to a place of where can i find peace on that journey for michael jordan if he's watching westerns before he goes to bed. >> we are all touched by what you said. >> thank you so much. >> with that, i want to thank mr. rester and mrs. shapiro, feel free to join him at the autographing session outside. >> thank you so much! thank you, danny. weekends are an intellectual feast, every saturday, american history tv documents america story and on sundays, but tv brings you the latest in nonfiction books, funding comes from these television companies and more

including media come. >> we believe that if you leave here or right here, or way out in the middle of anywhere, you should have access to fast, reliable internet. welcome to the 74th national award ceremony. tonight's post is levar burton, renowned actor, director, producer and 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. oh. thank you so for that warm oh. welcome and >> my people! thank you, thank you so much for that warm welcome, and welcome, everyone, to the 74th national book awards. yes. i have the tremendous honor of serving as master of ceremonies for the 70th national book awards in 2019, and it means the world to me to join you on

this stage, to celebrate the importance of literature to our shared culture. before we get going, are there any moms for liberty in the house? moms for liberty? no? good. then, hans will not need to be thrown tonight. we call the national book awards ceremony, the biggest night for books and i've been saying, for the last three weeks, that this is on the planet, the best room to be in on this night. there are hundreds of you beautiful people 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. she's watching the live feed.

it's 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 about my mother. an english teacher, it was my mother who taught me at a very young age that if you can read, at least one language, you are by her definition, free. in the idea of freedom feels especially fraught in this global, political moment. there are wars and rumors of wars and machineries of war, at 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's 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 a few pages in 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 writer future

and -- yes! and to wield their words so masterfully with so much compassion and insight so today 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, ms. oprah winfrey. but wait! wait! oh, great.

thank you.reat. >> oh great! thank you. thank you. ♪ 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 folks have rescued me. books have delivered me, books have exalted me and helped me discover more of myself. i'm having flashback memories right now of getting my first library card at the nashville

hadley park library, and being in all 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. thank you ruth dickey and the whole team at the national book foundation thank you levar burton, who loves books as much as i am again, to the finalist,

to every single writer who has graced us this year with your words and 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 built with us through the magic and majesty and the simplicity of your words. so, the book club, oprah's book club. i know there are a lot of book clubs now but we are the og's, okay? hello. back in 1996. the book club

started on the oprah show because my producer, alice mcgee at the time, we had our own private book exchanges going for years, and she suggested one day she said, since you love looks and authors so much, why don't you share your excitement with our viewers and i said alice, you cannot do a show with authors who write fiction, 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. i'm grateful for the sins of safety, purpose and growth that this community has given me. every day i get invigorated by opening a book, often by reading the first sentence. first, i got myself born said damien fields on page 1 of even copperhead, thank you barbara king. 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, an apartment, c4, watkins, exits her body she's only 18 years old, but she spent most of her life wishing for this to happen, that was the rabbit hutch. i want to especially thank tonight, the readers, here and at home, the people who poured through all 735 pages of an epic novel set in india with me, hello, abraham and the covenant of water. or wept over a memoir or (minds to the idea of a nonfiction book about our culture and world and not to mention the

young people who found their voices in books written for them or by them, hello, amanda gorman. >> i'm 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've 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, 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's been 24 years since my last time on the stage in front

of this podium, and since then, as levar stated, between 2021 and 2022, the american library association saw 70% increase in requests to ban books from public schools and libraries and it's looking like this year is going to be even worse, early date east data shows us the number has already risen by 20%. so over 70 5% of those books banned were specifically written for younger readers. 41% had lgbtq themes or characters and 40% had a main or secondary character of color. so who exactly is trying to keep these books off the shelves? this september 62% of -- banning books is a waste of time. meanwhile, there's been dozens and dozens of bomb threats against libraries. tracy hall the former director of the american library association, hello, tracy. says that at least 10 of last year's threats were verified in almost every case have been linked to someone 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 ban books. in that day, she showed up at that meeting as just a concerned citizen. she didn't say where she worked, just spoke about the importance having diverse books. immediately, she had her work address leak. people begin 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. and two years later, she still nervous to go out in her community. she has her groceries delivered but she's not stop fighting against book bands or stopped

advocating for access to diverse stories. the numbers back her up. this year the nonprofit first book, found that six months after diverse books were added to classroom libraries, classroom reading time increased by four hours. per week. i was 15, i was 15 years old when i read my first diverse book. maya angelou, i know why the caged bird sings. and though 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 raped at 9 years old. . before i didn't know there was a language about what happened to me, that is the power of

books. and yet, and yet, i know why the caged bird sings is among the top 100 most banned books in the past three decades, the third most banned book from 1990 to 99 and then 2009 and then the ada from 2010 to 2019 because there's so many other books ahead of it, it's currently bad in libraries in pennsylvania and despite that, tonight at night table, i have the honor of sitting beside two- time national book award winner and author margaret most recent book, let us to send, jasmine ward. in 2022, jasmine's first novel, salvage the bones was

challenged in 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 wood. make no mistake. to ban books is to stuff out the flame of truth for what it means to be alive. what it means to be aware, what it means to be engaged in the world. to ban books, is to cut us off from one another. to shroud us in a solitary darkness. a soulless echo chamber, to 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, too to see themselves in the characters they meet, 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 for them. that's how reading spills into our everyday lives, how it opens us to the world, the whole world, not just our cozy corner of it. so, let as about to keep our books right where they belong, it in reach of everyone to choose for themselves, because that, dear friends, is called, freedom. and as you know, i'm a great believer in toni morrison who

said, that the function of freedom is to free somebody else. so god bless you all here tonight. for continuing to liberate us, one page at a time, thank you so much [ applause ] >> oprah winfrey, y'all! oprah winfrey ! i'm now going to say one or two of the 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 venue.

