to its very best ideals. >> you can find the rest of the program on our website booktv.org. using the box at the top of the page search for martha jones or the title of her book "vanguard". >> you are watching booktv on c-span2, with top nonfiction books and authors every weekend. booktv, television for serious readers. >>readers. >> welcome to the 71st national book ceremony so that toasters acclaimed author, two time book award finalist in the national ambassador for young people literature, jason reynolds.

's best-selling books include ã ã a collaboration with abram hendry. please welcome jason reynolds. >> guest: thank you, thank you, thank you it's an honor to welcome everyone to the 71st national book awards. i'm jason reynolds and i'm coming to you live from washington dc. this is our night, i know there is so much going on in the world but this is still our night and it's a big deal. it's so much of a big deal but i woke up this morning anxious, nervous as usual, so i called my mother because i always call my mother when i'm anxious. at 7:00 a.m., she answers the phone, she said "uh oh"

i'm calling to ask if you have advice for your child. she says what she always says when i make this call, let me ask you, what did i make you say every single night before you got in the bed when you were little boy? i said i don't want to do this ãbwhat did i make you say every single night before you got in the bed when you were a little boy? i said, you made me say, i can do anything. she said, exactly! you can do anything. i said mom, you tell me this all the time but i never really asked you where you got that from. where did that mantra come from? why would you make me say it so much when i was young? where did you learn that? she started to laugh as she said, actually, i learned that from the first book that changed my life, she was 13 years old and moved to washington dc from a small town in south carolina and when she got here she was teased because she was southern, she was

assumed to have been less educated just because she had an accent. she hung out in the black library because she felt like being around the books would make her feel more intelligent. she said one day around the age of 13 she was thumbing through the stacks and there was a new book out that was all the craze and jumped out at her. it was called the power of positive thinking. when she told me this i said, you read norman vincent peer when you are 13 years old? she said that's when i started the book but i read it every week i checked it out i would read and read and i finished the book by the time i was a senior in high school. she said there was one mantra in the book that stuck with me it was to tell yourself that you can do anything. and 25 years later i was born she started to feed me the same information, the same words germinating in my mind in the 60 years later here i am a physical manifestation of that language, that narrative, the physical manifestation of the power of words, the physical manifestation of what happens

when 26 letters are arranged in a strange and mysterious sequence that can tear a world down or build a world up, even if that world exists only within us. that's why tonight is our night and that's why this is a big deal. tonight's event is also open and free which makes it an even bigger deal. it's free to everyone. is also the biggest fundraiser for the national book foundation. they are a nonprofit organization and they need your support. if you believe in the powers of books to change the world, please consider donating today. we have an audience room tonight full of people who love books and are champions of the national book foundation, how are y'all feeling everybody? i'm glad you could join us. we will check in with them over the course of the night. for now we are going to start with a lifetime achievement

honoree's, the first of these awards is given to a person who has expanded the audience for books and reading last year the foundation honored ãbwho was the head of the american booksellers association, the other past winners include doctor maya angelou, scholastic book fairs derek robinson, dave edgar's and sesame street jones 20. tonight honoree carolyn reedy, the ceo of simon and schuster until her passing this past may. we are going to hear from from simon and schuster authors in the aba ãbon her service to the american literary community, carolyn's husband stephen reedy was accept the literary award on her behalf.

the first thing i thought of when we lost carolyn reidy was that she was the reader, she ran this whole company, she knew everybody in the publishing world, she intricately knew how it works. she was a reader. >> we all have something special we remember about carolyn, something that means something to us. first summit was her intuitive feel for the publishing industry, for others it was her passion for books. >> carolyn was a friend, not just authors and other folks in the publishing business, booksellers and anybody who picked up books. >> she was always pushing my work and making sure that i knew that my work had value.

for me somebody a chip on the shoulder as big as mine, it was comforting. >> i just can't imagine anybody more deserving then carolyn reidy, to come see her stomach receive this recognition. the contributions she is made to the book business more broadly to the literary landscape in america are just unparallel. >> i had assumed the business people at publishing would be focused on business and not on books and when it comes to carolyn reidy, i couldn't have been more wrong, she was very involved with all three of my novels that i have published with simon and schuster. >> carolyn was involved in 12 of my books over the last two decades, she was through and through a book person when you go to her office her books and manuscripts everywhere.

truthfully i think she looked at publishing as a sacred trust between the publisher and the author, including the public, you could write whatever you wanted you might she might disagree, she might agree, she might have some questions but it was you are but, pamper proof environment is the perfect environment for an author. >> when i came in people weren't really checking for the kind of story i was writing, the kind of diversity i was trying to push for, she created a culture of openness, a culture with a wide vision. the only thing i really knew about carolyn reidy is that she loved to read. i've only met her one time, is the greatest long distance relationship of all time. >> i think carolyn's legacy is understanding how to move the publishing industry into each new age that comes along, including the digital

revolution. >> she was ceo during the hard time, hard time for books, hard time for the economy, and instead of trying to paint all over that, she said we got to change in certain areas. >> the bookselling world had some ups and downs during those periods and she never stopped pressing to try to figure out what it was and what it is that we could do to be better. >> among the many things that made carolyn special is that she knows about something larger than herself. it wasn't just, can we make a profit this quarter, it's, can we make the world a better place. she did it to books, she did it through the emotional connection, but she did it through everything from the national book awards to all the organizations that she participated in you knew that she was motivated by the basic

concept that we are here for a short while and we have to make sure we make it about something larger than just ourselves. good evening everybody, i am stephen reidy, carolyn's spouse for 45 years. i would like to take this opportunity to thank the national book foundation and all of carolyn's colleagues and friends there for so many years for bestowing this award on her this evening. i'm tremendously honored to accept this award for outstanding service to the american literary community on behalf of carolyn with whom i've been sharing books and reading since we were 19 years

old. we had our first conversation and it was about a book. over time i came to learn that carolyn did not have just a passion for books, but she had an intellectual curiosity in reading itself and in her words "in the magic that comes from the interaction between the author's words and the readers mind. that intellectual curiosity drew carolyn to an understanding of publishing as a promoter of that author/reader magic. and the result of promoting that magic was to carolyn the expansion of the audience from books and reading. and their audience expansion was critical to carolyn, because she believed that authors and publishers, through the power of the words in the books do not just reflect our

culture, they help to create it. you've heard carolyn was a reader, you've heard that carolyn was a book person but i think she was proudest of being a publisher because, as she said, and publishing we are there shepherds to this gift of the book. doing everything we can to help bring the authors voice to the reader. editors for carolyn success in doing that well and thereby increasing access to literature that i think she would have been delighted to receive the honor of this award from the national book foundation. while carolyn believed in the high level of cultural impact in books and reading, she was equally convinced that expanding the audience for books and reading was part of the sacred trust of publishing. why?

