thank you so much, james. a grateful audience. thanks to c-span. james mustich will stick around and sign copies of his book. >> thank you. [inaudible conversations] >> you are watching booktv. did you know you can listen on the go? download the c-span radio apps from your device's apps store. on the weekends click on the c-span2 button to hear everything airing on booktv live. [inaudible conversations] >> ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the 69th national

book awards and welcome to our host, nick alterman. [applause] ♪ >> good evening. this is a great honor to welcome all of you to the 69th national book awards. a picture is worth 1000 words, is a cliché with which we are all familiar. so when i was asked to prepare some remarks for this occasion i thought that instead of subjecting you all to several minutes of my usual prattle, i would prepare something exciting and visual. that is why my wife, megan, and i creating a moving slide montage of assorted tantric

grapples for your viewing but when i arrived tonight i was told that we did not have the proper audiovisual apparatus on which to show it. the presumption was young lady had the temerity to say to me that it was an equipment issue, because all i had was a floppy disk. i may not be up-to-date on all the latest gutter lingo but i was quite taken aback. she then went on to suggest that she would need me to give it to her on a hard drive, or in a pinch, i could just stick

in a some drive. i was a happily married man, you can imagine i turned taylor's walked briskly away from this treacherous talk and jotted down some words instead. many other low minded people suggested to me that i pounce on the opportunity to make merry with the aforementioned prurient number 69. for shame. lisa. lucas. i should hope that i, and you, the esteemed intellectuals gathered in this hallowed dining area are here to celebrate, not sins of the flesh, but rather those loftier accomplishments fabricated from reason from our very consciousness. instead of engaging in rivalry,

it is my fondest which that we book for, we literati can employ the labors of our mouths in the service of mutually pleasuring one another this evening without resorting to such base and tawdry insinuations. i am sincerely grateful to be here this evening. books have been an important influence in my life. i remember in fifth grade after reading about mitochondria in a wrinkle in time asking my teacher if that was a real thing. she said that it was, she thought but that it was very specialized information that i would never need to worry about, which i heard as it is not part of the homogenized body of knowledge to which the

in this community have agreed to limit our concern, which meant that if i kept reading the right books i would come to know special things. extra, secret details that the others would not possess. that led me to know certain things that i can know and those special things changed and shaped my life. they still do. this is true for all of us. this is a superpower available to anyone with access to a library, that allows the human race to tread ever forward in our journey towards enlightenment and goodness and orgasms and find what is working. in an age when our first amendment rights and truth

itself are very much in peril, books remain the ultimate repository of creative ideas and irreplaceable knowledge. [applause] >> here here. in our -- in our -- you threw me. i didn't expect applause. and orgasms. hang on. i lost my spot. in our inexorable pursuit of freedom and human rights, books serve us as weapons and also as shields. they are perhaps the greatest creation of humankind, one that is living, ever growing and always learning. what can i say? they make me horny. i a fan.

so tonight, we are here to crown the year's greatest achievements in five categories, ten of our 25 finalists were published by independent presses. [cheers and applause] >> for the first time in over 20 years, we are adding a new category, that of translated literature. [cheers and applause] >> suck on that, muslim man. we have five previous national book award authors as finalists. [applause] >> and we also have five debut titles here tonight.

[applause] >> which i would say means you are off to a pretty good start. so without further ado, we begin the proceedings by honoring the foundation's lifetime achievement honorees. there is more. the first of these lifetime achievement awards is the literary award for outstanding service to the american literary community which is given to a group or person who has proven a remarkable dedication to expanding the audience for books and reading. last year the foundation honored scholastic's dick robinson and other past winners include doctor meyer angelou, dave jaggers, sesame street's joan cooney.

[applause] >> tonight's honoree is unparalleled in his service to the literary community. here to prevent -- present the award is a writer, researcher and entrepreneur, margot lee shetterly, the author of hidden figures, the american dream and the untold story of black women mathematicians who helped win the space race. a 2014 out for peace loan foundation fellow and virginia foundation for the community's grantee, she is the founder of the human computer project, an endeavor that is recovering the names and accomplishments of all the women who worked as computers, mathematicians, scientists and engineers at the naca and nasa from the 1930s

through the 1980s. he gives me great pleasure to welcome margot lee shetterly. [applause] ♪ >> i couldn't be more honored to present the awards to doron weber, the director of the alfred p. sloan foundation. i met doron weber when sloan made the decision to support the research and writing of my book hidden figures was the question i asked myself back then that i know each of you is asking right now tonight, who

the heck is this guy who gave outbox to an unknown first-time author writing about mathematicians? black women mathematicians from the 1940s that no one has ever heard of? allow me to tell you a little bit more about mister weber. doron weber is a rhodes scholar, oxford and brown university as is all a matter -- alma maters. that someone with his educational pedigree would go on to be a long serving executive of one of our most recognized nonprofits is no surprise but doron weber is also a man of the world. how many individuals in his position have worked as a teacher, tutor, taxidriver, busboy, and boxer? doron weber spend time at the

rockefeller institute, the oldest biomedical research institute in the united states. he is a man of arts and letters, published writer, whose books including nonfiction science book about keeping our blood supply safe, the 2012 memoir immortal bird which made the washington post notable work of nonfiction. doron weber is no stranger to the beautiful suffering that is the steadfast companion of everyone who does turn the voice in their head into words on a page. doron weber is a man of facts but also someone who knows fact alone are not enough to kindle the human imagination. facts alone are not enough to create empathy. or to provoke action. but when facts, scientific facts, technological facts, economic facts, historical facts are wedded to story we are given the power to understand the world as it was. to explore the world as it is and to imagine the world as it

might be. doron weber spent his entire career officiating that marriage. tonight we celebrate the man whose enduring commitment to storytelling, the playwrights, the broadcasters and podcast is, the directors and producers and most of all the authors, scores of films, television shows, podcasts and plays that led to the publication of more than 100 books including one by an unknown first-time author who decided to write about black women mathematicians at nasa. when i asked him which of his many achievements made in most proud, he said to me helping the writers. it is all about the writers. doron weber, for your work, we salute you, we congratulate you, and most of all we thank you. ♪