-- than you.. 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, [ applause ] opera, 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.

now i'm going to compose myself and we are going to continue with this evening celebration with recognizing the foundations two incredible lifetime achievement nominees. first is the 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 serengeti, dr. maya angelou, and most recently, tracy d hall, the former executor of the

american library association. and tonight's recipient is a lifelong bookseller who has paved a path forward for readers locally, and globally, and here to present the award to paul yamazaki is 2011 literary recipient himself, richard kaplan, native of miami beach, florida, mitchell is the owner of the story books, the venerated establishment in miami and a cofounder of the miami book fair. y'all, it gives me great pleasure to welcome to the stage, mr. mitchell kaplan. >> well, wow. i wanted to thank oprah and levar for those opening

comments i'm also here to thank somebody who's a friend. a friend to all of us in this room and is doing all of the kind of work that we heard levar and oprah talk about, and i will start with a story because we are among storytellers, right, so i was 18 years old, once, believe it or not. it was 1974. i was in 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 kerouac, the dharma books. i had never seen mountains or snow. but somehow, i figured as only an 18-year-old could figure, that my destiny was to hang out on a mountaintop, watch for fires and write poetry. this was colorado instead of oregon, and unlike jeffrey

writer, i was no poet and wouldn't recognize a fire in the wilderness, unless the wilderness included lots of palm trees. it didn't matter to me. i was heading west, i was on the road. and as you probably see where this story is going, had my first break thanksgiving weekend, i headed further west, i drove across the rockies, straight for san francisco. straight for city lights bookstore. once there, i was in awe. so many books, every section unlike any i had seen before. browsers were everywhere, broadsides on the walls, and all those city lights titles, 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 my heaven. 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 he regaled me with a history of the store and suggested i might like that new city lights anthology that had just been published the one with the great illustration on the cover, the one i still have. although there's no way for me to be sure and this is a story, i want to believe the bookseller on that day, and 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 was paul. and let me just say, thank you, paul, and tonight, we all think paul, we gather to honor the remarkable work that 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, its legendary and it's 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 these voices and presses, would find their readers, when given a chance. he continued to be a catalyst for change, a transformational change, that we witness today, and each and every laydown tuesday. i recently saw this post, i think it was by and shall berg and she writes, this is what is great about bookselling, it's an embrace of the plural, whether within the store or broadly across the land.

and paul's embrace of other booksellers is profound. his warmth his smile, the joy he wears so well. he's a friend and mentor to young and old, and i've gathered a few of those voices for you, just a few, if i went further, there would be hundreds, melissa powers rights, one of the qualities that i love and admire most is his curiosity, and the way it guides him with such kindness and humility. he's curious about the craft of bookselling. it's myriad approaches, he's interested in his colleague's perspective, regardless of their experience and seeks out understanding for relationships, building bridges between writers, publishers and booksellers, creating more space

for everyone, underneath it all is the love for books, his keen understanding of the numbers in his high standards of excellence, all of which, he so generously shares, elevating us all. this is from jeff deutsch of seminary co-op who's a marvelous bookseller but to me he's more important is the publisher of a book that paul is about to publish, it's by paul, and it's called, reading the room, and i read an early copy of it and i recommend it to this entire room. it's really remarkable. jeff says, paul yamazaki has raised up generations of booksellers, he teaches by example including the lesson that discernment and commitment need not compromise kindness and generosity. in paul's peaceable kingdom, engagement, listening, curiosity are the marks of greatness and enthusiasm, the

work. we are lucky to live in the time of paul yamazaki. well said, jeff. yes, we are. , the host of the podcast, poured over, she writes, paul was the beacon i didn't know i needed, 30+ years ago, a cool cat. a dude who read everything, and asian american bookseller, he held the door open for me and i do the same because he taught me how. i stay, because paul stayed. yes. and if you've ever come to any literary events like these are the american bookseller association convention, you know there's paul and rick, right, so this is from rick simonson of elliott bay.

another hand for rick, too. of paul, so much to say, but this, it's a biting interest in attention to those who have come before our time, to those who are coming and will come after, into the world, this all happens in, bespeaks 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, that's

rick. from richard hall, the founder of square books said paul yamazaki, one of the nicest people i have known , is the wise and gifted bookseller who, for half a century, has given his head and heart in joy to one of america's iconic bookstores, in his community, what a pleasure and great good fortune it is, to have known him as a model, mentor and drinking buddy. i mean, yeah, drinking buddy, thanks richard, i almost forgot that. because you know, paul, with a martini in hand, is an and -- indication that all is right in the world. and since i have the distinct pleasure of bestowing on 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. [ applause ] i'm really, reallyd humbled to be here.ally, reallyd there so many people in this room who've meant so much to me, who've made me look a i am really stunned and