because of her passionate belief that books and reading can change one's life. many people say that books have changed their lives, reading has changed their outlook, and they have tried to describe how their lives were living evidence of that change.but for carolyn and for carolyn and me, ever since we were those 19-year-old kids discussing a book, books and reading, not only changed our lives but, more importantly, they gave us a life together. and i believe that that life together, one built on books and reading, is the real recipient of this award today. because that shared life is testaments to carolyn's conviction that reading is one of the greatest things that humans can do.

for honoring the contribution of carolyn's life to promoting that conviction i am deeply grateful to the national book foundation, thank you very much. >> stephen, our thoughts are with you and carolyn's legacy will live on through our work. the second lifetime achievement award will be presenting tonight is the metal for distinguished contribution to ã ãprevious winners of this award include the great toni morrison, stephen king, isabel allende, and gwendolyn brooks. this honor is given to a rider that will over the course of their career has greatly enriched our literary heritage through their body of work, tonight, renee and his books have had an extraordinary impact in here to present the medal is ãbthe author of four works of fiction including ãb

she has written several books for young readers, her memoir was a national book award finalist and won the national book critics circle award for autobiography. i like to welcome one of my heroes at>> good evening, the first time i saw someone receive the national book foundation award for distinguished contribution to american ãwas 26 years ago in 1994 when tonight to recipient walter mosley presented the same award to the poet gwendolyn brooks.

some of us felt the communal weight of this award. somewhat akin to what i feel tonight. the job of the writer also once said it's take a close and uncomfortable look at the world they inhabit, the world we all inhabit. in the job of the novel is to make the corpse stink. walter has been looking closely and intimately at our world for the past 30 years. he's published 60 books, ranging from the haunting blues novel ãto the existential thriller "the men in my basement" and a beautiful

meditation on aging and dying. walter is always in search of new ground, be it the ins and outs of his beloved los angeles or his views on capitalism and grace and his political monographs. 's explorations of different genres and extremes of thought be they is grammy award-winning writer notes, his science fictions or his plays are often referred to as departures for him but every new walter mosley work is departure as well as a homecoming. homecoming filled with stagers and centers who take us straight to the edge and back with, if we are lucky, a stop at the crossroads. these journeys and brace in all their complexities and

frailties walters black male heroes who much like his neighborhood philosopher socrates fort low, are strong enough to kill with their bare hands and gentle enough to routinely braid a little girl's hair. his character is constantly question the status quo all while demanding urgent answers of the world and themselves. with influences ranging from ã ãwalters work digs deeply into not only the world we inhabit but the imminent world we might hope for, all that we are and all that we are becoming. walters contribution to american writers extends beyond his own pages, 1988 he helped create the publishing certificate program at his alma

mater, the city college of new york. with the goal of training more people of color to work in publishing. in the past 22 years the program is graduated over 250 students who have gone on to work in publishing as editors, designers, or publicists. fiction as one of the few constructive human activities we have to make something from almost none thing, walter wrote in elements of fiction one or two books writing advice he was written, something from nothing, that kind of alchemy is a receipt for failure and also the hope for the miraculous. tonight and spite of the year is of challenges and horrors, we dare to celebrate the miraculous it is my honor to introduce the winner of this year's national book foundation's award for distinguished contribution to american writers, walter mosley.

>> thank you so much for that, that was really wonderful. i'm really happy, i'm just really happy. also, i'm deeply grateful to receive the medal for distinguished contribution to american letters. i'd like to thank a few important people b& ãeading

names] it is a great honor to be given this recognition. it is been more than 30 years since i embarked on the path that writing condors are almost nothing. a path rocked in the mind, a mind too small to contain the full scope of the project that is endless and heads the full experience of our species. i love writing, it's slippery slopes and foolish errands and silly puns and bone shaking metaphors. its ability to offer over the millennia of the deep well of human invention and defiance of wars, poverty and effort encroaching techno ãstories can be transmitted via prior optics but they have yet to be surpassed by that or any other readings. stories keep their deep connection to the human heart word by word sentence by sentence. we my fellow writers and i and our readers talk about love and

solitude dreaming and reality and truths that might not ever be uttered except by the word and the books that we read that we write that we interpret. we writers speak to our readers but at the same time they receive our stories applying them to their own unique experience. this way writing is political and democratic in the extreme. we are free and our minds to imagine, to conjure anything. anything at all. this brings me back to the beginning. is a great weight hanging over the exception of award when the underlying subject is the first black man to receive. we the people who are darker than blue have been here on this continent in this storm for 400 years. we've been chained, beaten, raped, murdered, robbed of our names in history and often our dignity. this has been an ongoing

process and on the ending anguish. so one might be ãbone might ask, can such a thing make a difference. is this a dying gasps gasp or first breath. i prefer to believe we are on the threshold of a new day that this evening is but one of 10,000 breath being taken to recognize the potential of this nation. we the people who are darker than blue built this nation bricked by britt, we ãbthese achievements cannot be ignored. we been here from the beginning and will be here at the end. our heads held high when the promise of equality is achieved. thank you for giving me the recognition for what has gone

before and the chance to utter a few of the truths that we all strive for. thank you. >> congratulations mr. mosley, you don't remember this but when i was 21 years old i was standing on the corner of decatur and lewis and bed-stuy brooklyn new york and your black car was coming down the street and the window was down just enough for us to see the top half of your face, we could see your hat, your eyes, and a bit of your nose and my buddy standing with me said, that's walter mosley. and you heard us and you looked and you rolled the window up. fast forward 15 years i was at some kind of fundraiser for a literary event, lisa lindquist

was there, rita douglas was there, it was amazing. i'm sitting at a table with my friend jaclyn wilson and i felt a weight on my shoulder when i looked up to see who was pressing down upon me it was you and you had a hat on again and you tipped the hat and he simply said, i see you. i don't know if you remember it but it meant the world to me because it felt like you were saying that i have a place here, that i had earned a seat at the table to sit amongst the other ãand sticks my square and added to this everlasting patchwork a patchwork for the people darker than blue and everlasting quote of black voices. >> black people, you said, only people in the united states ever explicitly forbidden to become literate. i am now officially speechless.