>> thank you so much for those kind words, margot. i'm deeply honored by this award. thank you, david feinberg or and lisa lucas and everyone at the national book foundation. your mission to honor books to celebrate the best writing and expand readership has never been more critical. my work at the alfred p. sloan foundation i wish to salute three distinguished colleagues, the chair of the sloan board, adam faulk, president of the foundation, lisa lynn, senior vice president. [applause] >> when i came to sloan 23 years ago, we did not support the arts. without steadfast commitment to put their money where my mouth was i wouldn't be here and

couldn't have helped so many talented artists including 200 book authors, 600 screenwriters and filmmakers, 400 playwrights and 150 television and radio writers. i'm especially proud of sloan's support for many works by and about women and underrepresented minorities. 30 years ago. even before sloan, i joined the writers room, the largest shared writer space where i wrote my first two books, no one wants the job. a shout out to donna brody, executive director, affordable sanctuary for any writer open 24/seven. since i write books, i went to recognize my agent, kathy robbins who perfected the art of rejection with an encouraging smile. my literary lawyer, michael rudell and my editor jonathan car. i'm lucky to have that. i wish i could reach each other's name but they are all

my children, visit the website. free knowledge, i don't have to remind you especially today, creative freedom for writers of every stripe and all nonpartisan forms of knowledge, civilization and culture are not guaranteed, they are relatively recent human constructs and we must defend or lose them. 400 years ago, we had a scientific revolution is one for which we are still -- the dangerous loss of a common culture resulting from the split between expert scientists and the rest of us humanists, 1959 is a the two cultures and the scientific revolution. much of my sloan work and understanding of science and technology, support books along with radio, tv, film, theater and new media, translating science for the lay public, focuses on bridging these two cultures and finding a common language, so they can better understand and relate to one another.

the triumph of modern science and technology is a human achievement that improved the lives of billions of people on earth and increase the storehouse of knowledge and capabilities as an species to reshape our planet. it allowed us to venture beyond our planet and send humans to the moon, a robot to mars and a probe into interstellar space and even beyond space it enabled us to. the vastness of time or space time and detect the birth pangs of the universe, 3.8 billion years ago. science is the most powerful source of systematic knowledge ever developed on earth. we cannot make progress without science nor can we begin to understand modern life or the modern world or any world or even ourselves without a rudimentary grasp of science. science alone is not enough. first we need wise policies to ensure this power does more

good than harm, second that it benefits equitably. third that it improves the human condition and human conditions. further, despite all its impressive advances science still cannot help the average person lose weight, avoid a cold, prevent wrinkles, get smarter, cure most cancers, predict an aneurysm or stroke, prevent all timers are parkinson's, banish addiction and mental health problems or live past 100. science cannot claim consciousness or how memory works. it cannot expand artistic creativity or spirituality. he cannot inform you where in the universe extraterrestrial life exists. why the universe exists in the first place. science cannot tell you how to bring up happy well-adjusted children and become a better person yourself or what it means to lead a good life. it is usually important and indispensable, but not sufficient for development and fulfillment as individuals or as a society. innermost feelings and thoughts, dreams, memories, passions and aspirations

require more than science and purely scientific understanding of the world. history, philosophy, literature, art, music, languages, ethics and religion all play their part in explaining who we are, how we got here and where we are going. we continue to invite scientists and humanists to engage one another and why we support authors and other artists hoping to tackle science, technology subject. bottom, science and the arts are two sides of the same human impulse to understand and meaningfully describe the world around us and inside us. please keep sending us your book proposals was i will read each one and support as many qualified writers as my generous colleagues at sloan permit. my secret is i fulfilled the dreams of hundreds of writers because i share those dreams. my thanks again to national book foundation for helping me fulfill my dream but full disclosure, i am working on a

new novel so i dream of returning here in a few years to one of these other awards. meanwhile, i will keep dreaming and working to help more of you fulfill your dreams while we strive to repair the world, thank you. [applause] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

>> we just got word, congratulations to doron weber. netflix just picked up his speech for a ten part series. [laughter and applause] >> the accolades continue. the second time the second lifetime achievement award we have tonight is the medal for distinguished contribution to american letters. previous winners of this award include john updike, toni morrison, stephen king, joan didion, maxine hong kingston, and tom wolfe. no big deal. this honor is given to a writer who has, over the course of their career, greatly enriched our literary heritage through their body of work.

tonight's honoree, and her books, have had an exceptional impact. you to present the metal is luis alberto rhea, finalist for the pulitzer prize for his landmark work of nonfiction, the devil's highway. he has also been the best-selling author of the novels house of the broken spirits, the hummingbird's daughter, into the beautiful north, and queen of america as well as the story collection the water museum, a pen falconer award finalist. he won the lannan literary award and edgar award, a 2017 american academy of arts and letters award in literature, among many other honors. born in tijuana to a mexican father and american mother, he lives outside of chicago and teaches at the university of illinois chicago.