humbled to be here. there so many people in this room who mean so much to me. you make me look a lot smarter than i actually am. to be a recipient of the literary award is such a tremendous honor. it's not something you seek out, or aspire to, but it is, passion and curiosity for the book and what the authors do for us. right now, as we which -- live in such turbulent times, it's great to move forward, how we can determine a course in our lives, but it is, the whole

world is shaped. there is so much i do not get without reading the books or having the conversations. as i stand here is the current recipient of the literary award, i have been preceded by three amazing booksellers, publishers, who have directly affected me but first, i would like to thank david steinberger , with the national book foundation, and the staff who

assembled us here not just for this evening but constantly around the years. writers and readers, bringing them closer together, moving toward building that, the staff and board of the national book foundation that actually put those in place, for all of that. we are kind of here not to share , but to celebrate the writers. it gives us a guidepost, with compassion and humanity, not preconceived notions, the

various fonts that we can use to make our own determinations. i've been privileged to have amazing comments, so what happens, here, these are all people who greatly affected my career and i will spend a little bit of time explaining exactly how they did that. mitchell and warren were able to create a foundation that would shape how we move forward and shape sustainability so we know how it is on a day-to-day basis that we create

sustainability for readers and for booksellers. it is mitchell and warren who really created a template for us and it is through that conversation that we can move forward like this. i would not be standing here today without them and the 2005 recipient of the literary award with the national book foundation. he had the wisdom to hire me while i was serving two concurrent sentences in a san francisco county jail. it is what mitchell has done in miami, to show that if you open

the doors, there is so much that is possible, so much we can do. authors today who have been nominated in this shortlist, who are able to have the privilege offer so many different bridges and pathways to think about how we resolve our various issues. so, as we move forward, we have to kind of, each one of us, question how we do our books, there's always finite space. there's always the space of what we do that we can take for

each of our individual communities and partners to bring those readers forward. i think that one of the things that is so key, with what mitchell has done in miami, if you don't shut the doors, people will come in. that's one of the major things, for me. trust the writer, trust the reader and you really don't have to think about much else when you have that trust and you have that conversation. people will walk with you. that trust is always there. we can continue to build and i think that what is so important

is that the turmoil that we are facing right now we can see with all the nominees that each one of them is there for us to think about, to follow, to cogitate upon and move forward. i would like to thank, you know. all my planned remarks of gone out the window. what mr. burton, what ms. winfrey have all done is kind of so beautifully encapsulated this , so i would like to thank them so much for bestowing this upon me and having these conversations to move forward. we know that there's a lot of work that we have to do about

how the conflicts in the world are going but this will help us set that guidepost moving forward. thank you , thank you for my colleagues who have made this all possible, and most of all, my wife, sarah chin who has guided me through this whole process. thank you very much. . so we'll continue tonight. celebrations, the 2023 medal for distinguished to american letters each year the medal is given to a >> we will continue our celebration with the metal for

distinguished contributions. each year, it is given to a writer who has enriched our shared literary and cultural heritage which includes toni morrison and most recently graphic novelist art spiegel and. tonight's honoree has written in just about every genre, with thousands of emerging poet and the first black poet laureate of united states. here to present the metal is mr. jericho brown.

jericho is the offer -- author of "please" which won an award, is a national book award finalist and one for poetry in 2005. give it up for jericho brown. all right. >> thank you so much for that introduction . i hope my sister saw that levar burton said my name. thank you 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. i know for a fact that in this room, no one has ever tried to

ban a book by jericho brown. i don't know that in every room but i know that. i feel at home , here. i have come all the way from georgia, so you can hear and see me thank god by thanking a particular poet, the light that shines bright, brighter than my tuxedo. my challenge today is to tell you each one of the many ways my life is been changed by this pulitzer praise -- prizewinner, a lady we refer to around my house is our best example, a lady i refer to in my mind as a sister. tonight's metal for distinguished contributions to american literature recipient. i

know you're a writer, so you need time. do some rita dove won the pulitzer prize when i was in elementary school and she was poet laureate of united states by the time that i was in high school. you might need some time to do some math on that. i imagine i don't have to tell you what seeing her face meant to me and my sense of possibility. possibility is a strong word for us, the people who populate this room, just to make sure no, i'm not crazy or at least i'm not the only crazy one. possibility is what allows us to believe that something can be made. some of us are here in

spite of and sometimes because of the fact that no one else thought the life we chose, the artist life, was sustainable and here we are proving the naysayers wrong. i am here today as a descendent of the people who against all odds believed my persistence possible. people who work so hard with their hands for so many hours, without writing could only lead to further exhaustion and these people came to me before i was born and thought someone like me could be reading, writing, black poet. they may not have been educated. i ended up with so much education that are now a college professor with a phd and i would like to teach you a

poem i love by rita dove. canary. from michael s harper. billie holiday had as many shadows as light. a candelabra against the piano her signature. now you are cooking. magic spoon, magic needle with your mirror and your bracelet of sorrow, the invention of women under siege to love in the service of myth. be a mystery. i love that poem. talk about lines that remind us

of possibilities in the constellation of ancestry. we have to understand the dedication of michael harper. by the time you get through the first line, you are already steeped in blackness. it reminded me that my aunt rusty, my family is an extended family, that like my hard- working forbearers, rita dove had been riding with someone like me in mind long before ever meeting me. she knows that michael harper dreamed of her existence she knew that if only there were a michael harper, maybe we could also end up with the rita dove someday. this lets me know that it is okay for me to expect that everyone ought to prepare for and no the tradition of which i was born just as i am prepared

for and though the tradition for which past recipients of this honor, arthur miller, and john ashbury, were born. poetry is something we can use and it lets us know that some of the feelings that we once had, invisibility, had a lot to do with what we thought needed to be looking at us in one final wind, 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 and the national medal of art and the author of several beloved volumes of poetry, i give you our best example, my sister, rita dove. and.

