welcome the chairman of the board of the national book foundation, the very suave and debonair david steinberger. the national book. i want to welcome you to the 74th national book. as many of you >> thank you, levar. good evening, everyone on behalf of the board of directors of the national book foundation, i want to welcome you to the 74th national book awards. as many of you know, it's not the board that actually picks the finalists or the winners of the national book awards,

that's up to independent judges, different panel of judges every year. but we do get to vote on the lifetime achievement awards and it feels wonderful to have picked a great poet and a great bookseller. and tonight, i'm filled with gratitude, not only for this year's lifetime honorees, but for all poets and all booksellers and in fact, for all librarians and publishers and editors and writers and most, especially for all readers. thank you, all of you, for making books central to your lives and for caring about our mission at the national book foundation. now, those of you who know me or who have been here before know that i don't let an opportunity go by when i can recite the mission without doing that, right? lisa lucas, where's lisa over here. right. so we've got a great mission to celebrate the best literature in the united states, expand

its audience, and ensure books have a prominent place in our culture. that is why we're here tonight. now, i, i don't have to tell you that. it is a very challenging time in the world right now. the world seems very divided. there's a lot of sadness and anger and fear and my heart goes out to everyone who's in pain. there's a lot of pain out there. and my wish for everyone who's with us tonight, people in the room and people who are joining us from their homes - is that books and our love of books can help us all find understanding, compassion, gratitude, and connection with one another. that our common love of books helps bring us all together, all of us.

that's my sincere wish for tonight and i feel good about that wish the way things are going so far this evening. now, my gratitude tonight also extends especially to our sponsors. i have to thank a few people. so thank you to penguin random house barnes and noble, bpg, central national central national gusman foundation, simon and schuster, 20th century studios, amazon, apple, audible books, a million book of the month, dior, google hachette harper collins, hurst ingram mcmillan and scholastic. additional thanks to the susan s. and kenneth l. wallach foundation, the stephen m and joyce tatler charitable trust, deborah wiley and karen and marcus dole and to all those who donated.

thank you. thank you. >> [ applause ] >> all right, we now have a brief video. thank you again for being here and thank you for sharing our belief in the power of books. >> ♪ >> i fell in love with reading when i started the anne of green gables series at my school's library in fourth grade. >>my favorite teacher gave bridge to terabithia to the class. it was not like anything i had read before. it was controversial. it had some words that seemed naughty. >> we have a tradition around the age of 13.

we're given souls of black folk by web du bois and we read it together as a family. >> my little brother gifted me with 100 years of solitude. it's the momentum, it's the magic, the idea that you might go into a book and then come out a completely different person. >> there are so many different ways to engage with the written word, whether there's poetry, there's fiction, whether it's nonfiction, having an expansive definition of what it means to be a reader is the best way to have inclusivity in this world of literature that we all love. >> when i think about books i've loved including many of the books that the national book foundation has honored. i think about how the reader emerges from those books. better able to love herself and to love other people and therefore better able to fight for justice. >> national book foundation does so many events all over america. and you see really the diversity of america and the different types of readers that are here in one room. almost like coming into the fold of a community of writers.

>>building readers means creating opportunities for people to have extraordinary experiences with books and writers. we partner with nonprofits and libraries and universities to bring writers all around the country. we need champions for books, especially in this moment. and we also need lots of different opportunities for people to connect with books and find the books that resonate for them, for everyone to be able to find the book that may change their lives. >> when young people have access to books, their world is bigger, they're able to have a bigger imagination to know more outside of their own communities to become better writers. they're able to be even more confident in who they are, especially when books reflect their stories, their identities and celebrate that from them to choose the story that they want to read. >> you can't even measure the impact how that would bring them and develop their reading journey of their own reading, teaches us sympathy.

>> they can do anything, they can go anywhere. when you give somebody a book, they can experience something unlike anything they might have otherwise experienced. and that's one of the reasons i love translated literature is you're giving somebody an exploration into a different country, a different world, different beliefs and >> that national book awards is just sort of changing the boundaries of how we engage with tech and making it really accessible to young people. >> the national book awards are incredibly special in part because it's an opportunity for authors to get recognition for all the work that they do behind closed doors. sometimes in the dead of night to try to tell a story. >> the national book award makes books visible to the public uplifts them on this international scale. it's an act of generosity. it keeps the art of reading and writing alive. >> we're in a moment culturally where the idea of creativity is under attack. if we're not careful, we're

going to end up with a culture that doesn't want to dream. the national book foundation is really necessary in terms of countering that particular saying a culture that can't have this is starving itself. it's not food, it's not water, but it's just as important. it's just as necessary. the national book foundation helps to guarantee that there will be books, there will be readers for those books, there will be writers for those books. that's why it's important to celebrate. >> ♪ ♪ >> please welcome to the stage, ruth dickey, executive director of the national book foundation. >> good evening, everyone. .