>> tonight we are gathered here with you, our literary community celebrating the best we as artists have to offer and service to that end we must have a national book award that reflects the full depth and breadth of the human experience, in all its diversity and ã >> some of you know i grew up in rural alabama, very few blocks from our home. remember in 1956 when i was 16 years old,

>> we must pursue the goal of seeking out and honoring the voices of writers whose contributions to our culture have too often gone unrecognized. >> i had a teacher in the elementary school who told me, read my child, read and i tried to read every scene. i love books. >> there can be no excellence in our national literary identity without those voices that have too often excluded from the stage. without those voices of the franchise, the underserved, and the unjustly maligned, whatever excellence might've been achieved was at best compromised. >> as i wrote more my focus widened, i understood that i wanted to write about the experiences of the poor and the black and the rural people of the south that the culture that marginalized us for so long would see that our story was

universal our lives as front and lovely and as important as theirs this is a lifework and i am only at the beginning. >> of the national book foundation we believe that black lives matter, such a futuristic idea, a world in which the descendents of slaves become poets. >> we acknowledge that one of the great gifts of this moment is the recognition that the struggles of black americans both now and of generations past served to make us all more free and. >> what i do have the power to do is to say, you won't enroll me in this life, you won't make me part of it. >> our civic life. >> he looked at me and the people i loved and write about, you looked at my poor, my black, white southern children men and women and you saw yourself. you saw your grief, you are in love, your losses your regrets and joy and hope. >> and in our art and our culture we also acknowledge that inequities and culture and

books can do real material harm and that the power this organization wields to shake this nation's literary taste and trends means that we must bear this in mind always. >> 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's not to be in a word, it's not going to be an accolade, it's gonna be looking someone in the face and say i see you and returned being told that i was seen. >> we must strive to remain a home for black voices, writers, creators, and artists and use their example to mold the national book foundation into an institution that celebrates and represents full scope of what we as a people have accomplished.

>> i will never use lose my faith that you and i can create an antiracist america where racial disparities are nonexistent, where americans are no longer manipulated by racist ideas. where black lives matter. >> i am so proud to be a part of the community that at least thinks like that. >> we know that the world wouldn't be complete without all of our stories and it. >> tonight, when we say that black lives matter, let us say it as acknowledgment of all those deserving writers and by extension readers, who previously have been excluded from this room. >> be kind everybody, make art and fight the power. >> let us say it with an awareness of these voices. their value and their ability to show us a way forward out of behind darkness. and let us say it in gratitude

for that which will come as a result of literary community as life-giving rich and as varied at the stories we tell. community of which we can all be proud, a community which unequivocally understands why black lives matter. that there is no american literature without ã [inaudible] [piano playing] >> now i'd like to introduce my friend, the national book foundation executive director lisa lucas. i met lisa a decade ago in a bookstore in new york city introduced to each other by mutual friend, a buddy of ours, the late great brooke

stephenson and shortly after meeting one another, she gave me a laundry list of books i was to read immediately, i've been listening to everything she has had to say ever since. let's hear it for lisette. >> thank you jason. i'm so grateful to you for hosting tonight. here we are, i am coming to you live from the los angeles public library, we are in the gorgeous children's room and i'm so happy to be here around these books.and here with you. thank you for tuning in, our audience, it's hard in a pandemic, we were scared we wouldn't be able to do the show and here we are. and you are here watching and that matters because books matter. we are grateful to be able to celebrate all of our finalists today and we welcome you to the 71st national book awards, very very soon we will be finding out who will win. let's take a look at our green room and say hello to the

finalists waiting for the announcements. for the sake of sleep and time zones, our translator literature award was recorded a few hours ago and they are waiting ãbwe are so grateful to celebrate our finalists and their work tonight and even though we can't be together, we are so glad to be with our community, thanks to all of you for dressing up, for joining us, your work is incredible. it will forever be a part of our history and mbf family. one book we know can change a life in these books we also know will impact the world for years to come, every single one of them. 2020 has been a challenging year for all of us and for our book community. this spring as the realities of the pandemic set in, we asked ourselves how we should respond. the foundation is dedicated to celebrating books but also dedicated to engaging readers. instead of pulling back, we

doubled down, replaced even more books in public housing, we found new platforms and new rays ways to foster even more conversation between national book award honored authors and readers around the country and with the support of the andrew w mellon foundation we have a great privilege of collaborating with our colleagues at the academy of american poets and the community literary magazines and presses to watch the historic literary arts emergency fund, this effort granted $3.5 million in relief funding to 282 of our fellow literary arts organizations. supporting the literary arts community every single level has never been more critical. i could not be prouder of how the board, our staff and partners, came to meet the moment he stopped this is our fundraiser and it is also our awards. we put together a little video about why we hope tonight you will support this work. >> resistance and change often

begin in art, and very often in our art, the art of words. >> first national book award in the 1960s, for several years the national book awards honor the fact ãbshining a light on exceptional books and authors. the award shows what we value, what we are interested in, what's important and what has lasting power. >> books are the most powerful force in the universe and history supports that. >> you already won, you already won for the before the book came up because you made it into a book. >> in march foundation closed its doors alongside everyone else, we were going to distribute books to the public housing authorities around the country. we had books for after school, all nomination we had nbs presents events and states and