oh, eric. wow. thank you, man. i'm going to try to step up onto that crystal stair. you just laid out. you >> oh jericho. thank you.

i want to step up on that crystal stair you just laid out. you know, from the national book foundation and the board of directors, my deepest gratitude. i can't even explain what an honor this is but i do have a confession. from the moment ruth dickey told me that i would be receiving this award, i began to fret about my acceptance speech and not because this particular audience because you know the labor behind every trial and failure, you are in essence, my peeps. no, i fretted because i have always shied away from mulling over things like voice or intention or impact my work

might have on others especially when i am in the moment of writing and the process of writing which is where i am most grounded. in all i have been, and all that has come before me and all that i might. so, how then, could i propose up to five minutes worse of clear, insightful sentences when a poet can stand five hours debating the effect of a,? i think that the translators in our midst may understand that what a poet manages to ink on the page or put into a computer's memory is just a silhouette, a shadow of that

enigma we call life. to use words like stepping stone , preparing herself and her readers across that unarticulated turbulence, granted, it's pretty frightening stuff. that might be why many people are wary of poetry and in today's endangered intellectual climate, is why banned books and americans schools and libraries needs commercial success to the ears of those reactionary book burners being

asked to explain what exactly it is that strikes them as dangerous has led us to our corner of the sky, hoping that no one can hear us above their shouts, but we keep strumming our hearts, grateful for the publishers, editors, printers, distributors, marketers, booksellers and readers to help keep those strings tuned. tonight i would like to give proper thanks to some of those who helped me along the way. university press, i can't believe that. who believed in a fledgling poet when ww norton came calling and then to smith, my editor.

yeah. until her death in 2009, who seems to know just when i need a hug, of course. for nearly half a century. i would like to give a huge thank you to levar burton for hosting these festivities and for the hours of babysitting with "reading rainbow."

when our daughter was growing up, you stepped in to our living room to guide her on her book driven adventure. she still remembers the volcano episode. to glimpse a portion of that luminous rainbow arch meant the world. i hope that this nation can find that joy again, for the fear that has injected our states, that has closed minds and stifled imagination is precisely what literature, what all art seeks, so i thank you you all for being here. thank you. dove.

>> rita dove! rita dove! >> i did not expect to come here and cry, but there you go. thank you , rita dove. she said something really interesting, it is in fact, love. artistic expression is love in action. so, all of you in this room who have any connection to our, the

written word. god bless. ladies and gentlemen, the board of the national book foundation. david steinberger. >> thank you . on behalf of the board of the directors and the national book foundation, we want to welcome you. as many of you know, that's up

to independent judges but we do get to vote on the lifetime achievement awards. a great poet and a great bookseller. i am filled with gratitude not only for this year's lifetime, for all poets and booksellers and librarians, and most especially for all readers. thank you, all of you. for caring about our mission with the national book foundation. those of you who have been here before, when i can recite this,

right? we've got a great mission. to expand audience, that is why we are here, today. now, i don't have to tell you that it's a challenging time in the world right now and it's very divided. there's a lot of sadness and anger and fear in my heart goes out to everyone who is in pain. there is a lot of pain. my wish for everyone with us tonight, those joining us from their homes is that books and our

love of books can help us all find understanding and compassion and gratitude in connection with one another, that are common love of books helps to bring us all together, all of us and that is my sincere wish and i feel good about that wish, with the way things are going. my gratitude extends especially to our sponsors. depending random house, simon & schuster, 20th-century studios, amazon, apple, books a million, google, harpercollins, ingram mcmillan with additional thanks

to the wallet foundations, deborah wiley, demarcus stole a, and all those who donated, thank you. thank you, all. we now have a brief video. thank you for being here and thank you for sharing the power of books. ♪ ♪ teacher gave courage to terabithia >> i fell in love with reading when i started the and of green gables series. >> in fourth grade, my favorite teacher gave us "bridge to

terabithia." it was not like anything i had ever read before. it had words that seemed naughty. >> we have a tradition about the age of 13 where we were given wb -- wtvd boy -- web du bois and we rita as a family. >> the momentum, to read a book and then come out a completely different person. >> it's a different way to engage, with poetry, with nonfiction and it's the best way to have levity in this world. >> when i think about books i loved, i think about how the reader emerges from those books better able to love herself and other people.

>> it does so much all over america and you see the diversity, almost like coming into the fold of the community. >> it's creating opportunities for people to have extraordinary experiences of books and writing and we partner with nonprofits and libraries to bring together writers all around the country. we need books, especially in this moment and we need opportunities for people to connect and find the book that resonate for them. >> when young people have access to books, their world gets bigger and they are able to have a bigger imagination and to know more outside of their own communities and they become better writers, they are able to be more confident in

who they are, especially when books reflect their stories and identities and celebrate that. >> for them to choose the stories that they want to read, you can't even measure the impact of how that would develop them in their reading journey. >> they can go anywhere and they can experience something unlike anything they might have ever experienced. you are giving someone an exploration into a different world and different beliefs. >> changing the boundaries of how they engage, making it accessible to young people. >> the national book awards are incredible because it's an opportunity for the work they do behind closed doors, to try to tell a story. select the national book award,

the public, on this national scale. >> we are in a moment, culturally. it's necessary. it's just as important as the national book foundation hopes to guarantee. there will be writers for those books. ruth dickey executive director of the national book foundation.