i'm so grateful to have a moment amidst tonight's luminous celebrations of books and writers to also talk about the work that we do year round supporting readers. as you just saw in that great video through a state of education and public programs. the national book foundation has reached readers in nearly all 50 states. just this past year, we visited communities across the country from miami florida to tucson, arizona and from the mississippi delta to huntsville, texas. in may national book award honorees, gunty and tommy orange joined us in montana for events at salish kootenai college, a community college on the flathead reservation and with elk river arts and lectures in livingston, montana. yeah, it was amazing. attendees thanked us and some of them mentioned they had driven six hours to be with us at the event. those words have stuck with me ever since. a reminder that in every corner

of the country, there is a hunger for reading, a hunger for meeting writers and for conversations and a hunger for connecting with books that capture the diversity and complexity of the human experience at the national book foundation. we want books to be a vibrant and accessible part of every community and to do that, we need your help. we're just $57,000 from reaching tonight's fundraising goal and we hope that you will help us to reach it. for those of you in the room with us. there are qr codes at your table and on your menus, you can get out your phone right now and right do do that in the room with us or if you prefer to make a pledge or donate the cash or check, we'll have volunteers stationed to collect donations at the end of the night. for our viewers at home, please follow the link in the chat or

visit national book.org/give. a donation of any amount will help us bring more authors to more communities, to get more books into the hands of more young people and to help ensure that books remain a thriving part of our culture. so, as you make your donations, i hope you are all getting out your phones and making those donations right now. i'd love to thank a few more really important people. thank you to the national book foundation board of directors for your tremendous leadership, your guidance, and your unwavering commitment to this work. thank you to our book council, our host committee and our afterparty committee for lending us your time, your expertise and your cheer. thank you to our collaborators at really useful media who are producing tonight's broadcast for readers across the country. thank you to our incredible design team at chips with additional design support from jar fong who always make sure we look our very best. immense thanks to tonight's host levar burton for being a lifelong hero for books and an ally in our work.

and thanks to our very special guest, oprah winfrey for being an incomparable champion of books and writers. last, but certainly not least, we need a whole room. tremendous. thank you for the volunteers, interns and small but mighty staff of the national book foundation, right? yeah. >> [ applause ] >> huge, huge. thank you to meredith andrews, natalie green, erica hattori, emily lovett julia, julianna lee, marino megan reynolds, ale romero, jordan smith, meg and john winkler. and an extra special. thank you to our amazing awards and honors manager madeline shelton for coordinating so

many details, large and small to make tonight possible. and speaking of tonight, it's almost time to learn which books will be the winners of this year's national book awards. your support of the national book foundation helps share the energy and excitement that we are all feeling in this room right now with readers all across the country. so thank you. thank you. thank you everyone for being with us tonight. thank you believing, for believing in our work. and thank you for being part of the best team that there is team book. thank you. enjoy the night. >> [ applause ] >> ok. i would love to remind everyone how critical it is for all of us to support the year round work of the national foundation to reach readers everywhere. as ruth said, we have just $57,000 left to meet our goals. so, before you leave tonight or

close your computer, if you are at home, please join us in supporting readers and books all year long. you know, one of the most exciting and special parts of the national book awards are that no one knows who the winners are in advance. not the board of directors or the staff or even me, i asked, they wouldn't tell me. earlier today, the five judges in all five categories made their final decisions. and we all are sharing in the excitement to hear the news made public live on this stage, tonight, the winners will be announced by the chair of each category presented in reverse alphabetical order, first young people's literature, then translated literature, poetry, nonfiction, and finally, fiction. we have a few more surprises up our sleeve this evening.

five to be exact, each category and panel chair will be introduced by the voice of a fellow book lover helping us to celebrate from afar. first, we have award winning actress, singer and author to introduce the finalists for the 2023 national book award for young people's literature and panel chair, dr claudette s. mclynn introducing julie andrews. >> in the hands of a young person. books are nothing short of transformative. this year's finalists for the 2023 national book award for young people's literature include novels, a graphic memoir, and a picture book. readers follow young protagonists full of both love and embarrassment for their

families. from rural vermont to disney world. these stories remind us that words matter tremendously and that histories should be re re- examined in the united states and abroad to help young readers better understand the world and their places within it. the panel chair for this year's national book award for young people's literature is claudette s. mclynn, the executive director of the center for the study of multicultural children's literature. >> good evening. being a member of the 2003 national book award for young people's literature panel has

been a once in a lifetime honor for each of us. we, the fantastic five completed personal, professional, and geographic journeys via zoom meetings to get to this evening in new york city. we were a team, a dream team, coming from different backgrounds and cultures. our discussions were open thought provoking, comprehensive and deep. we were respectful and appreciative of each other's points of view. i am deeply grateful to my fellow judges, sarah park, dolan, kyle lukoff, justin a.