it gives me great pleasure to welcome lewis alberto rea. [applause] ♪ [speaking spanish] >> i hear to honor my hero, isabel the end as --hiendez. her ability to speak to millions of readers of many cultures around the world in utter clarity is not simply a stylistic trick. it is not a strategy. it is an act of political heroism. in this product times, she

speaks of human hope, survival, connection, wonder, tragedy, and joy against all odds. if dictators like chile's could not silence these kind of voices, could not stop the words, then what isabel does is a calling to us to be bold or. isabel reminds us to believe in words, words, words of love, words of witness. you can't build a wall to keep them out. [applause] >> you can't lock them up. she has taught us that words

have wings. they fly over barriers and they sing all over the globe. the house of broken angels, that is my book. [laughter] >> when the house of the spirit -- [laughter] >> i just wanted to get it on the record. appeared in 1982. the women of the family gathered to argue about the characters and events in that novel. it wasn't about chile, it was about tijuana. the book, migration, was vast. it went on around the world to

convince readers and friends that it was about them, to convince readers in japan that it was about them, to sing to hearts in omaha, nebraska. she is best-selling author writing in spanish in the world today. she has been translated into 35 languages, she sold nearly 70 million copies of her works. [applause] >> you can find a list of her accolades in the program this evening. but i believe there are things that matter more to isabel than just awards. about tonight, you should know that she is the first spanish-language author to ever receive this honor. [applause]

>> and only the second not born in the united states. [applause] >> honors american letters, yes. isabel is quite aware that america extends to the arctic circle. [applause] >> she has shown is not just the universal story but has shown writers fresh ways to approach story, shown readers new ways to read stories. she has offered all of us a fresh paradigm of hope and conviction. isabel, you set a high bar for us.

for those who wondered if anyone would read their work, for those of us who might have grown up dreaming in spanish, for my sisters, you showed the way, you made it possible, i could not stand here now. ♪ ♪

>> thank you. [applause] >> thank you. thank you so much. >> thank you. do we have a telephone book so that i can stand on something? thank you, thank you so much, thank you for the unexpected honor that i speak humbly on behalf of millions of people like myself who have come to this country in search of a new life. i have always been a foreigner. i was born in peru and raised

in chile in my grandfather's somber house. i followed my step father in his travels as a diplomat. i was a political refugee for 13 years in venezuela after the military coup of 1973 that ended a long tradition of democracy in chile and i have been an immigrants in the united states are more than 30 years. being chronically uprooted has some advantages. most of my writing comes from lost alger, loss and separation. from an incurable desire to belong in a place. i looked chilean and i dream, cook, make love and write in spanish. [laughter] >> make love with ridiculous panting in english. [laughter and applause]

>> my lover doesn't speak a word of spanish. i have a lover of 76. you wouldn't believe it. [cheers and applause] >> a brave man. [laughter] >> not a stranger. i don't take anything for granted. i observe and listen carefully. i asked questions and i question everything. for my writing i don't need to invent much. i look around and take notes. i am a collector of experiences. i draw on other peoples lives, especially the strong and passionate women that i meet everywhere. i draw on the sorrow and struggles of every day. on the joy of being alive and not afraid. i not afraid of life either. i refuse to live in fear and

let alone to vote in fear. [cheers and applause] >> this is a dark time, my friends. it is a time of war in many places and potentially war everywhere. a time of nationalism and racism, of cruelty and fanaticism, a time when the values and principles that sustain our civilization are under siege. it is a time of violence and poverty for many. masses of people who are forced to leave everything that is familiar to them and take during this -- dangerous journeys to save their lives free. remember the syrian boy whose body the ocean washed onto a beach in turkey in 2015? his name was alan worthy. he could have been your son or my grandson.

that same day, his father also lost his wife and another child in an inflatable boat that took them across the sea as they escaped the war in syria. this symbolized the plight of millions of desperate people. for an instance, the world was shaken by the image of the dead toddler on the beach. but the world quickly forgot. i write to preserve memory against a bolivian. and to bring people together. i believe in the power of stories and will listen to another personal story if it would tell our own story. we start to heal from division and hatred. because we realize the similarities that bring us together are many more than the differences that separate us.

i also write to understand, what is writing after all but an attempt to sort out the confusion of life? often i don't know why i feel compelled to write a certain story and it is only later that i find out it is connected to some part of my life or my psyche that i needed to understand and sometimes to heal. for those without rules in their place, memory is essential for the sense of continuation. nobody witnesses the length of our lives. we need to remember. and what to do without an acute sense of the past, without an up session with memory. i don't know how much of my memories actual fact and how much i have invented. maybe i remember what never happened. memory is subjective, conditioned by emotion and belief.

our own story is subject. we choose what to highlight and was to ignore or forget. we our journey and in doing so we create our own agenda. i have created for myself a bigger than life legend to compensate for my short stature. in this land everybody descends from someone who came from another place. the only difference between you and me, unless there is a native american person in the audience, is that your grandparents got here first. i am just part of a massive diaspora and although i am critical of many things about this country, i am proud to be an american citizen.