>> please welcome to the stage, ruth dickey, executive director of the national book foundation. >> hello! good evening, everyone! i am so grateful to have a moment with the celebration of books and writers to talk about the work that we do year-round. there was slight of education and public programs, we reached readers. from miami, florida, tim arizona and the mississippi delta. a community college, and

with elk river in livingston, montana. attendees thanked us and some of them mentioned they've driven six hours to be with us. those words have stuck with me ever since, a reminder that in every corner of the country, there is a hunger for reading and a hunger for meeting writers and for conversation and a hunger for connect thing with books that capture the diversity and complexity of the human experience. we want books to be a vibrant and accessible part of every community and to do that we need your help. we hope that you will help us reach our goal. for those in the room with us, there are two more barcodes at your menu and on your table and

if you prefer to donate cash or check, we will have volunteers stationed to collect donations. please follow the link in the chat. this will help us to bring more authors to more communities and get books into the hands of more young people and to ensure that this is a thriving part of our culture. as you all get out your phones, i would like to thank a few more people. thank you to the board of directors for your tremendous leadership and your unwavering commitment. thank you to our book counsel , and the after party committee for lending us your time, your expertise, and your chair. thank you to our collaborators for producing tonight's

broadcast, thank you to our incredible design team and for the additional design support and an immense thanks to tonight's host, levar burton, for being a lifelong hero of books and an ally in our work and thank you to our special guest, oprah winfrey, for being an incomparable champion of books and writing. last, but certainly not least, a tremendous thank you to the volunteers with the national book foundation. natalie greene, erica, giuliana lee marino, jordan smith, john

sinclair, and thank you to our award and honors. for so many details, that makes tonight possible. speaking of tonight, it's almost time to learn which books will be the winners. your support helps to share the energy and excitement that we are all feeling in this room right now. thank you for being with us, tonight. thank you for being part of the best team that there is. thank you. readers everywhere.

as said, we >> okay. i would like to remind everyone how critical it is to reach readers, everywhere with just 57,000 dollars to meet our goal, please join us in supporting readers and books all year long. one of the most exciting and special parts of the national book award is that no one knows who the winners are in advance, not the directors, not the staff, not even me. i asked. earlier today the judges in all categories made these decisions and we are all sharing in the excitement live on the stage tonight. the winners will be announced

by the chairs of these categories in reverse alphabetical order. translated literature, poetry, nonfiction and finally, fiction. we do have a few more surprises up our sleeves this evening. each category and chair will be introduced by the voice of a fellow book lover who is helping us to celebrate. we have an award-winning actress and author to introduce the finalists for the 2023 national book award and panel chair clotted as the client, introducing julie andrews. >> in the hands of a young person, books are nothing short

of transformative. this year's finalist for the 2023 national book award for young people includes novels, a graphic memoir, and a picture book. readers follow those from rural vermont to disney world. these stories remind us that words matter, tremendously and that histories should be re-examined in united states and abroad to help young readers better understand the world and the places within it. the panel chair for this year's national book award for young people's literature is claudette mclean, executive director terry of the study of multicultural children literature.

>> good evening! being a member of the 2003 national book award has been a once-in-a-lifetime honor. we, the fantastic five, with personal, professional, and geographic journeys to be here this evening in new york city. you are seeing a dream team from different backgrounds and cultures. our discussions were open, thoughtful, comprehensive, and deep. we were respectful and appreciative of each other. i'm

deeply grateful to my fellow judges, justin reynolds. it was a privilege to select these fabulous finalists. the finalists for the national book award are kenneth. harris. little brown books for young readers hat and when grandom house. harrison. "big." little brown books for young

readers. catherine marsh, the lost year. mcmillan publishing. and then zantac, "first time for everything." and this year's national book award for young people goes to dance zantac. from.

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 robin then way who won >> you know, you tell yourself you aren't going to write this and i think maybe my friend, robin fenway who won the award

in 2018, she took me out to a celebratory lunch. she said you have a 20% chance, so you should write something because there are a lot of smart people in that room. my gosh. thank you. i would like to congratulate our finalists have had the honor of sharing these amazing experiences along with authors who are also named and i would like to thank everyone at the committee and this years judges for having such a diverse range of books from young adults to middle range which demonstrate that a wide variety of stories could be worth such high praise. i would like to think my editor , who is been my department

literary face for almost 10 years while many authors read that work, connie has been my soul confident who helps me mold this into works that i can probably share. one caldecott medal and a national book award is not bad. i like to think my agent for her ability to skillfully manage my career for almost 15 years. she's been a steadfast supporter of my ideas and ambitions and helped me to navigate for this wonderful career that i have today. more importantly, i value your friendship and i would like to think my lovely wife, leah.