states and states we had to plane tickets we had authors but we had audiences lined up so we very quickly regrouped, we had to make sure we were dealing topically with the extraordinary issues the country and world were facing so we worked even more deeply with publishing partners and public library and public housing to make sure those books by got into the hands of the people who needed it. >> at the heart of all of the national book foundation's education program is the idea of access and that we can be this point of connection for young people and books. is a collaboration between the national book foundation and the u.s. department of housing and urban the along with other nonprofit partners and other government agencies to change the fact that public housing authorities are often classified as ãbwe work with

publishing partners to secure the high quality of donated books every year which are then sent directly to 43 different public housing authorities across 27 different states. >> now that we are in this pandemic moment, he would be surprised how resilient and creative or public housing authorities are aligned with their libraries. we know many housing authorities are distributing nutritional meals, snacks, they are doing that practicing social distancing and where you have families coming in to access meals, >> this year alongside the academy of american poets and the community for literary magazines we gave out over $3.5 million to literary arts organization in crisis 282 organizations benefited from the support that was given to

us at the foundation. how the writers get reading, how do writers move around and interact with audiences. how do writers talk with young people, at mellon we very crucially believed there is no culture without the words and there are certainly no justice without the word to give it form. >> literary emergency fund came at a moment when i don't think i realized how much this organization needed it. it has allowed us to conserve and innovate at a time when a lot of people have to cut back. it allows us to continue to offer free programming, tell stories and bring the committee members in right now are hungry to hear from each other and build a community. >> we are thinking about adult audiences, how do we get adults excited about discovering new books, talking about books to

their friends, using the ideas presented at national book awards honor books to think more critically, to connect with different things that are going on in this moment. >> through our program we identified books about mass incarceration about policing in america, to help people to understand what our cultural system looks like and who is impacted by it. >> the nonprofit literary arts are important because it is through the story that we understand each other and move through difficult times like the one we are in. >> it's one book that's made a difference in the community, that says a lot, the book will never become obsolete but there needs to be entities that are devoted to what is within the object of the book. and that is also about equality of opportunity to have access to the book and the people who make them the national book award is many things to many people is the greatest

celebration we have of literature but for us it's also our fundraiser, also powered the environment, empowers literature for justice, empowers having a staff devoted and dedicated as the one we have making sure this work gets done. we are an institution in transition, we are an institution in the middle of a pandemic, we are a nonprofit and while we are studying and believe in the future, without support it is far less assured so we hope that tonight you will consider making a donation or whatever you can for some that might be $95 for some it might be ã >> i'm just a girl standing here in a ball gown and a pair of crocs in a library asking you to love books with money. if we've learned one thing this year except books and book

people are resilient. we've all lost so much, we lost many luminaries, it's been a tough year but we've also seen sadly, the very real limitations of the book business. we haven't been bold enough in our vision we haven't been brave enough in our choices, we haven't been constant enough in our values to make sure this industry, this community, is as strong an inclusive and vibrant as it could be, as it should be, as it will be. the ways this year has tested us proves we are capable of imagining these solutions to unprecedented problems and it's time to take that imagination and that fortitude and use it to address the problems that have always been with us. we can do better, we know we can do better. we must do better. as many of you know, this is my final year as director of this fine institution.

i will be joining ãbleaving is bittersweet, i'm not going to cry, it's also such a gift and a comfort to see what we built together and to know that this organization and this group of people have the skills and the stamina and the flexibility to take on whatever comes next. my first national book awards was in 2016, just days after the election, just like tonight, no one knew exactly what was going to happen, to us as a country, but we came together, we shared a meal and celebrated books at each other and it mattered, it made us feel better. then john lewis spoke, john lewis, andrew, had just won the national book award for young people's literature and we told the crowd through tears that as a child he'd been kept from

having a library of cards because he was black, we wept too, that night john lewis told us how much it meant to be recognized, three other writers of color, one that evening ãb won that evening and i think we all walked away with a little more hope, little more faith, that the work that we did mattered, that it was malleable and could change and could improve and evolve and widen and that we could keep doing the work and that work would keep making a difference. i came into this job a little shocked that i had gotten the job but full of that faith and it has been a gift in my life to be supported by and guided by and cared about by board of directors who believe in books the same way i do. they didn't just give me the freedom to do my work, they gave me the tools. how often do you get to call on the best of the best in this business and have them answer your calls with enthusiasm to teach you? they are the aunties and uncles of great change in this industry and in my life and my

gratitude for them is immeasurable, thank you to the board of directors of the national book foundation. your support and your guidance has helped this organization reach new heights. and it's changed my life. i also want to thank the staff of the national book foundation, jordan smith, marion andrews, andy donnelly, natalie green, deborah barrow and deanna taylor, my rocks and my friends and a team that i am so proud to work with every single day, team book got this done in the face of tremendous obstacles with grace and humor and hard work and grit and never ever wants to flagging belief in these authors in these books i'm grateful they believed enough in me to let me guide the ship.

i'm also grateful to our designers at ship, chips, who donated all the beautiful graphics you see and all the motion graphics and everything, they have been with us since my first day and have done such gorgeous work and it was such a gift and we needed it. i'd like to think the filmmakers at c 41 who made our beautiful films this year, i hope you like them, we work so hard. i like to think our captioner carolyn broome and of course the team making tonight's insane and possible multifaceted 400,000 person lifestream possible, really useful meaning, you guys are really useful. 2020 has taught us that every obstacle is an opportunity to reinvent how we go about our core mission celebrating the best literature in america, expanding its audience and

ensuring that books have a prominent place in american culture. the national book foundation is strong, it is creative and it's going to keep changing the world. one book and one reader at a time and i look forward to supporting and cheering on those efforts forever. i'm so glad and so proud and so lucky to have been the steward of this ship and i'm really really grateful for my partner in crime who i have worked so closely with, david steinberger, our board chair, over to you david, i'm sorry we are not on stage together this time. >> thank you lisa. i'm sorry we are not on stage together too but with you and allie and me here in new york and jason in dc i guess we will do the best we can. i am in a special place. for everyone watching tonight, on behalf of the board of directors of the national book foundation, i'd like to welcome you to the 71st national book