[applause] >> i have received much more than i ever dreamed of and been offered the opportunity to give something back. this national award is an extraordinary gift for me. it means maybe i am not canadian after all. it means maybe it is time to plan my roots and relax. maybe i have found a place where i can belong. maybe i am not going anywhere anymore. [applause] [inaudible

conversations] >> i am disarmed. congratulations, isabel, and thank you for your moving words. good news. we will now break for dinner. for those watching the live stream, you are live streaming this? you sonofabitch. if you are watching this, facebook live, stay tuned for a review of all 25 award finalists with ashley c ford and emma strobel coming up. we will be back to announce the winners of the 2018 national

book awards. enjoy the chicken. [applause] ♪ >> i lisa lucas, executive director of national book foundation. >> i'm dana steinberger, chairman of the board of directors. >> as ever we are so thrilled to see her wonderful book loving faces of the 69th book awards. i know you are super eager to find out who will win the national book awards and that is coming soon, i promise.

i want to talk about the work we do year-round at the national book foundation and why we think it matters. >> it is worth reflecting on why we are gathered here tonight. the national book foundation is driven by its mission, newly revised, which is to celebrate the best literature in america, to expand its audience and to ensure books have a prominent place in american culture. it is a great mission. [applause] >> at the center of this is the national book awards. acknowledgment of great writing, incredible others and readers whose lives are enriched by the books we recognize and celebrate tonight. >> thanks, it is the crescendo of the work we do all year-round but also maddening how far that literature could reach. it is about reimagining literature that matters can come from.

how it connects us across oceans, datelines, politics and culture and access to that literature too, making room at the table which i said before. >> this year we are adding to the tradition. tonight for the first time in many years, we are adding a new national book award category, a step that required the unanimous vote of the foundation's board of directors. the new national book award for translated literature will be given. [applause] >> will be given to author and translator and will connect us with international stories and new voices around the world. >> it has been a big year. it is not all that changed around here. every one of the authors promised they would not run over in their speeches so i will let the studio tell you

what we have been doing more 6 includes and i would be able to. here it is. >> the national book foundation is a place that the volume gets cranked up every year on literature. on books. on writers. it is like oscars, grammys, the national book awards. ♪ >> the national book awards identifies great work. >> it is promoting the value of deeply thinking about the most considered thoughts of other people so we can engage in a better conversation. >> we want to offer the invocation in literature. >> the most important things literature can do right now is help us understand what it means to be human.

>> the national book foundation exists to celebrate the best of literature in america. the expanded audience and to ensure books are commonplace in american culture. it means we have to be all over the place and go where the readers are. >> our public programs are designed to be new to the world and bring authors around the community and to be the national book foundation. >> right is going to school, 535, giving young people access to literature for free, all these ways the national book foundation is saying we all have a right to read and we all have a right to books. we are growing. we are going from doing 12 or 14 programs a year to something like 40 or 50 programs a year.

this year we launched literature for justice. >> our goal was to take five books from the national book foundation we will be promoting, titles that effectively speak to mass incarceration. >> this year we launched author in focus. we are going to get people reading books that have as much value as the day they were honored on that stage. .. ! what about what's working with the kids as they are developing an understanding of what empathy is and how to understand beyond ironic eerie and spirit education doesn't just stop at use. readers bring published authors to communities in new york so

parents get to have their own book club. see you in the act of reading is something that is normal as brushing your teeth. it really changed how you grow how you corrupted what your your relationship for reading and literacy has appeared >> we want young people to experience the book from a multitude of different points not just in the classroom is something they can engage with their friends at home with books on their bookshelves. we went to 37 different public housing communities and was given almost 700,000 books and we've reached families to 19 different states. >> is a great experiment. we try to get everyone we can to help us and make sure of one else believes in books, two.

mac >> so hopefully you can see all that we've accomplished. our idea that literature can be for everyone, can be everywhere is very simple but also an enormous idea and one powered by so many people. to whom we are very, very grateful. writers we are with philanthropic supporters, so many folks who make this work possible. i'd like to thank some of them including the andrew w. mellon foundation, the art for justice and the new york city department of cultural affairs from them the new york city department of youth and community development and the national city yards. [applause] >> the national book award is

not only an award show. it is the single largest annual source of income for the national book foundation. we are enormously grateful for the continued support of our sponsors. ryan said noble, penguin random house, and lyndon meyer book publishing papers amazon literary partnership joining us for the first time as an award sponsored. harpercollins, google, facebook and coral graphics. thank you to our sponsors. [applause] and thank you also to the extraordinary book foundation staff and our amazing executive eric, lisa lucas. thank you, lisa. >> thank you, david. [cheers and applause] urges nine of us at the national book foundation, which seems like a dare.

none of this to be possible without their phenomenal efforts and talents. so i would like to thank you mary andrews, jordan smith, beth harrison, nicole smith, whitney who comment gabrielle rocker and especially for these awards tonight come in the soldering and mark lee. [cheers and applause] they could really use some sleep right now without that none of this would be possible. thank you, team books. we are also indebted to his dinner committee. our extraordinary board of directors who show us over and over again in such a meaningful way the heroic 2018 national book awards judges, are fabulous after party community who will ensure that tamara was rough. to facebook for getting streamed

to her media partner for speed books and to all of you here tonight who are watching from home. >> now we do when our favorite things. there's nothing more meaningful than contributing to a cause you care about and encouraging other people to do the same. tonight, all of us have raised over $900,000 for the national book foundation. that's an amazing accomplishment. thank you. now are going to ask you to make contributions to help us get to the next obvious number, which would be a million dollars. >> not far appeared we rely on your support and encouragement. together we can reach communities in all 50 states. by the end of our fiscal year, which is such a weird way to put it, will have only 17 states left to go. together we can reach 1 million

books distributed to children and families in public housing. we only have 300,000 books left to go. and so, cheekily tucked away in your program, you can let, you'll find an envelope and it says books matter. because they do. inside of this envelope you're invited to place your money to help support the work that we do. they will be somebody at the back of the room to receive these lovingly stuffed envelopes at the end of the night should you care to do so. >> thank you for joining us tonight. thank you for your support. congratulations one more time to all of our finalists and now on to the award ceremony. >> thank you. [applause]