who indoors the sometimes chaotic months and years for a writer who has become so passionate in his ambition that he would consume his own soul. it's not easy being the soulmate of a man. you are often on solar duty as a parent for days and weeks while you skillfully navigate your own ambitions in the challenging field of biology. you allow me the freedom to chase my ambitions, dreams, and what is life worth living if you don't occasionally pause? i would like to thank everyone at mcmillan publishing for the meticulous eye of the art director, and many others who helped to get a first time for everything out into the world.

i would like to think my mother who is watching from heaven, who saw her young insecure child struggle to grab in the tumultuous years of adolescence and gently pushed him out the door to show him that the world is marvelous and within that vast world is kindness and love. thank you. congratulations, da. and to dan's mom watching on the livestream. we are all big fans of your >> congratulations. to dan's mom , we are all big fans of your work.

next we have actor and author and the panel chair, please listen for the voice of matthew mcconaughey. >> reading literature in translation reveals the connecting power of storytelling on an international scale. the finalists for the national book award of translating literature is a fascinating reality in these pages, considering capitalism, colonialism, and homophobia. characters old and young with the possibility of freedom and expanding the limits of our imaginations. these works were translated into english from french, korean, portuguese, and spanish. the panel chair for the

national book award is a novelist, playwright, and translator of over 20 bucks from chinese. mcconaughey. at a time. great turbulence and >> right. thank you to the voice of matthew mcconaughey. at a time of great turbulence and mistrust, with the ability to help us navigate an increasingly fractured world, since its inception five years ago, the category has recognized books that delve into some of the most pressing issues of the day, such as palestinian

liberation and climate change while also being scintillating tax -- texts in their own right. these are an essential part of the whole conversation, brought to readers through dedication and brilliance that transcends status. this year's finalist are no exception, from a tender coming of age and coming out, to a reckoning with colonial legacy, from an elliptical portrait of a troubled child in columbia to a real collection of short stories and a fractured narrative of actualization. it was near impossible to choose between these treasures and i have to think my fellows for

the months of reading and intends discussion as for the thoughtfulness with which they may get -- navigated this most difficult of decisions. we are all grateful to the national book foundation for guiding us through this process . the five finalists for translated literature are "cursed bunny," translated from korean, macmillan publishers. "the words that remain" translated from portuguese.

world addition. and, "on a woman's madness," translated from dutch. this year's national book award for translated literature goes to bruno lovato for "the words that remain." what happening ri.

thanks to the national book foundation and the >> what is happening right now?

thank you to the national book foundation . okay. i dedicate this award to my mom. she is not among us anymore but she always believed in me and i would not be here if it were not for her. she was the best mom. i loved her so much. i would like to think my brother , all my family and friends, members of the resilient

publishing house, julia, and everyone. a special thanks to bruna for capturing the heart of the book and writing it down in your own beautiful words. the publisher of new vessel press for your dedication and hard work and for giving my novel such a wonderful home. growing up in northeast brazil, it was impossible for me to dream of such an honor, of being here tonight, receiving this award for her novel about

the journey to self-acceptance. if you've ever felt wrong about yourself, i hope that your heart is true. you are just as deserving as anybody else of life and accomplishing impossible dreams. thank you and have a great night. hi. thank you all so much to my fellow finalists for their >> oh my god. hello. thank you, all , so much. to my fellow finalists for your brilliant work, to the judges, for reading hundreds of books, for trusting me with beautiful

writing, michael weiss and jennifer hsu for putting my name on the cover of that book where it belongs. thank you. name the translator. we are not mysterious fairies. it is so rare that i get to see the brazil i know in books and it's even more rare for a book like this to receive this kind of wonder and i am so grateful. thank you for reading translations and recognizing the work of translators and recognizing our art. here is to reading the world of curiosity. thank you. congratulation dani.

next have the author of >> congratulationsfa. next, we have the author of "salt, fat, asset, heat." he is a chef. please. explore communication ah the ancestral healing medicine of and the building of community and collective. these works traverse language and borders connect and define. family and confront the

pervasiveness of american racism. to show not just where are from, but where we are going. the panel chair for year's national book award for poetry is heidi erdrich, the author of seven poetry collections, including big bully, a national poetry winner. i'm gratified to thank my colleagues on the poetry panel for their hard work and the camaraderie and pleasure of their company in a quite difficult task. we think the national book for this honor, the 2023 poetry

panel members, are rick perl, jonathan farmer reyna. leon somers. the pono poetry panel acknowledges the extraordinary of celebrating poetry in a face 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 all survive events while we reward our accomplishments in our art form tonight, humans suffering in gaza is at the forefront of our thoughts its celebration. celebration and grief seem opposed. but in my life and in my recent

interactions with those in the u.s. personally suffering war poetry is what we reach for in our grief. as mom darwish wrote a poem in a difficult time is a beautiful flowers in cemetery. these past six months of panic conversation, 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 minds. several of these made it into our long list and then short list, but hundreds more did not. we, every poet whose books up for consideration and we thank you for your words words. the finalists for the national book award for poetry are john

lee clarke how to communicate. w.w. norton company company. craig's santos perez from anacortes operated territory a my omni don publishing brandon som tribute us george review university of georgia press press even shocklee suddenly we wesleyan university press. and monica you and from from gray wolf press press this national book award for poetry goes to from unincorporated territory. ari ament craig santos, perez.