awards. i'm coming to you tonight live from the trustees room at the new york public library and i can't think of a more fitting place to be, behind me scribed and marble in the year 1910 in the work the city of new york has directed this building for the free use of all the people. pretty much says it all i think. i want to thank my fellow board member tony mark, the leader of new york public library for making this beautiful room available to us tonight so thank you tony, it's great to be here in this way. tonight, as we've done for 71 years, we honor great writing, recognizing incredible writers and of course celebrate readers whose lives are changed by books but the national book awards are not just an award show, the national book awards are the single greatest annual

force source of income for the national book foundation and our year-round public and education programs the ones described in the video we just watch together. so far tonight we've raised almost $500,000, which is great, our goal is to raise $750,000, so we still have a ways to go. we don't have our usual tickets sales because this is not a typical year. the contributions from individuals mattered more than ever, we are asking you tonight to please consider making a contribution which you can do right now at www.national .org/donate. as a way to show our gratitude for anyone who makes a donation of $100 or more we will send you one of this year's finalists books mailed directly to you thanks to the support of our friends at baker and taylor, i'd like to thank my fellow board member ãbthe leader of baker and taylor for making this possible. thank you and also thank alice

publishing partners for their generosity and providing the books. we look forward to sending books to as many of you as possible while our supplies last and we can assure you of course it will be a great read. if you didn't have your pen handy last time it's national book.org / donate. i need to say some thank youse and this is important because none of this would be possible without the support of our sponsors. amazon, barnes and noble, facebook, simon & schuster, we are thankful for the support of walter collins, the lincoln family foundation and arcadia mcmillan wiley government took ãbthank you all, we need to

acknowledge and thank our esteemed judges who read over 1600 books and for the first time did so digitally because it is not a typical year. it is a major commitment to be a judge and we thank you. we thank you all to the colleagues on the board of directors for the great support a special thank you to the national book foundations amazing staff, a team of just eight who work so hard and accomplished so much, thank you for our wonderful hosts jason reynolds for his passion for books and for helping us celebrate tonight. as you already know, this is lisa lucas is not dominic last national book award we are so thankful to lisa and so proud of her, we look forward to her great success as a publisher of pentium and schocken's and many

years of working with her in her new role. lisa does not know this yet but we have a gift for her, commissioned specially for this occasion. i am pleased to share with everyone and original painting by the fantastic artist and book lover jane has created a book that encompasses each created a work encompassing each and every book that won national book award during lisa's five years the painting will not be completed until after tonight or later this evening we learned of this year's winners and they too can be added. let me say a few more words about lisa. lisa, thank you, i will miss our whirlwind weekly calls, and

your energy, your drive, you are belief in what we can make happen in the difference the books makes in the world. when i was thinking back this week about everything you accomplished and there was so much, i just kept going back to that day, you will remember this day, when you first told me that we might be able to get books and some public housing authority. you called them book deserts. the research is clear that if you do nothing more than just get books into the home of the child, that child just got a whole lot better. now here we are just a few years later and thousands and thousands and thousands of books have somehow made their way in to the homes of thousands and thousands and

thousands of kids. if that is not making a difference in the world, i don't know what is. lisa, from all of us, thank you again for everything you've done for books, for writers, and for readers everywhere. >> i made it! thank you david. it's meant everything to work with you and do this work and this evening is now brought to you by an additional sponsor and that sponsor is waterproof mascara. we will send it back to jason, thank you for everything. >> i want to say congratulations to lisa, thank you for all your work over the last five years, we love you so much. also to all of you watching, please feel free to donate literacy only operates at its highest when it's met with accessibility and that's what the national book foundation is

doing. it's time to get going with the national book awards. but first, let's check in with our audience on how it's going so far. one thing from lisa's speech and from that video that i love about the national book foundation is that they really do get around the whole entire country. they see where the audience is watching from tonight, we've got brooklyn always in the house, we got long island. i think i see shy tone. so many people from around the country, such a beautiful tapestry of readers on this evening. the national book awards are particularly exciting because until the moment that the title of the winter leaves the judge's mouth, no one but the five person panel of judges knows the decision, not the foundation board, not its staff, not me, the judges made their final decisions only

earlier today so everyone is hearing it here the same time for the first time. the winners in each category will be announced by the chair of the respective category presented in reverse alphabetical order. these categories are young p souls literature, translated literature, poetry, nonfiction, and fiction. the first the latter is near and dear to my heart and that's the national book award for young people literature. >> young readers need books that reflect their own experiences while also expanding their horizons, this year's finalists for the national book award for young people literature include a novel inverse about a black teenager's formative years, a graphic novel documenting the refugees journey and imagining a japanese american teenagers and their incarceration during world war ii from eastern

europe to the bayou of louisiana, these finalists offer young people the whole entire world, the panel chair for this year's national book award for young people literature is joan trigg, writer and general manager of red balloon buckshot. >> good evening, i'm joan trigg and i'm honored and happy to be here on behalf of the young people's literature committee. thank you all for joining us today. during these months of covid stress and destruction i have the privilege of having a large stack of books to read, which reminded me how books can take us out of this world and make us more able to live in it to stop thank you to the national book foundation and especially to lisa lucas and anna dobbins for their flawless leadership to an incredibly changed process. i also have the exceptional privilege of meeting weekly with a group of thoughtful, passionate readers who understand the significance of good literature for kids.

i think colene, ebony tata's, the old testament and randy reback for their insight, their kindness, and commitments not so much to criticize but to find merit in each book reread which led to many hours of lively conversations. when i look back on the year 2020, the year i'm sure we would like to edit, i'm grateful i will have these memories to keep. our five national book award finalists are king of the dragonflies by jason calendar, published by scholastic press, we are not free by tracy chee published by ãbeverybody looking by candace ill published by dalton books, when stars are scattered by victoria jamison and omar mohammed published by dial books for young readers and the way back

by gabriel sabin published by alfred ãi'm happy to announce this year's national book award for young people literature goes to jason calendar for king of the dragonflies. >> kason calendar, king of the dragonflies scholastic press an imprint of scholastic ink. king on the dragonflies hooks the leader from its first taunting b,12 king voice rings true and not a single line feels so frivolous. being of texas masculinity, racism, self-discovery, slowly, to focus as king himself begins to understand the layers of hurt and hope in this world. kason calendar has created a timeless story that is painfully timely. one that will ã

>>. [inaudible] >> can you hear me? >> thank you so much for this honor, i'm trying not to cry but i really appreciate it. thank you national book foundation and panel of judges for this incredible honor. this is an interesting year to win the national book award for young people's literature, this has been the hardest most painful most devastating year and many people's memories. in their lifetime. but this is also been an empowering year for many, a

year when reports to pause and reflect not only on ourselves but on the society we live in to look at the wounds internal and external and to heal and grow. i know i'm not the only one who believes that these next generations are the ones who were meant to change everything. young people already have changed the world and so many ways and it's an honor and a privilege to be given the platform and the opportunity to help in their guidance through the magic of story and to be impacted by the power of young people too. ......