>> i don't know about you, but i'm grateful to be here. this is exciting to be a ball boy for team book. and you know, of us have arguably been -- we've had the good fortune to have been to a lot of these kind of events and i'm always astonished that the meals are so astonishing for the hordes of people. so i'd like to offer a round of applause to her caterers [applause] and all of the well turned out folks serving us our meals. [applause] this moment reminds me of a brief anecdote. a few years ago i was at the writers guild awards in los angeles at which mel brooks was receiving a lifetime achievement

award and as you can imagine it was after a dinner such as this. a speech was made, clips were shown and mel ascended the stage to just a roaring standing ovation that went on. he stood there. he was visibly moved and holding up his hand. and finally, the crowd quieted in a step to the microphone and said while that makes up for the chicken. [laughter] but enough of my terrific stories. let's get to the national book award ceremony. the reason we are here this evening. these awards are particularly exciting because until the moment that the title of the winner believes the judge's

mouth, no one but the five person panel of judges knows these decisions. not the foundation board, not its staff. they did tell me they ran this by me, but that is neither here nor there. the judges just made their final decisions earlier today, so everyone is hearing it here at the same time for the first time. now the winners in each category will be announced by the chair of that respect this category. they are presented in reverse alphabetical order and if the first card is a spade, everyone stays in and it's another dime in the pot. those categories are young people's literature [applause]

translated literature [cheers and applause] poetry [applause] zero yeah. nonfiction and of course fiction. [cheers and applause] to present the national book award for young people's literature is robin benway whose book, far from the tree, one last year's national book award for young people's literature. her six novels for young people have received numerous awards and recognition, including starred reviews from kirkus, booklist and publishers weekly

and they've been published in more than 20 countries. it gives me great, great pleasure to introduce robin benway. [applause] >> hello, hello. so good to be back in my approximate 1000% less nervous than i was at this time last year. i'm so privileged to be at the young people's literature category and on that note i didn't do it alone and i would like to thank my fellow judges for not only reading hundreds of books this year, but for doing so with critical eyes and festive hearts and incredible amounts of humor. it's been an honor to work alongside them this year and i will miss her lengthy conversations are very much. they are lamar giles.

[cheers and applause] great screen and macauley perkins. judge in the category of young people's literature is a very interesting task because we've been asked for a readership that is no longer around. it's not a responsibility that we took lightly mostly because they'll remember as i'm sure many of you in this audience to the singular pleasure of falling into a book as a child, discovering a world that perhaps was nothing like a round, but still resonated with you long after he became an adult. when judging these titles, these titles come away with it for different criteria to determine to make finalists. number one, does the book have language that accurately conveys the overall theme and the emotional arc of its characters? will that resonate with the reader long after they close the book? is this about double standard

test of time while also proving relevant to these readers. three, will readers be able to see themselves in the book while also discovering the way that our differences can unite us. will this increase the young reader's understanding of the world around them and how their thoughts and actions can impact others. finally, the word we kept coming back to was the idea of propulsion. is this a book that will propel and enrich the joyful experience of reading. is this a title that will not only hold the reader's attention, but also serve as a crucial step in the process of creating a curious and lifelong reader. we believe these five finalists might have not only met or surpassed these four criteria. it was an absolute pleasure to read these titles this year and they cannot be more proud to be here with them tonight. they are the poet asks by

elizabeth oscar vado. harpercollins publisher. [applause] the assassination by jan p. andersen -- candle express. the truth is told by mason bottle, by leslie connell. captain keegan books, harper collins. the journey of little charlie by christopher paul curtis. and hey kiddo -- [inaudible] [cheers and applause] in the winner of the 2018 national book awards for young people's literature the poet ask . [cheers and applause]

♪ ♪ ♪

♪ >> i don't cry often at public events like this. i do a lot of performances and i am completely overwhelmed in this moment. i want to give thanks to my agent john prickett who in 2012 but someone who had no manuscript reject your figure at 10 pages of a thing that might be a thing been kept in touch

and kept asking what i was working on and believed in my voice and have to keep checking in. i want to give thanks to my editor rosemary broman who is most incredible editor i can imagine having. let me use the language that was what i needed to say i guess that some folks might not understand this but it's have to be told. then that's how it has to be told. thank you so much to my publisher. i've been so lucky with harper. thank you aaron, thank you bats, kathy, jane. elizabeth ebony. so much love for you all. drinks on me later.

i want to give thanks to my family. i come from an amazing dominican household. i'm all in the first one on the stage but it probably has been a long time ago. thank you to my family is coming to my is, to my hood. special thanks to my ancestors without whom i'd would not be here. special thanks to an alice in eighth grade english teacher was like i'm going to write a novel instead. i was like cool. i've never told them the dream that i might've had that he didn't stand behind. i'm so lucky to have been by my side. and this is the last thing because i don't want this are coming for me. i walked through the world with a chip on my shoulder. i go into so many spaces where i feel like i have to prove that

i'm allowed to be in that space as a child whose immigrant, as a black woman come as a latina, someone whose action envoys hold certain neighborhoods, whose body hold certain stories. i was feel like i have to prove that i am worthy enough and there'll never be an award or accolade double take that away. every single time i meet a reader who looks at me and says i have never seen my story until i read yours. i'm reminded of why this matters and that it not can it be an accolade that's going to be looking someone in the face and say i see you in return being told that i am seeing. thank you so much to the readers who time and again remind me why i took this sleep, why it matters. thank you. [applause]

>> congratulations and well deserved. i would not begrudge you anything, but i am intensely jealous of your hair. [laughter] i'll tell you that right to your face. next up, to present a brand-new national book award for translated literature, we have harold hagen brahm, who is familiar to the award and to the stage as he is the former executive chair of the national book foundation. he is currently the act been added or of the yale review in

was a frankie visiting fellow. how do you say that? visit his fellow at your university, which is a college in the northeast. [laughter] is translated among others the works of josé resolve, cabeza tobacco jay gonzalez and the poetry of myself purrs. recent translation of the 1885 filipino novel by pedro paterno under a fellowship from the national endowment for the arts. please help me welcome to the stage, harold hagen brahm.