reynolds, subba tohear. it was a privilege to work together to select these fabulous finalists. the finalists for the national book award for young people's literature are kenneth m. "gather," candlewick press, huda farming, huda f cares dial books for young readers and penguin, random house, thirsty harrison. big little brown books for young readers, hatchet book group. catherine marsh. the last year, a survival story of the ukrainian family. roaring brook press, macmillan publishers and dan sante, a

first time for everything. 1st, 2nd macmillan publishers. and this year's national book award for young people's literature goes to dan santak, "first time for everything." >> [ music ] [ applause ] ♪ ♪ you.

you know you tell yourself that you're not going to write a speech because don't think you have a chance and i think maybe my friend >>you know, you tell yourself that you're not going to write a speech because you don't think you have a chance. and i think maybe my friend robin denway, who won the national book award back in 2018, she took me out to a celebratory lunch for being on the short list. and she said, well, technically, you have a 20% chance. so, you should write something because there's a lot of smart

people in that room. thank you so much for this lovely award. i'd like to congratulate my four fellow finalists who i've had the lovely honor of sharing this amazing experience with as well as with the amazing list of long list authors who were also named. i'd like to thank everyone at the national book award committee and especially this year's judges for selecting such a diverse range of books from young adult to middle grade and picture books and graphic novels, which demonstrate that a wide variety of stories could be worthy of such high praise. i'd like to thank my editor, connie shu, who has been my arbiter's literary taste for almost 10 years. while many authors sometimes have proofreaders and friends who read their work, connie has been my sole confidant who studies my rough idea of a story like a large ball of clay and helps me mold it into a refined work of art that i can proudly share for all the world to see.

one caldecott medal and one national book award. not bad. connie. i'd like to thank my agent jodi remer, for her ability to skillfully help manage my career for almost 15 years. she's been a steadfast supporter of my ideas and ambitions of this once young insecure artist and helped me navigate the course towards a wonderful career that i have today. more importantly, i value your friendship and the close bond we have as friends. i'd like to thank my lovely wife, leah, who endures the sometimes chaotic months and years of a writer who can become so passionate in his ambitions that he would consume his own soul to craft a work of art. it is not easy being the soul mate of a man who is willing to die for his work. you're often asked to pull

double duty as a parent for days and sometimes weeks while i'm on book tours and school visits, while you skillfully navigate your own ambitions. as a scientist in the challenging field of biology. you allow me the freedom to chase my ambitions, dreams, but remind me that the world is not worth living, if you don't occasionally pause for a moment to relax. i'd like to thank everyone at mcmillan publishing, most notably kirk benshaw for as meticulous i as an art director, morgan raf, molly ellis, jen besser, john, and many others. far too many to name who helped get a first time for everything out into the world last but not least, i'd like to thank my mother who i think is watching right now, who saw her young insecure child endure the struggles of growing up through the tumultuous years of adolescence and gently push them out the door to show his young innocent mind that despite the awkward and awful experiences, we can sometimes

experience in life that the world is immense and that within that vast world, there is also great kindness and love. thank you very much. congratulations dan. ♪♪ >> congratulations dan. and to dan's mom watching on the live stream, we are all big fans of your work. next up. we have actor and author of "green lights" and "just because," to introduce the

finalists for the 2023 national book award for translated literature and the panel chair, jeremy tang. please listen for the voice of matthew mcconaughey. >> reading literature and translation reveals the connective power of storytelling on an international scale. the finalists for the 2023 national book award for translated literature, blur fantasy and reality within their pages, considering the brutalities of capitalism, colonialism and homophobia, characters, old and young. chase the possibility of freedom and expand the limits of our imaginations. these works were translated into english from dutch, french, korean portuguese and spanish. the panel chair for this year's national book award for translated literature is jeremy tian, novelist, playwright, and translator of over 20 books from chinese. writes thank youf

matthew writes thank youf ♪♪ >> right? thank you to the voice of matthew mcconaughey. at a time of great turbulence and mistrust translated literature is more vital than it has ever been. with its ability to help us navigate an increasingly fractured world. since its inception in its current form. five years ago, this category has recognized books that delve into some of the most pressing issues of the day, such as palestinian liberation and displaced people to climate change while also being scintillating texts in their own right. these books are an essential part of the global conversation brought to anglophone readers through the dedication and brilliance of translators and publishers.