>> every day at is a journey i want to think scholastic, my amazing editor along with apparel the incredible marketing team, daniel and david for your guidance and support, i want to think my family, martha, lisa, there is too many for me too name, all of you, thank you i love you so much and thank you for your support. first i want to think my mom who has been there for me in this little dream of mine since a very first moment i wrote my little picture book about that cow drew every worry and every hope that i still have. thank you. >> congratulation to the winner and now back to our host jason

reynolds. >> congratulations, i cannot be happier for you. next is the national book award for literature. it was the first award added in over two decades in the translated literature award as a global perspective honoring books from all over the world that are published here in the united states, now the national book award for translated literature. >> the news these days may remind us that were living in a fractured world, the finalist for the national book award for translated literature made clear this is a shared planted, this recognizes exceptional books translated in english and they are translated from arabic, german, japanese, spanish and swedish. these extraordinary books consider the fragility of love, the violence abuse and the

effects of the past on the present. each makes a decisive case for a global literature. in the value of perspectives have reached beyond national borders. the share for this year's national book award for translated literature is now named guest to a 2012 macarthur fellow and ultimate three novels including all of our names. >> this year and this long and difficult year i could not have been more fortunate to have served on this journey with four remarkable readers, writers, scholars, activist, artist. to my fellow judges heather, john, brad, thank you for your brilliance, your generosity, warmth, vigorous, passionate debates, the humor and of course for the friendship. over the course of seven months

my fellow judges is not have the distinct pleasure of selfishly and miraculously escaping isolated pockets to the hard-earned miracle of stories that have been meticulously translated into english for more than a dozen languages. in a moment of profound uncertainty and isolation each novel, story and essay that we encounter brought us back to an obvious but easily overlooked factor the world is remarkable in each active translation bears to that, the five books that made our short list this year our intimate as they are expansive, political as they are personal. they are marbles of foreign language brought home to us for the dedicated work of extraordinary translators who are stitching word by word, line by line our fragmented world got

together. the five finalists for the national book award in translation is high as the water rises translated by and published by catapult books. the family clause, translated by alice and published a fsg. tokyo the wedo station, translated and published by riverhead books. the bitch transmitte translatedd published by world editions. minor detail translated by elizabeth and published by new directions. in this year's national book award for translated literature goes to tokyo station translated

by morgan and published by riverhead books. >> translated from the japanese by morgan. riverhead books this translation by morgan a korean japanese rider yu miri tokyo station is a welcome and necessary addition to the translated japanese which unfolds in the memory of the deceased translation. it's an observation of japan at the gateway of its capital in a multiple threshold of shifting errors told in the morning father in patriot reciting his surroundings and circumstances, a mantra.

>> congratulation. [cheering] >> you did a great job. >> thank you. >> great job. >> thank you very much. >> many thanks i am so happy i am happy tokya ueno station is an english, it's a shame we can be together or tonight now.

i would like to get he to give h five and a hug. [speaking in foreign language] it exploded in march 2011. the main character of tokya ueno station -- in the speech is written in the status, not standout japanese. it is a lot of work to translate

tokya ueno station is the first novel that was translated. i want ti want to think it's cr, there is so much i would like to say into so many people. i would like to hug, thank you. finally i would like to share this joy with the people who are on. [inaudible] >> this is for you, thank you.

>> thank you so much, this is unbelievable. i cannot have a mountain three years ago when i started translating this novel it was when the national book award for translated literature, there are so many people that i have to think, first i would like to think laura and glory at riverhead for helping put this book out in america in making this happen. but before that i need to think deborah smith and everyone for believing in this book in the first place. i need to think my parents for always believing in me and encouraging me and my husband sean for supporting me to the point of moving to japan with

me. but most importantly of all i have to thank you yu miri for trusting me as a first-time translator with her very precious novel. [speaking in foreign language] thank you so much for letting me translate your beautiful novel. thank you also to the people of fukushima for being so gracious and helping me. this is truly unbelievable. thank you. >> congratulations to the winners and now back to our host jason reynolds. >> congratulations to you and morgan and a high five and a hug would be phenomenal right now. and now for what i like to call

the piano of literature the cornerstone of this whole thing, the national book award for poetry. >> poetry not only teaches us about the world but how to live in the world, this year's finalist for the national book award for poetry investigate immigration and colonialism, examine the effects of systemic violence and contemplate personal and cultural identity. but these will ask us to recognize beauty to rebel in our imagination and to build a future worth celebrating. for this year's national book award for poetry whose poetry were the finalist for the 2017 national book award for poetry. >> good evening, everyone, it is

an honor to be with you tonight and it has been indescribable honor. to serve alongside fellow panel members, john, diana and elizabeth. i wish to sincerely thank the panel members, i thank you for your dedication to our work this year under unforeseen and unbelievable stresses and difficulty. i thank you for the respectful discourse that we shared, there was a trust established amongst us that allowed openness, honesty and inability to encounter are differing views not as opposition but as

important consideration to move us forward. in these times especially to the power of consultation when conducted with care, integrity and absolute respect for our community. for me it will be a lifelong memory. within the books we read we found the poetry of witness that is to say poetry that refuses four days, these books were courageous in their offerings, ways in which to fully hold the side of the division. and somehow collective human experience. , many of these poems gave a

timely address of social issues, the turbulence and turmoil we are in wall so acknowledging and embracing in the natural world, all of creation. and for all of its cities the parameters of love remain indefinable in many of these books. but without question we understand that love, existence is, and is, it is. and it is what makes us human. with celebratory music and fireworks this year's national