♪ >> thank you. that makes up for the chicken. [laughter] [speaking in spanish] i want to begin with a bit of translation. that was the translation from what i said before. [speaking in spanish] a little indignation for my wife, carla. i'd like to commend the foundation's board for its commitment for the establishment and the reestablishment of this award. the first since 1983 and special thanks to all the translators who have labored in the fields of the translation award without much credit. they're beginning to get credit

now. [applause] i'd especially like to mention form of words members steve levine was the champion of reestablishing this award and of course lisa lucas he really is a gem in your lucky to have her here. [applause] my special thanks to karen almond, susan bernath ski and i'll go rodriguez. we spent the summer talking about books that were smart, intelligent, dedicated, hard-working, insightful, tough but they were flexible. we read 140 books. would like to challenge the vicious server that we only considered one word titles. famously said they read in

translation was like looking at a tapestry from the back. when you judge a translation award like this, i say it is more like living in a haunted house. you see your room family around you, but you know there are word post hiding in every corner. look at form, style, content and the books contribution to the conversation about international literature. the five finalists for the national book award in translation power disorients all, written by nobody and published by europa editions. [applause] love, translated from the region by martin aikin and published by the "politico" book. tricks, written by domenico,

translated from the italian and published by europa editions. the emissary translated -- and published by new direction. [applause] an imprint of penguin random house. in the national book award in translated literature goes to the emissary. [applause] ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ >> hi. the astute among you have publicly figured out that i am not your quote to wada. i have the distinct pleasure of conveying to you some words.

i am truly sorry not to be able to travel to new york from the national award ceremony. every autumn i do readings and performances in tokyo and going to new york this year would mean canceling three of these readings, meaning people have argued that tickets and i feel i can't let them down. this being the case, iran's monique turns, and the, [laughter] a wonderful writer who lives in new york and has an interest in the same things that i do, to take my place at the awards ceremony and to tell how grateful i am. i wish i could be there to thank you myself. i would especially like to thank

everyone at new direction who published my books in english. [applause] to all my english readers into the selection committee. i think it's great that the translated literature categories of the national book awards has been resurrected. translation, gives a book wings butterfly across national borders. and of course saved her final thanks. [applause] >> actually, yoko sent me the

message monique just read and asked me to translate them into english. i won't go into that. i also would like to thank everybody at new direction, especially barbara cotler who did a great job editing. editors are so important. and of course i'd like to thank yoko for writing the book because translators are nothing without authors. and i'd like to thank the national book foundation for this award. thank you very much. [applause]

>> it's pronounced frankie. i love poetry. i have a poem that i intended to recite, but it was suggested that might be a tad midwestern for this crowd. i thought instead i would talk about how almost anything can be poetry. for example, some people i know recently said that it was a sort of poetry the way the red sox clinched at yankee stadium this fall, which is a new york sports team. and even then if you consider it a piece of poetry depending on your point of view, for example when you live in manhattan it might seem like a william blake

poem. as he traveled northeast needed to new haven is more like a soviet plot verse and maybe becomes a little brighter, a shell silverstein poem. arriving in cambridge is mr. rogers and finally in boston at the fall on chumbawamba song. poetry is neat. here to present the national book award for poetry is mary jo bang, a fellow midwesterner like myself. she's an award-winning poet whose accolades include a national book critics award, a hodder fellowship, a guggenheim fellowship in a berlin prize fellowship here she's the author of a hoax of poems, including a doll for throwing her mother

leaves him the last two seconds and elegy appears she teaches creative writing at washington university in st. louis. it gives me great pleasure to introduce mary jo back. ♪ >> thank you so much, lisa lewis for including me in in this event and in the judging. we've been asked to talk a little bit about the process and i thought by way of doing that i would not only think the judge is, but introduce them because it made an amazing committee. ken chan, a poet, a graduate of yale law school, director of the asian writers workshop and

founder of cultures strike, a network of artists involved in issues of migration and social change. songbook won the 2009 young poets competition. passion is a former executive director of the poetry society of america, cofounder of poetry in motion which places poems on subways and buses. thank you wherever you are. editor of many poetry anthologies and the author of three books of poems. [applause] the author of two collections of the forward prize and a finalist for this, the national book award. and it's a boy winner of the key type discovery award and a literary award for poetry.

the work has been featured widely, including on buzz feed, "the new york times," "pbs newshour" and every poster, the late show was even called their. stephen sparks is the co-owner of point ready books. he has served as a juror for multiple book awards and for the nea. his published essays and interviews and his first book with bloomsbury press, fog, an object lesson, like many things in the world has a big distance threatened by global warming. in terms of our actual process, we decided to find books that we all admired. we achieve that aim by talking and talking and talking. and by listening with generosity and attentiveness.

and in between, e-mailing. to be on the finalist requires that a book has multiple supporters. a long list of 10 in our shortlist of five that all of us valued. in the end we wish this would be an award to all five of the authors for the following books. right arm in trial [applause] terance hage, my past and future assassins. penguin random house. diane corey, goes to publishing. [applause] justin philip reid, indecency, coffee house press. jenny she had, i level.