this year's finalists are no exception. ranging from a tender coming of age and coming out queer novel from brazil to a reckoning with colonial legacy in senegal. from an elliptical portrait of a troubled childhood in colombia to a spiky surreal collection of short stories from south korea and a fractured suriname's narrative of queer actualization. it was near impossible to choose between these treasures. and i have to thank my fellow judges, jeffrey brock, arthur malcolm dixon, christina rodriguez and tracey dine sharply whiting for the months of reading and discussion and for the grace and thoughtfulness with which they navigated this most difficult of decisions. we are all grateful to the national book foundation

particularly, to ruth dicky and madeline shelton for guiding us through this process. the five finalists for the national book award for translated literature are bora chung, "cursed bunny," translated from the korean by anton, her algonquin books, hachette book group, davi job "beyond the door," of no return, translated from the french by sam taylor fsg macmillan publishers stenio gardel the words that remain translated from the portuguese by bruno dantas lobato, new vessel press pillar quintana abyss translated from the spanish by lisa dillman. world editions. "a street roma on a woman's madness," translated from the

dutch by lucy scott. two lines press. this year's national book award for translated literature goes to shanel gardel and bruna dantas lobato for the words that remain new vessel press. >> [ applause ] ♪ ♪♪

♪♪ what happening right now. ♪♪ >> what is happening right now? thanks to the national book foundation and the judges. ok, i dedicate this award to my mom, you and she's not amongst

us anymore, but she always believed in me and i wouldn't be here if it weren't for her. she was the best mom and i miss her so much. i'd like to thank my brother jadel, all my family and friends, soko sioli, vanessa ferrari, julia b. also fernando hina stephanie hawk, and everyone at compass laters my brazilian publishing house and also lucia heath julia wiman and everyone at heath agency. finally to special thanks to

bruna, to bruna for capturing the heart and the breath of the book and writing them down in your own beautiful words and to michael wise publisher of new vessel press for your dedication and hard work and for giving my novel such a wonderful home. growing up as a gay boy in the hinterlands of northeast of brazil, it was impossible for me to think, to dream of such an honor. but, being here tonight as a gay man, receiving this award for a novel about another gay man's journey to self acceptance, i wanted to say to everyone who whoever felt wrong about themselves, that your heart and your desire are true and you are just as deserving as anybody else of having a fulfilling life and accomplishing possible dreams. thank you. have a great night. oh my god.

>> [ applause ] >> hi. thank you all so much. to my fellow finalists for their brilliant work. to the judges for reading hundreds of books. to stan you for trusting me with his beautiful writing. and to our editors and new vessel press, michael wise and jennifer shu for putting, putting my name on the cover of

that book where it belongs. thank you. #namethetranslator. we are not mysterious fairies working in the dark. it's so rare that i get to see the brazil i know in books and it's even rarer for a book like this to receive this kind of honor. and i'm so grateful. thank you always for reading translations for recognizing the work of translators, for recognizing our art from our corner of latin america. here's to reading the world with curiosity and empathy. thank you very much. >> ♪ [ applause ] ave the authot acid ave the authot

>> congratulations, stenio and brunda. next, we have the author of salt, fat, acid, heat. he's a chef and a co-host of home cooking to introduce the finalists for the 2023 national book award for poetry and the panel chair, heid e. erdrich. please listen to the voice of samin nosrat. >> poetry reveals the limitless possibilities and power of language. the finalists for the 2023 national book award for poetry, explore communication and touch. the ancestral healing medicine of words and the building of community and collectives. these works traverse language and borders to connect and define family and confront the pervasiveness of american racism to show not just where we are from but where we're going. the panel chair for this year's national book award for poetry

is heid e. erdrich, the author of seven poetry collections, including little big bully, a national poetry series winner. ♪♪ k and the camaraderie and pleasure of their company in a quite difficult task. we think the national >> i'm gratified to thank my colleagues on the poetry panel for their hard work and the camaraderie and the pleasure of their company in a quite difficult task. we thank the national book foundation for this honor. the 2023 poetry panel members are rick burrow, jonathan farmer, rena j. leone.