offer day greetings sonoma rc to the national book foundation sonoma. rc thank you to and all the judges in sonoma city to, all the poetry finalists, all of whom i consider friends and whose work admire. i to thank my partner olivia for having written for about a year and she's been so supportive of means 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, my. i'm 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's still the love of reading and writing from a very

young age so thank you mom i love so much. as i mentioned, i come from guam, which is a u.s. territory, one of the last remaining colonies in world. and when i was growing up in in kind of a colonial school system, we were never taught my own people's literature. we 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 add my remarks. to read poem. the last point from this book. and but before i do that, also want to thank my publishers, omni dong to laura for helping me typeset and design this book to receive. i'm not sure if you folks are watching back home, but russell has 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 ken keegan, another of omni don, who is no with us. so with those themes, i want to share this poem. it's called the pacific written tradition. i home to guam for the first time after 15 years away and an english class at one of guam's public high schools. as i read aloud from my new book, i noticed 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 have dived into the depths? a book only to find coral and emptiness? we were taught. the missionaries were the first readers in the pacific because they could decipher the strange signs of the bible we were taught the missionaries were the first authors because they

possess the authority of written words today studies show that islander students read write below grade level. it's natural experts claim. your ancestors were illiterate oral people don't believe their claims or ancestors decipher signs in nature interpreted formations and sun positions and wind patterns. we've and ocean efflorescence that's why master navigator papa mao once said quote if you can read the ocean, you will never be lost. and quote, now, let me tell you about pacific written traditions, how our ancestors test, how our ancestors tattooed, their skin with defiant scripts, intricately inked genealogies, how they carved epics into hardwood with sharpened their hands and the pressure and responsibility of memory how they stenciled

petrol. fake lyrics on cave with clay fire and smoke. so the next time someone tells you people were illiterate, teach them about our visual literacy, our ability to read the intertextual of all things and always remember if we can write the ocean, we will never be silent. thank you. your regulations, craig craig. next up, we have comedian, writer and former host of the daily to introduce the finalist for the 2023 national book award for nonfiction and panel chair ada ferrer. here is the voice of mr. trevor

no. to understand the presence, we must better understand our past. the finalists for the 2023 national book award for nonfiction recontextualize u.s. history through an indigenous confront the trauma, gendered violence and together 248 notes on black life memoir research live side by as the 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 for this year's national book for nonfiction is author of and american history, winner of the 2022 pulitzer prize in history.

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 do and for 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 expecting questions about the book, but one of them asked me what the most interesting, rewarding you have done this year. and without hesitating replied well, serving as on the jury for the national award in nonfiction, it has been an honor inspiring experience. but it didn't matter that it was so work that getting. from 638 very unique equally 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 all inspiring for two reasons. one was the judges i got to serve with, and the other one is. the other reason is books themselves. so i have the privilege and the pleasure to work closely with four brilliant, thoughtful and, generous colleagues. hanif abood. sorry about iraqi five who could not be here tonight, but is here with us in spirit. james fugate sarah shulman and sonia shah start this. starting in may we read and, read, we zoomed and always returning to the criteria that we established at the outset of what we were looking for these books and we decided we wanted

works that matter in any of the multiple ways that books can. we were looking for 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 a topic and ultimately that work that surprises when you read it. we read so many books, impressed us and moved us. fascinating books that we are so are out in the world. i speak on behalf of the panel when i congratulate 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 one. the finalist for the 2023 national book award for nonfiction are ned blackhawk. the rediscovery of america

native peoples and the unmaking of u.s. history by yale university press. christina rivera. gosh said, liliana as invincible. a sister search for by hogarth penguin random house. christina sharpe ordinary notes notes farrar, straus and giroux macmillan publishers. raja qaddafi. we could have been my father and i. a palestinian memoir by other press and john valiant fire weather a true from a hotter world, not penguin random house. and this year's national book for nonfiction goes to ned

blackhawk the rediscovery of american.

who have made taking 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.

the kind of collaborative support and the really intense kind of solidarity. all of the finalists have displayed 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. i'm thrilled beyond words to accept the national book award. this book which i have a copy someplace was a very long time the making and i really can't even begin identify its precise origins. it's conceivable started at time

when i may not have even known that i would someday become a historian when i to when 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 was also an english teacher. and. i'm indebted to so many who helped in this process. and in the book's conceptualization formulation and its production, most notably my brilliant partner maggie blacklock. maggie, your sustained nurture and support have been so

transformative. your matchless command over federal indian law and inquiry have also been helpful in making the second half of this book, in particular possible. we've survived several moves a global pandemic and a three year or three year old tornado named evan aaron blackhawk. among many challenges, words convey how grateful i remain for all that you do do. the team at yale university press has been wonderful from the moment we envisioned a series on american indians and modernity to development of this most recent volume. christopher rogers, the dean berg, brenda king and john donne each have been supportive and offered the highest of professionalism at every stage. thank you. many close friends and colleagues have also helped what

is the saying they know who they are. um my dear friends aaron marianne byrd bear. from madison, wisconsin merit particular recognition they have been with us and we have been with them. a small team of former students in essential ways securing permissions for images helping with the maps that i'm very proud of in this book the in of the front and the in front maps and maps both kind of convey the sense and of the book as a whole they show the pre contact or removal locations of the native nations of the united states at the time of european arrival. the map shows contemporary state and federal recognized tribes of native nations across the contiguous united states. you can find them all in two

maps. so a small team of former students helped in that process, offering much needed along the way. in the space of. profound gratitude. i'd like to close, with a bit of an invitation that may not be super evident from the book's formal or its acknowledgments the subject american indian history while often simultaneous the unfamiliar and discomforting is also a shared experience that touches us all. the currents of the past run deep and inform topography of the present. a theme that we've seen throughout the work of so many finalists this year. native america is also a form of our national inheritance.