this year's national book award for poetry goes to justin philip reid. coffee house press. [applause] ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ >> good evening. i don't think i've ever been so shallow brother lester was an asthma attack which i haven't had in a while. a very nostalgic experience to be a peer. i want to start by saying that i accept this award in loving memory of my grandfather is centenary, south carolina, doctor of biological sciences, care provider for the sick house of my bookish hopes in the last

team. in my home come i keep a book in which i handwrite my intentions and affirmations. in may of this year, three weeks after the release of this book i rewrote my bio beginning with justin philip reid as the author of indecency, finalist for the national book award. once this is edition and somehow manifested i began reiterating in the book's pages intentions for an allowance of joy and celebration. i meditated on the kerchief might take to feel worthy of a vast and now i'm standing and what to make of this epithet national book award winner and poetry. it's kind of my business to get hung up on words. i acknowledged the impossibility of a national book in the united states and therefore i appreciate the critical magnitude of the revision it requires to whittle down 1600 books to 25 to five here to the

judges judges have it in another title i would have no smaller gratitude for the poetry that would be made fully read because you have read it. likewise i wondered maybe neurotically about what it would mean to comply with those who love and encourage me to be proud and joyfully accept indecency of deserving in this space to be many and much among them attentiveness and clearness and therefore questioning of pride and joy. my otherwise intentions of daily honoring those who make me possible and my labor business ritual duty to hold in the same mind those who missed nation and my participation in it daily makes life possible in those two flavors continue unrecognized

merely exploited. in my life is lacking in so many welcome or visionary voices and i know that this is not accidental. what do i make of this? the common question isn't what are you going to do next. i don't know. i want to imagine a widely to such an extent that this particular sensation of nation mrs. singularity roughly around the shape of me becomes utterly unrecognizable. what's next? i want to feel a fullness, to love the vast proliferation of voices and work countenances that have made it possible for me and for you with me to have libraries. to realize the tremendous intersection of lives and languages that a single one of those voices and faces represent and how recognizing each of the life beyond those in fact magnifies each of us. that could be so joyful. thank you. i mean grateful for gratitude

sometimes overwhelms me. i've known such patient and persistent teachers and in this moment thanks to all teachers, your teachers, my teachers. to the trust enhanced and ushered its book on its way up to the aisle to a readership, erica stevenson the vivacious coffee house press family. thank you all for this beautiful object. the national book foundation, thank you for harkening through literature that we've always only begun dreaming. i'm thankful to feel the warmth of any light that shines false the one your words and my fellow carolina natives here in the equity to keep sending i hope folks remember who they talk about when they talk about the self. my goodness, what this little piece of world that should influence to knows the seismic

intensity of what you have given. and to my mama of the dictionary and you sell a guitar. speaker in stereo, my lifelong classmate of the magic you have made of your desire for different possibilities is just now to match. thank you. [applause] >> that was delicious. now you're my teacher. this is neither the time nor place, but i feel compelled to say i'm astonished at all the

incredible cover art for these books were seeing. [applause] and witnessing nowadays eloquent writers in the passing across the stage peppered by my own appearances has led me to wonder what in fact i'm doing here. and now that we have arrived with the national book award fiction i realize that i've been groomed. my wife and i have a book out right now that i believe would be nonfiction. so i guess they are getting me warmed a for next year. when my wife is with me at a much cuter presentation. please bear that in mind when you're voting.

the award for nonfiction will be presented tonight i annette gordon reid. she won the national book award in 2009 for the hemings of monticello and this is her second time judging the national book award for nonfiction. so she is very familiar with the stage. she is the charles warren professor of american legal history at harvard law school and a professor of history in the faculty of arts and sciences. she is the author among other books of thomas jefferson and sally hemming, an american controversy and most blessed of the patriarchs, thomas jefferson and the empire of imagination. it gives me a great deal of pleasure to welcome my table mates, and it worked great, to the stage.

thank you. [applause] >> thank you. thank you very much. it's wonderful to be here as he said. tenure said. 10 years ago i served on the stage and accepted the award that changed my life and made me fall endlessly in love with harold alton brown. being the chair of the national book award for nonfiction as if i it's a daunting task am awake at 560 books this year. we spent the summer going over them, listing them, making decisions about them. arguing some, but it are you most about merits of the book. i am endlessly grateful as well to my co-panelist. rachel katz. john freeman.

thurmond depot. [cheers and applause] and andre were sunday. i also have to get angst of my faculty assistant, krysta jones and ashley davis who know something about excel. who knows something about all kinds of ways to chat so they have to set these things up in this setup conference calls and did the dates for when we were supposed to have our conversation. this is something i could have done by myself so i have to recognize them as well. we wanted to look at the form of the book, how they were presented, the content. we wanted to define books without would last, and it said something about the human condition in a way that was worthy of an award from this

condition. they were enormously proud of. the shortlist are proud of them as we said earlier it would be nice if all of these books could win. the finalists for nonfiction are colin g calloway from the indian world of george washington. the first president, the first american in the birth of a nation from oxford university press. victoria johnson, american eden. and madison in the garden of the early republic. live right, w. w. norton. callaway in oxford university press. heartland. [applause] a memoir of working hard. redner simon & schuster.

jeffrey c. stuart. the new, the life of a landlocked. oxford university press. [applause] adam winkler, we the corporations, how american businesses won their civil rights. live right w. w. norton & co. and the winner of the national book awards for nonfiction is jeffrey c. stuart, oxford university press. [applause] ♪