book award finalist are tommy, fantasia for the man in blue published by four-way books -- excuse me i think i read in the wrong order. i will start again. >> the finalist on stars by new direction books. tommy for the contagion for the man in blue by four-way books. donley troy for d&d colony by wave books. anthony for borderland by nomineandnatalie by postcoloniae

published by gray wolf. this year's national book award winner for poetry is john lead troy for d&d colony urgent dmv colony those transformed by colonization, homeland present and past share one sky where birds fly but during the korean war plan to have no place to land devastating and belligerent the survivor accounts drawing photographs and handwritten text

with the truth between facts and the critical imagination we are all victims of history and it compels us and to resist. >> thank you so much this feels really weird to me. i would like to think the national book foundation and also the judges and i'm grateful and honored of tommy, anthony and natalie thank you to amazingly books. this award is for my father

poetry inciden translation haved my life, we feel inseparable, the national woman's network against militarism has taught me about translation in these wonderful small and independent presses has generously published my translation of korean family poets and translation related to writings, action books, new directions, ugly death claims, wave books and press, thank you. in the recent interview of the act of writing poetry is one of the least predatory acts that they want to engage in. in the barrel of a pin poet

writers to be on the side of the struggles of the sod upon. the labor poetry is the systems she said i needed to excavate the faceless face with language, ellen ginsberg in the 1974 mba acceptance speech called out the fact, our military has practiced popular world abroad and can do so here if challenged. we may have already arrived i ginsberg prophetic fact. therefore it is more important that we engage in the non-predatory labor of writing in leading poetry in translation on the side of the struggles of those sat upon here and abroad. thank you.

>> congratulations to the winner and now back to our host jason reynolds. >> congratulations don mee choi. there's only two awards left, this is me knocking at the door of support, if you believe in this work and if you want to support these offers, please consider donating to this year's national book award. next up is a category the most admiration, the national book award for nonfiction. >> the 2020 finalist for the national book award for nonfiction subject in form

biography, history essays a memoir, immigration and the denial of citizenship, the lives of historical and literary icons, the dispossession of native americans and what it means to be black in america. they expand our world, the panel chair for this years national book award is terry tempest williams the author of 16 books including the environmental literature classic refuge and unnatural history of family and place, she divides her time between the red rock desert of utah in cambridge massachusetts where she's a writer in residence at harvard divinity school. >> good evening and thank you for supporting the national book foundation. bless you lisa for bringing us together and for anna for holding this up. added time when we hardly know what to believe or who to trust or where to dwell, the nonfiction of my colleagues and i that i read that she restored her faith in the power of one word, these words, placed by

writers thoughtfully, lyrically with for nobody in the level of ideas, you found in crafted stories that move dust, disturbed just and we oriented our thinking, you stirred our hearts with impeccable language as you explored the style of the very field of nonfiction. a story well told because the contents of a community, we become accountable for the knowledge that we share, as a result we not only see the world differently, we re-inhabited. because of what we encountered in these five extreme area books my fellow judges and i became a community who cared, not only about the revelation and wisdom contained in the narrative but a community who cared about each other. this is the alchemy of literature, how we read one

another. i want to think with all of my heart, david and jim. in this pandemic that began as a pause that is now a place, please know that you mark this moment for me with respect and friendship and love. my gratitude. to those honored tonight we recognize your gift of making a true story of a landscape, we fell in love with carson and the power of obsession how identities not only shared but interrogated. or deepened. we felt the ignorance and cruelty and how to make a slave, even as you made this last until we didn't. in the heinous and the thoughtful policies of racism in

this country we call america. the two often hidden and shattered histories past and present that were brought into full light to the undocumented americans. and it is true the dead are arising, you showed us we are indeed an unworthy republic. you left us without rage and grief but also with the force field of hope and indignity of ancestors. the five finalist for the national book award in nonfiction are carla, villa, the undocumented american. , one world. less pain, the dead are arriving, the life of milk and next, claudia, unworthy republ republic, the dispossession of

native americans in the road to indian territory. dan, my autobiography of colors, gerald walker, how to make a slave and other essays, mad creek books, ohio state university press. and the winner of the 71st national book award in nonfiction is the dead are arriving, the life of malcolm x, less pain and camera pain. >> less pain into merit pain, the dead are arriving the life of malcolm x ww norton and company. less and to merit pain a picture of malcolm x1 of our greatest and most misunderstood american.

malcolm's story from a street criminal to devoted revolutionary is an unlikely profound and comprehensive than intensely portrait written with a dedicated beauty and uncompromising detail that matches malcolm's life. the dead are arriving is the most compelling telling since autobiography. >> hi, good evening, thank you so much for this. this is such a bittersweet moment. i really wish my father was here for this and it is so hard to believe this.

first of i want to read my statement after interviewing the littles the two older brother of malcolm x my father decided to write the dead are arriving. a book that would bring one of the most important americans of the 20th century into clear focus, to show not just the family but the world in which he was born, to provide context who more than any other leader of the 1960s to consider who we are from when we come in what we could become. since beginning the journey to finishing the dead are arriving we see how malcolm x has influence people international, today we see the youth all over the world to continue to embrace him because the message still rings true. i want to thank the family jul

julia, john, laura, peter, stephen, nick, gabe, cordelia, i also want to think daniel, liz, pauline, bob weil who is the editor for believing in the importance of this book and believing in my father and his commitment of editing this manuscript and who studied energy and kept this book on course. without you and bob this book would not have been possible, i also think you and my fellow nominees, the judges and the national book of foundation and lisa lucas. most importantly i want to think my father for committing to this enormous work in making his life work and for bringing me on as his copilot, my mother violet,

my brother and walter and linda evans, my father, siblings, uncle, john, joseph, raymond and my aunt marianne and their families for their love and support over the 30 years. thank you. >> congratulations to the winners and now back to our host jason reynolds. >> congratulations to you, your father and your entire family. . . . the working class in 1980s lascaux, southern church lady, children in a climate crisis,