so sharif the poetry panel acknowledges the extraordinary privilege of celebrating poetry in a face of tremendously difficult moment in our history. while we have the joy of honoring powerful poems of beauty, language, love, family, history, trauma, genocide, colonial dispossession and survival, survive events. while we reward our accomplishment in our art form. tonight, human suffering in gaza is at the forefront of our thoughts, celebration, celebration and grief seem opposed. but, in my life and in my recent interactions with those in the us personally suffering

this war, poetry is what we reach for in our grief. as mama darwish wrote a poem in a difficult time, is beautiful flowers in a cemetery. these past six months of panel conversation around hundreds of poetry collections has been deep work. we are all enlarged by what we've read. we found voices and that continued to sound in our minds. several of these books made it into our long list and then shortlist, but hundreds more did not. we salute every poet whose books were up for consideration and we thank you for your words. >> [ applause ] >> the finalists for the national book award for poetry are john lee clark, "how to communicate." ww norton and company craig

santos perez from unincorporated territory a lot. omni don publishing, brandon psalm trip us georgia review of books, university of georgia press. even shockley. "suddenly we," wesley university press and monica yon from, from gray wolf crest. this year's national book award for poetry goes to from unincorporated territory, ammad craig santos perez half a day. >> ♪ ♪

♪♪ ♪♪ to and all the judges in sonoma city to, all the poetry >> greetings saima asi to the national book foundation, saima

asi. thank you to hyde and all the judges and sam asi to all the poetry finalists. all of whom i consider friends and whose work admire. i want to thank my partner olivia. i haven't written for about a year and she's been so supportive of me and getting me to write again. so thank you. i want to thank my family, my brother and sister, my dad, and especially my mom who's traveled here tonight. [ applause ]i'm from a very small island of guam and there's only one bookstore. and when i was a kid, my mom would take me there every week to always buy me a book. and she, she instilled the love of, of reading and writing from a very young age. so thank you mom. i love you so much.

as i mentioned, i come from guam, which is a us territory, one of the last remaining colonies in the world. and when i was growing up in, in kind of a colonial american school system, we were never taught my own people's literature. we were always taught american literature. and so when i started writing, my mission was to hopefully inspire the next generation of pacific islander authors. and so i wanted to end my remarks to read a poem, the last poem from this book. and but before i do that, i also want to thank my, my publishers, omni don. to laura for helping me typeset and design this book to rusty. if i'm not sure if you folks are watching back home, but rusty's been my publisher and teacher for the last 20 years. i'm so grateful to you, rusty. i love you so much.

and thank you also to, to ken keegan, another publisher of omid don, who is no longer with us. so with, with all those names, i want to share this poem. it's called the pacific written tradition. i returned home to guam for the first time after 15 years away and visit an english class at one of guam's public high schools. as i read aloud from my new book, i notice a student crying, what's wrong? i asked, she says, i've never seen our culture in a book before. i just thought we weren't worthy of literature. how many young islanders have dived into the depths of a book? only to find bleached coral and emptiness. we were taught that missionaries were the first readers in the pacific because they could decipher the strange signs of the bible. we were taught that missionaries were the first authors because they possessed the authority of written words. today studies show that islander students read and write below grade level.

its natural experts claim your ancestors were an illiterate. oral people. don't believe their claims. our ancestors deciphered signs in nature, interpreted star formations and sun positions, cloud and wind patterns, wave currents and ocean. efflorescence. that's why master navigator papa mao once said quote. if you can read the ocean, you will never be lost. now, let me tell you about pacific written traditions. how our ancestors tattooed their skin with defiant scripts of intricately inked genealogies, how they carved epics into hard wood which sharpened points, their hands and the pressure and responsibility of memory, how they stenciled petroglyph lyrics on cave walls with clay fire and smoke. so the next time someone tells you our people were illiterate,

teach them about our visual literacies, our ability to read the intertextual, sacredness of all things. and always remember if we can write the ocean, we will never be silenced. thank you. >> ♪ [ applause ] >> congratulations craig. next up we have comedian, writer and the former host of the daily show to introduce the finalists for the 2023 national book award for nonfiction and panel chair, ada ferrer. here is the voice of mr. trevor noah.

>> to understand the present, we must better understand our past. the finalists for the 2023 national book award for nonfiction, recontextualized u.s. history through an indigenous lens, confront the trauma of gendered violence and weave together 248 notes on black life. memoir and research, live side by side as to climate science and oral histories. together these works of nonfiction weave together a multiplicity of voices to illustrate both our history and a path forward. the panel chair of this year's national book award for nonfiction is ada ferrer, author of "cuba and american." history winner of the 2022 pulitzer prize in history. >> [ applause ] ♪