we can, nor should not continue its systematic erasure. moreover, it is rich and vibrant field that provides uncommon and uncommonly beautiful. by example, it is difficult to convey beleaguered, impoverished and generally marginalized. native nations have often in contemporary. a quote ignorant and dependent race. as the supreme court maintained related, it is similarly difficult to convey how astute, capable and at times successful native and their citizens have been in achieving secured 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 unfamiliar ity and discomfort that may accompany one through their 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 peoples past and present, these must become essential attributes of american historical inquiry guiding. guiding philosophies, open to all. thank you so very much. again.

oh, congratulations. well, here we are. finally, we have the singer and the founder of service 95 to introduce the finalist for, the 2023 national book award for fiction. the panel chair mat johnson is the voice of dua lipa fiction, rigorous curiosity for character, for place, for new and different perspectives. the finalists for the 2023 national book award for fiction illuminate the interior lives of their characters from prisoners fighting to the on reality television to 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 tundra.

scandinavia these stories interrogate love and hate dedication and defiance and the reclamation reinvention of our shared histories. the panel chair for this year's national book award for fiction is mat johnson the philip h knight chair of humanities at the university of oregon and author of invisible things. i am always too tall for -- things. okay really out of a confession to make, i've been published for 23 years now and that time i've made many lifelong friends in the literary community. some of them are here and. i've seen colleagues grow on the page and flourish until the whole world knows how dope they

are. just like we always did. i've mentored many promising students who've, gone on to become prominent for much of my life, the literary world has been my natural ecosystem, and yet i read most of their books i and people i hold dearly. you know, i've read some of them, but not nearly all. and i read a lot, but it's a lot of books and thus it is impossible to be both an active writer and also get to read the books. you would love to be able to. there's just not enough in a given year even in those periods where i am able to read far more than i usually do, i can only managed to peruse a cross-section of all that's 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 to read way

beyond your normal scope. every book you've been here buzz about all year and other no one is talking about and yet they should be together. they form a sort state of the union of american fiction. i am very happy to report that the state of literature is strong. now here's another confession. i don't like award shows. i have an excellent reason for this. like many writers, it's called player hating. i'm not going to lie. oftentimes events are for art forms. then over to a tremendous amount of attention, glamorous faces we see on all year, just peering in one room for the night. but and i say this with absolute bias literature is different. so aside from a minor handful of exceptions, new books do not

benefit from multimillion dollar encampments. rather, publishing relies on of mouth on literary reputation, on free -- paradox only while technical advances made getting publisher and publishing distributed easier. the new sea of literary voices has simultaneously 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 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's important to note that literature is not track and field literature is not a race. there is no conclusive way to

literary greatness. readers and writers have individual influences, desire and taste, and those tastes shift over time. books heralded today are ignored tomorrow and vice versa. the wonderful and i mean truly wonderful books selected as our finalists tonight are great. but they not isolated incidents. they are represented of a thriving art form that has never been more diverse in every sense of that word. on behalf of the brilliant judges. i got to hang out with for the last couple of months. hello, helen. maria. vermont's steph cha. calvin crosby. silas 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 are challenged and you met the challenge. and thank you for the read was as much an honor to practice in judging this award as it is to bestow it. the finalists for the 2023 national book award for fiction nana kwame aj young train gang all-stars. pantheon books, penguin random house, aliya, bilal temple folk. simon schuster. paul harding. this other eden w.w. and company. hi uphill damien the end of drum time henry holt and company macmillan publishers. justin torres black outs farrar, straus and giroux macmillan.

an and this year's national book for fiction goes to blackouts by justin torres justin torres. wow. and wow wow i'm really yeah i'm talk i'm to keep this really short because the writers we've collectively decided to make a

statement and so i think the best thing we've been setting for a long time and i think the best thing is for the writers who want to participate in the statement and kind of make way up and then i will make my personal remarks why while people are are coming up so so yeah so coming. so first i need to my man david russell for putting up with my excessive about this book and about my own abilities. he's a literary critic he's a scholar a champion of literature. he's the smartest person i've spoken with it paid dividends to view it and i know i love you i love you. i want to thank my friends, especially my boys. scott and angela flournoy, who is here tonight with me and for

putting with my excessive lamentations this book i want thank my mother watching from a distance my i love you i want to thank my career family especially jamie and cohen and ariana martinez and valencia my beloved i want to thank my agent and all i want everyone to fsg especially janet johnson who has the yeah we've been working together for 15 years she edited my first book she's promised edit my next book i you've taught me so much about grace integrity both on and off the page and i feel lucky to growing and working with you and now i transition and we're going we're going to offer a statement.

on behalf of the finalists. we oppose the ongoing bombardment of gaza and call for inhumane cease fire to address the urgent humanity needs. the palestinians civilians, particularly children. we oppose antisemitism and anti-palestinian sentiment and islamist equally accepting the human of all parties knowing that further bloodshed does nothing to secure lasting peace in the region. thank you.

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

word for.