♪ ♪ >> i have to say it's unbelievable to me. so i'm enormously grateful and so humble that scholars and leaders chose this book and that

the national book foundation exists especially in the times we live in and which many people just don't read. first of all, i have to say thank you tumor ray brown, my literary agent. [applause] who couldn't get a contract for the book on my own and a friend of mine said you ought to call marie and i talked with her about it here choose that you know you're going to have to write about her puzzle for this. she taught me how to promote and convince oxford university press. oxford university press to do this but could some of you may know who let that the book or have just lifted it up. it's a heavy book, but it's also

about oxford. and so i wanted this book to be for university press. and finally i was able to secure that. in the 90s it was very important for me. at a certain point i had gotten a chunk of it done and i proposed it i heard from susan ferber, the best editor that anyone can have. she said you know, jeffrey, i'd have half the book done. were not going to publish two books. but we will publish one large book. i don't think he realized that that time what she was saying because it ended up being a very large book, but one i'm enormously grateful for oxford university press to put in the time and money to make this book what it is. the whole staff they are, nico

particularly in angela mussina had promoted and supported me in this process. in the course of a book like this, taking many, many years to do come incurred many debts. my great friend come eat from a price who labored over the book with me and read it and at one point said m.i.t. only person who believes this could be a great book? and at that time i think he was. [laughter] but others still, a wonderful editor helped me learn how to write creative nonfiction. my friend hugo hopping, who essentially introduced me to what it means to be an artist and what blocks struggle with artistry was all about and working with artists. just legions of other people, clarence walker and others. i just want to say just a word for my family, lisa stuart whom

without whom this book would not exist in my son, conrad stuart and that leads me to think about and take just one minute. you know, if he was here right now accepting this award, he wouldn't have family with him. as a sub for man who had a closeted life yet many struggles and one was with crushing aloneness. when i stand here, i think about his achievement. what it was to create a family among writers and artists and dancers and dramatist and call them the new negro. the basis for a new future. a new negro for a new america. thank you.

[applause] >> congratulations. here we are. i've mentioned my wife. her full name is megyn mullally and that will come to bear. here to present the national book award for fiction is leila lau alumni and if you lace the two names together you get megyn lalo mullally allow let me. [laughter] i'm running on fumes here, folks. [laughter] i had a good round. leila is here with us this evening. unfortunately, my bride is in los angeles. leila's most recent book, the

moore's account won the american book award. it was on the man booker prize on last and it was a finalist for the pulitzer prize in fiction. the recipients of fulbright and guggenheim fellowships she is currently a professor of creative writing at the university of california riverside. please help me welcome to the stage the illustrious leila lal of me. ♪ ♪ >> i'm thrilled to be here tonight with so many poets, writers, critics and readers. book people. book people are my people. thank you all so much for being here. i went to thank you national

book foundation to does such a fantastic job of organized and the award ceremony. when lisa asked me to share the fix in general she warned me that there would come a time in the middle of the summer when we would be deluged with a then i would be very angry at her. the time never came. i also want to acknowledge the serious fiction panel is but the monumental task of radiant 368 books. my fellow judges and i had many spirited discussion over the last six and a few disagreements as well. but we reached consensus and we're very, very proud of this year's list. thank you to my fellow judges chris batchelder. [applause] linden lead. [cheers and applause]

roy must make [applause] in a silo esperance a. [applause] it may seem strange considering what else is happening in the world right now at this very moment that we short story writer said novelist spent so much of our time in solitude for reading and writing fiction. the fiction is even more urgent at this particular moment. it is through the language of stories that we interpret the world around us. see you in its beauty or warned about its danger. we use stories to entertain, to reflect, inspire, provoke, to show the future what we have suffered and that we have survived. above all, we use stories to tell truth.

the novel whose story collections that we are celebrating tonight they read in the lives of others and is so doing they tell us about ourselves. the finalists for the 2018 national book award in fiction are [applause] a lucky man by jamel brinkley. [applause] florida, by warren raum. [cheers and applause] ..

♪ ♪ ♪ [music] ♪ [music] ♪ [music] [music] ♪ [music]

♪ >> thank you, thank you so much. [applause] i want to thank the national book foundation and all of the judge's on the fiction committee. and i want to thank my agent, my publisher, thank you sarah mcgrath.thank you -- and jim martin. and the rest of the team. my heartfelt gratitude to you all. i was lucky enough as a child to have had a mother and teachers who taught me that whatever happens in life, however, bad rings might get, i can always escape by reading a book. i was lucky enough to keep on

meeting them. people who believed that reading and writing were the best things a person could do with her life. and to lender alan bennett was getting at when he said, that for a writer, nothing is ever quite as bad as it is for other people because however, dreadful, it may be of use. [laughter] i became a writer, not because i was seeking community. but rather, because i thought it was something i could do alone and hidden in the privacy of my own room. how lucky to have discovered that writing books made the miraculous possible. to be removed from the world and to be a part of the world at the same time. and tonight, how happy i am, to feel like a part of the world. thank you so much.

[cheers and applause] >> congratulations sigrid. an enormous congratulations to all of the winners of the national book awards. [cheers and applause]. your books will now get this coolest sticker! these five writers have been entered into the national book foundation history and they join the ranks of the best literature in america. i would like to thank you so much to all of two nights nominees, winners, judges, attendees and viewers with the

exception of my brother, matt, that has been texting me criticism throughout the show. he is a bully and i do not have to stand up to bullies. and i learned that from books! [laughter] [applause] i am telling mom! the national book awards would not be possible without the wonderful support of readers everywhere. so let's keep reading and for everyone here in attendance, please join us upstairs for the after party. good night!♪ ♪ [cheers and applause] ♪ [music] ♪ [music]