>> thank you everyone. good evening. and thank you to ruth and madeline and everyone at the national book award foundation for all the work you're doing for putting on tonight's event. so a few weeks ago, i was in northern florida doing a book event at a retirement community with a lot of well read people in the audience. and one of them, i was expecting questions about the book, but one of them asked me what is the most interesting rewarding thing you have done this year? and without hesitating, i replied, well, serving as on the jury for the national book award in nonfiction, it has been an awe inspiring experience. it didn't matter that it was so much work, that getting from 638 very uniquely distinctive books to one winner tonight seemed impossible at many points. it didn't even matter that some of us on the jury were dreaming

about books night after night. it was awe inspiring for two reasons. one was the judges i got to serve with and the other one is the other reason is the books themselves. so, i had the privilege and the pleasure to work closely with four brilliant, thoughtful and generous colleagues, haneef abuda. who could not be here tonight but is here with us in spirit, james fugate, sarah sman and sonia shah. start. yes. starting in may. we read and read, we zoomed and talked, always returning to the criteria that we established at the outset of what we were looking for in these books and we decided that we wanted works that matter in any of the multiple ways that books can matter. we were looking for writing

that is beautiful again in any of the many ways that writing can be beautiful. books that were interesting in form or original in their approach to a topic and ultimately work that surprises when you read it. we read so many books that impressed us and moved us fascinating, exquisite books that we are so glad are out in the world. i speak on behalf of the panel when i congratulate everyone who had a book nominated this year. but as you all know, we had to get from 638 to 10. then to five and tonight to 1. the finalists for the 2023 national book award for nonfiction are net black hawk,

the rediscovery of america native peoples and the unmaking of us history by yale university press, christina rivera garza liliana's invincible summer, a sister search for justice by hogarth penguin random house, christina sharp ordinary notes, farah straus and giroux macmillan publishers. raja shadi. we could have been friends, my father and i, a palestinian memoir by other press. and finally, john valiant fire weather, a true story from a hotter world, kno penguin random house. and this year's national book award for nonfiction goes to ned blackhawk, the rediscovery of america.

>> [ applause ] ♪ ♪♪

who have made taking a minute or two to collect myself. minute or what an extraordinary evening >> it may take me a minute or two to collect myself. what an extraordinary evening and two days the past experience has been. i really am extraordinarily humbled by this recognition. and i'm also deeply appreciative of the spirit of generosity, the kind of collaborative support and the really intense kind of

solidarity that all of the finalists have displayed over the past two days. it's a real honor to be part of this national book award family. and i'll cherish this experience for a very, very long time. so thank you so very much for this incredible recognition and throw beyond words to accept the national book awards. [ applause ] this book which i have a copy of someplace was a very long time in the making, and i really can't even begin to identify its precise origins. it is conceivable days started at a time when i may not have even known that i would someday become an historian, and i also

went to public libraries and encountered the beauty of the vast world of books, or perhaps it was from my dear mother, who is watching, who is also an english teacher. i am indebted to so many who helped in this process and in the books conceptualization, its formulation, and its production. most notably my brilliant partner, maggie blackhawk. maggie, your sustained nurture and support have been so transformative. your matchless command over federal indian law and constitutional inquiry have

also been quite helpful. making the second half of this book in particular possible. we've survived several moves, a global pandemic, and a 3-year- old tornado named evan erin blackhawk. among many challenges, words cannot remain how grateful i remain for all that you do. the team at yale university press has been wonderful. from the moment we envisioned a series on american indians and the journey to the development of this most recent volume, christopher rogers, adina burke, amanda king, and john donovan should have been so very supportive and offered the highest form of professionalism at every stage. thank you. many close friends, family, and colleagues of also helped. what is the singing, they know who they are. my dear friends

erin and mary and bird bear from wisconsin merit particular recognition. they have been with us, and we have been with them. a small team of former students helped in essential ways, securing permissions for images, helping with the maps that i am very proud of in this book, the maps at the front, the front maps and the end maps, both convey the sense and argumentation of the book as a whole. a show the pre-contactor pre- removal locations of the native nations of the united states at the time of european arrival. the map shows the contemporary state and federal recognized the tribes of native nations across the contiguous united states. you can find them all on two maps. so a small team of former

students helped in that process my offering much needed assistance along the way. in the space of her found gratitude, i would like to close with a bit of an invitation. it may not be super evident from the book's formal introduction or its acknowledgments. the subject of american indian history, while often simultaneously unfamiliar and discomforting, is also a shared experience that touches us all. the currents of the past run deep and form the topography of the present, a theme that we have seen throughout the work of so many finalists this year. native america is also a form of our national inheritance. we cannot nor should not continue its systematic erasure.