action will be stars and families at home during an apocalypse. far ranging, yes but in their enormous humanity, intimately familiar, these books are a chance to question who we are and we could be. the panel chair for this year's national book award for fiction is roxanne jay, the author of an untamed state, that ãbas well as the world of wauconda from marvel >> it's a real pleasure to be here tonight, though i certainly wish we were in the same room. it has been a year but it has been an honor to serve on the fiction committee of the 2020 national book awards. and to do so alongside a truly incredible panel of judges, i served with christina henriquez, rebecca mckay and keaton patterson. we also had the endless and relentless support of anna

dobbin and lisa lucas of the national book foundation and though i think all of them. fiction is and always has been and always will be my first love both as a writer and reader. i love it so very much. one of the greatest gifts of this process was having to read books i might not ordinarily know about or gravitate toward. this year the committee and i read a lot of books. i mean, a lot. those books were incredible, epic novels, intricately crafted short stories, we read about love and marriage and war and devastation, we read stories that were serious and stories that were moving and. >> if you published fiction this year please know your words were loved, respected, and enjoyed. this is been an impossible year

and almost every way. we are dealing with a pandemic in the political climate that is somehow both terrifying and absurd. i'm in awe of the art writers are producing under such challenging circumstances. we spend not nearly enough time talking about what we accomplished despite the challenges. it's hard to write when it feels like the world is falling apart and it's even harder to write well. it's hard to believe writing matters as democracy threatens to shatter, when in fact, writing in all acts, these things matter more than ever we have a responsibility as writers to respond to this political moment. we have a responsibility to bear witness. we have a responsibility as ãb to instruct and entertain. to that end, the writers who made the long and short leicestershire both instructed and entertained and in

memorable ways and on the high on behalf of the fiction committee i congratulate you all. this year's finalists are read the world behind, a children's bible by lydia millet, published by the ww norton company. the secret lives of church ladies by decius philia, published by west virginia university press. mebane by douglas stewart, published by grove press grove atlantic. and anterior chinatown by charles you published by pantheon and imprint of penguin random house.this year's winner is inferior chinatown by charles >> pantheon books and imprint of penguin random house, by turns hilarious and flat-out heartbreaking it's a bright bold punch of a novel written

in the form of a screenplay with porous boundaries, wonderfully invented work spotlights the welter of obstacles into everyman protagonist must confront in a profoundly racist rigidly hierarchical world as he does his best in the story of its own life to land a decent role. [laughter] [laughter] thank you roxanne gaye, nice to meet you. i can't hear you, i also can't feel anything in my body right now. i prepared nothing, which tells you about how realistic i thought this was.

thank you to the national book foundation and lisa lucas and anna dongen and everyone there. thank you to everyone at pantheon and vintage, tim o'connor, anna kaufman, i'm forgetting, i'm going to forget i will think you all later. julie bayer at the book group, you are incredible, you're all incredible, and to the judges roxanne gaye and all the other judges and to all the people who made tonight possible, in a year where the words are escaping me. i have goosebumps several times and when i saw john lewis talk about not having a library card, even though i've seen that during tech rehearsal, it makes me tear up. walter mosley gave me goosebumps hearing about book deserts made me cry and there are not many reason for hope

right now but to be here hearing about all these books, having read some of them, going on to read many more of them, it is what keeps me going and i hope that this community can sustain other people the same way. i hope in some small way my book can also do that for people. i don't know what's happening, this seems about right for 2020 because i'm pretty sure this is all assimilation. i will probably just stop talking now and anyone i forgot to thank, jason richman, ricky berman, you know i love you, the team at europa i love you all. thank you for this honor, it's incredible. i'm going to go melt into a puddle right now. >> congratulations to the winner and now back to our host, jason reynolds. >> congratulations charles.

in an enormous congratulations to the winners of tonight's national book awards, thank you to julia whalen who is our announcer tonight and whose voice you might know from so many different wonderful audiobooks, and from her own writing, thank you so much to all of tonight's finalists, winners, judges, attendees and viewers. the national book awards would it be possible without the wonderful support of readers everywhere. speaking of that support, we raised about $500,000 tonight, which is nothing to sneeze at but did not reach our goal. that's okay because the national book foundation wants to reach it by the end of the year. help us get this nonprofit where it needs to be. we have one surprise left for you tonight, stay tuned, but as far as i'm concerned, my job here is done, good night from washington dc, take care of each other, be kind, tell each other you love one another and

thank you for attending the national book awards. >> and now for a special treat from one of the 2020 translator literature judges john darr neil of the mountain goats with "this year, thank you for joining us and good night stop. >> greetings. i've been asked to ãbit would be nice to just hang on a sustained cord particularly on the four as you hang on the four and just think briefly how it will only be a short while until at the very least we get to put this calendar year behind us.

[singing] [singing]

[singing]

thank you, good night. >> on "after words" yale law professor john davey and whit discussed how american long response pandemics. here's a portion of that discussion. >> viruses bring out, rugged individualism is a kind of suicide. our history the founders of this country understood that quite powerfully. in the 1790s the one in 10 residents of philadelphia died of yellow fever, we now have .1 percent of the u.s. population has died of covid in the last six months, 10% of philadelphia died, i grew up in the neighborhood that was the

federal government's it's affirmation place from philadelphia it's a terrible way to deal with infectious disease. and collective authority to democratic processes to help communities flourish is really the alternative. what we think about this as we've had a myth in this country that freedom comes with ãbin moments of epidemics, freedom comes from figuring out a way to work collectively to the government to give us all the resources, vaccines and the like, that will help the florist that tradition runs deep through american history. deeper than the rugged individuals in my day. >> you can find the rest of this interview and our website, just click on the afterwords tab near the top of the page to find this and all previous

interviews. >> book tvm prime time starts now, dan blumenthal weighs on china's ambition to replace the united states of the world's leading power. historian catherine gates cast looks at the relationship between ãbwho attended the 1945 yalta conference with their fathers. whenever author interview program afterwards the national reviews kevin williamson reports on the politics and everyday lives of the white american working class from its travel through appalachia. at 10:00 p.m. eastern eddie glaude appears to discuss race in america. for more schedule information, visit booktv.org or consult your graham guy. now a look at china's role in the world. >>, cory ãand