moreover, it is a rich and vibrant new that provides uncommon and uncommonly beautiful insights. by example it is difficult to convey how beleaguered, impoverished, and generally marginalized native nations have often been in contemporary america. a, quote, ignorant and dependent race, as the supreme court once maintained. it is similarly difficult to convey how a capable and at times successful native nations and their members have been in achieving protections of their lands, resources, and sovereign authority. this is a field and subject in short that can be both inviting and rewarding, despite the potential unfamiliarity and

discomfort that may accompany one through their initial steps . to know and walk this land, to feel and understand its past , and to do so as best that we can guided by the voices of indigenous peoples, past and present, these must become essential attributes of american historical inquiry, guiding her his sticks, guiding philosophies, open to all. thank you so very much, again. >> [ applause ] congratulatio. well, here we are. finally, we have the singer and

the founder of service 95 to introduce the finalist >> congratulations, ned. here we are. finally we have singer, songwriter, and the founder of service 95 to introduce a finalist for the 2023 national book award for fiction, and the panel chair matt johnson. here is the voice of do a libra. >> fiction demands rigorous curiosity enough for character, for place, for new and different perspectives. finalists for the 2023 national book awards of fiction eliminate the interior lives of their characters come up from prisoners fighting to the death on reality television, the black muslims defining and redefining their faith in contemporary america, to multiple generations of a mixed race fishing community. whether from the shores of remote islands or the tundras of scandinavia, these stories interrogate love and hate,

dedication and defiance, and the reclamation and reinvention of our shared histories. the panel chair for this year's national book award for fiction is matt johnson, the philip h knight chair of humanities at the university of oregon and author of "invisible things." >> [ applause ] >> i'm always too tall for these things. okay. i have a confession to make. i have been published for 23 years now, and in that time i have made many lifelong friends in the literary community. some of them are here, and i have seen colleagues grow on the page and flourish. i tell the whole world how dope we are, just like we always did. i have mentor any promising

students who have gone on to become prominent writers. for much of my adult life, the literary world has been my natural ecosystem, and yet i have not read most of their books. people i hold dearly, you know, i've read some of them, but not nearly all, and i read a lot, but it is a lot of books, and thus it is nearly impossible to be both an active writer, and also get to read all of the books he would love to be able to. there is just not enough hours in a given year. even in those periods where i am able to read far more than i usually do, i can only manage to peruse a small cross-section of all that is available in american prose fiction for any given year. one of the greatest benefits of participating in the judging of the national book award is that it literally forces you to read way beyond your normal scope. every book you have been hearing buzz about all year,

and other books no one is talking about, and yet they should be. together they form a sort of state of the union of american fiction, and i am very happy to report that the state of literature is strong. >> [ applause ] >> now here is another confession. i don't like awards shows. i have an excellent reason for this, like many writers. it is called player hating. i am not going to lie. oftentimes these events are for art forms that already get a tremendous amount of attention. glamorous faces we see on tv all year just appearing in one room for the night, but, and i say this with absolute bias, literature is different. aside from a minute handful of exceptions, new books do not benefit from multimillion dollar needs. rather publishing relies on

word-of-mouth, on literary reputation, on free stuff. paradoxically, while technical advances have made getting published and distributed easier, the gnu c of literary voices has teeniest made it incredibly difficult for individual books to fulfill their most basic purpose, to be read, which is why events like this are so important. each book honored as a finalist tonight represents the very best of american literature, as chosen by these specific judges at this specific moment. and i make a point of offering that qualification, because it is important to note that literature is not track and field. literature is not a horse race. there is no numerically conclusive way to gauge their

greatness. readers and writers have individual influences, desires, and tastes. those tastes shift over time. but heralded today are often ignored tomorrow, and vice versa. but wonderful, and i mean truly wonderful, books selected as our finalists tonight are great , but they are not isolated incidents. they are representative of a thriving art form that has never been more diverse in every sense of that word. >> [ applause ] >> on behalf of of the brilliant judges i got to hang out with for the last couple of months, helen maria -- calvin crosby, silas house, and myself, thank you national book foundation. thank you for standing up for books and free speech for the last couple of months. because you were challenged and you met the challenge. and think you further read.

it was as much an honor to participate in judging this award as it is to bestow it. the finalists for the 2023 national book award for fiction are -- "chain gang all-stars. penguin random house. "temple folk." simon & schuster. paul harding, "this other eating ," ww norton and company. "the end of drum time." justin torres. "blackouts." -- and this year's national book award for fiction goes to

"blackouts" by justin torres. >> [ applause ] wow. and wow wow i'm really yeah i'm talk i' >> wow k. wow. wow. i, i'm goin to keep this really short, because the writers we've collectively decided to make a statement. so, i think the best thing

we've been saying for a long time, so i think the best thing is for the writers want to participate in the statement to kind of make their way up, and then i will make my personal remarks while people are coming up the muscle yes, so, come. so, first i need to think my man, david russell, for putting up with my excessive lamentations about this book, and about my own abilities. he is a literary critic, a scholar, the smartest person i've ever spoken with. it has paid dividends to be with you. and i love you. i love you. i want to thank my friends, especially, borges scott and angela flournoy who is here tonight with me for putting up with my excessive lamentations

about this book. i want to think my mother who is watching from a distance. i love you. i want to think my queer family, especially valencia martinez. i want to think my agent. i want to thank everyone at msg , but especially jenna johnson who has been -- yeah. we've been working together for 15 years. she edited my first book. she promised to edit my next book. i don't, you have taught me so much about grace and integrity, both on and off of the page. i feel lucky to keep growing and working with you. and now, transition, and we are going to offer a statement. >> on behalf of the finalists,

we oppose the ongoing bombardment of gaza, and call for a humanitarian cease-fire to address the urgent humanitarian needs of palestinian civilians, particularly children. we oppose anti-semitism and anti- palestinian sentiment, and islamophobia equally. accepting the human dignity of all parties. knowing that further bloodshed does nothing to secure lasting peace in the region. thank you. >> [ applause ] book awards ce. i want to say before we disperse, i so grateful to have

>> ladies and gentlemen, this concludes the 74th national book awards ceremony, but i want to say before we disperse, i am so grateful to have lived long enough to see this snapshot of literature in america today. >> [ applause ] >> congratulations to all of the finalists, the winners, and the judges. thank you all, ladies and gentlemen, for coming. for those of you at home, thank you for being with us. please all of you, keep reading. i know i have my work cut out for me after tonight. god bless you look after yourselves going home. i will see you next time, but you don't have to take my word for it.

my name is rachel olsen and i am the director of education and engagement at the national willie catheters center and we are standing in front of the burlington depot in red cloud, nebraska where the railroad arrived in 1879. later in 1882, the burlington depot became a stop on the main line between kansas city and denver for the burlington and missouri river railroad. this is also an important stop for homesteaders traveling to nebraska, a busy depot that saw up to eight passenger trains daily. this was where anna pavelka and willig cather in 1883 arrived to start their lives on the divide. we are standing in front of the jl minor house built in 1878 and located just a block away from the willow cather

childhood home. as a child, cather would've spent a lot of time in this house, both because she was good friends with the minor children, admired julia miner, the family matriarch, it also got to know their domestic worker, anna pavelka, who works here as a teenager. willow would've gotten to know anna and her experiences as part of an immigrant family trying to homestead on the great plains, and this friendship later inspired gathers most famous novel "my antonia." if you walk inside the minor home, you will see a parlor lullaby of formal dining room, and you will also walk through into the kitchen, where there is a small bedroom that anna pavelka stayed in when she was employed by the minor family. you would also see a hallway that served as a parlor for julia miner to entertain guests. this is where she played piano. he would also see julia and jl

minor's bedroom that also served as mr. miner's office. red cloud really developed in the kind of 20 years that included cather's childhood here. so from the 1880s to the turn- of-the-century. cather herself would have witnessed a town in the making, so the businesses and services that we take for granted as always being available in her hometown or in her community were still sort of in development as cather grew up , and that evolution of the town made a strong impression on cather that later came out in her writing . we are standing in front of the pavelka farmstead and are about 16 miles north of red cloud and webster county, nebraska. this is where anna and sean raised their 10 children and where they farmed. this is also the site where willa cather and anna were

reunited in 1916 during a visit cather paid to nebraska. this doesn't prove to be very important. it served as the inspiration for cather to write "my antonia ," published two years later. many of the beautiful vinyl scenes that you read "my antonia " are set on this farmstead. this farmstead is far different from the dugouts that many homesteaders lived in in the early 1880s, just like anna pavelka did with her family, but it is a great representation of the larger homesteading culture and immigrant farm light -- life that cather endeavored to capture in her novel . weeknights at 9:00 eastern, cspan's encore presentation of our 10 part series "books that

shaped america." cspan partnered with the library of congress that explored key pieces of literature that had a profound effect on our country. tonight we will feature willa cather's 1918 novel " my antonia." it addresses the women's immigrant experience at the time. our guess is melissa homestead, english professor at the university of nebraska, lincoln. wants cspan's encore presentation of "books that shaped america," weeknights at 9:00 eastern on cspan or go to c-span.org to view the series and learn more about each book featured. weekends on cspan 2 are an intellectual feast. every saturday, american history tv documents america is a story , and on sunday, book tv brings you the latest in nonfiction books and authors. funding for cspan 2 comes from these television companies and more , including wow. stomach the world is changed. today a fast reliable internet connection is somein