washington educated himself so they were perfectly ready based on the very highest principle and that's what they did it is a contradiction. but i assure am glad they did it. but i assure am glad they d but i assure am glad they did but i assure am glad they did

it's an honor to welcome everyone to the 71st national book awards. i'm coming to you live from washington d.c.. this is our night. there's so much going on in the world that this is still her night and it's a big deal. it's so much of the big deal that i woke up this morning actions and nervous as usual. i called my mother because i ice my mother when i'm anxious. 7:00 in the morning could she and the phone she said zero. i said i'm just feeling anxious

about tonight that i'm hosting the national book awards and i'm calling to see good advice her child and she said what she always says when i make this call. she fled but the ascii something son. what did i make you say every single night before you got into bed when you were little when i said i don't want to do this and she said no, what did i make you say every single night before you got into bed when you were a little boy and i said you made me say i can do anything. she said exactly. you can do anything. you told me this all the time but i never asked you where you got that from. where did that come from and why did you make me say so much when i was young and where did you learn that? she started to laugh and she said i learned that from the first book that changed my life and she was 13 years old and it moved to washington d.c. from a small town in south carolina. when she got there she was

southern. she was assumed that she be less educated because she had a next every she hung out in the black light repeated she felt like being around books that make her feel more intelligence. >> she's at around age 13 there was a new book out that jumped out at her. it was called the power of positive thinking. when she told me this i said you read that when you are 13 years old and she said that's when i started the book that i read it every single week. i would read and read and i finished the book by the time i was a senior in high school. but there was one mantra in the book that stuck and it was to tell yourself that you can do anything. 25 years later she gave me the same answer -- information the same words germinating in my mind and 60 years later in the physical manifestation of that language in that narrative the physical manifestation of the

power of words the physical manifestation of what happens when 26 letters are arranged in a strange mysterious sequence that can terror world down for toga world up even if that word exists only within us. that's why tonight is our night and that's why this is a big deal. tonight's event is open for which makes it a bigger deal but it's also the biggest fund-raiser from the national book foundation. they are a nonprofit organization. if you believe in the power of books to change the world please consider donating today. we have an audience roomful of people who love books and are champions of the national book done bashan. how are you feeling everybody? i'm glad he could join us. we'll check in with them over the course of the night but for now we are starting off with a lifetime achievement honoree. the first of these awards given to a person who has expanded the

audience to books and reading. last year the foundation honored ahead of the american book seller association and the past winners include dr. my angelo scholastic books. tonight's honoree carolyn reedy was the ceo of simon & schuster until her passing this past week. we will hear from simon & schuster and the aba on the american literary community. carolyn's husband steven will accept the literary award on her behalf. ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ >> the first thing i thought of only lost carolyn reedy was she was a reader. sure ran a huge company and she knew everybody in the publishing world. she knew how it worked but she was a leader. >> we have things that we remember about carolyn and some that remember. it was her intuitive feel for the publishing company and for others not just authors and other folks in the publishing business booksellers and anybody who picked up a book. >> she was always pushing

knitting that i had a place in the company. it was comforting for sure. >> a can imagine anybody more deserving than carolyn reedy to receive this recognition. >> the contribution she is made to the bit -- book business more broadly to the literary landscape in america are unparalleled. >> when it comes to carolyn reedy i couldn't have been more wrong. she was very involved with all three of the novels i published with simon & schuster and scribner. >> carolyn was involved and hope of my books over the last two decades. carolyn was a book person. when you go to her office there were books and manuscripts

everywhere. truthfully i think she looked at publishing is a sacred trust between the publisher and the author including the public treaty could write whatever you wanted pretty good disagree and she might agree and she might disagree and she might have some questions but it was your book tamperproof environment. it's the perfect environment for an author. when i came and people weren't checking for the kind of story that i was trying to push corporate she created a culture of openness, culture with a wide vision. the only thing about carolyn reedy was she helps me. i only met carolyn reedy one time. i felt like it was the longest relationship of all time. >> i think carolyn's legacy is understanding how to move the publishing industry and to each

new age that comes along including the digital revolution. >> she was ceo during the hard times, hard time for books, hard time for the economy and instead of trying to take over that she said okay we have got to change. >> the bookselling world had some ups and downs during all of those. >> she never stopped pressing and trying to figure out what it was and what it is that we could do to be better >> among the many things that made carolyn's special is that she was about something larger than herself wasn't just can we make a profit this quarter, its can we make the world a better place? she did it through books. but she did appear everything from the national book awards to all the organizations that she participated in and you knew

that she was motivated by that basic concept that we are here for a short while and we have to make sure they make it about something larger than just ourselves. ♪ >> a deanie everybody. i would like to take this opportunity to thank the national book foundation and all of carolyn's friends there for so many years for bestowing this award. 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 and 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 and reading itself and in her words in the magic that comes from it and interaction between the office words and the reader's mind. that intellectual curiosity to carolyn to an understanding of publishing as the promoter of that author reader magic and the result of promoting that magic was to carolyn and the expansion of the audience for books and reading. that audience expansion was critical to carolyn because she believed that authors and publishers through the power of the word and the book did not

just reflect our culture, they helped to create it. you have heard carolyn was a reader and yes he heard carolyn was a book person but i think she was the proudest of being a publisher because they she said in publishing we are the shepherds to this gift of the book doing everything we can to help bring the art is voice to the reader. and carolyn's success in doing that well and thereby increasing literature that i think she would have been delighted to receive the honor of this award from the national book foundation. while carolyn believed to have high level of cultural impact with books and reading she was equally convinced that expanding the audience for folks in reading was part of the sacred

trust of publishing. why? because of her passion and belief that looks and reading can change one's life. many people say that looks at change their lives. reading has change 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 19-year-old kids discussing a book, books and reading not only changed our lives but more importantly they gave us a life together. i believe that life together one built on books and reading is the real recipient of this award today because that's shared light in testament to carolyn's conviction that reading is one

of the greatest things that humans can do. and so for honoring the contribution of carolyn took promoting that conviction i am deeply grateful to the national book foundation. thank you very much. >> steve and our thoughts are with you and carolyn's legacy will live on through our work. the second lifetime achievement award will be presenting at the medal for distinguished contribution to american literature. previous winners of this award include the great toni morrison, steven king, it is a bell at yen bay and gwendolyn brooks. this honors given to her writer who is over the course of their career greatly enriched our literary heritage. their body of works great tonight's honoree in his book have had an extraordinary impact and here to present the medal is

edwidge danticat. edwidge danticat is the author for works of fiction including the national book award finalist and everything inside a national book critics circle pitches written seven books for young readers. her memoir brother i'm dying which is my favorite for the national book award finalist and won the circle of award for autobiography. she is a 2009 macarthur fellow winner of the 2018 international prize for literature two-time winner of the story prize and is the winner of the 2020 prize in literature with great, great great pleasure invite to welcome one of mike-year-olds edwidge danticat. >> good evening. the first time i saw someone received the national book omission award for distinguished contributions to american writing 26 years ago in 1994, tonight's recipient walter mosley present the same award.

some of the cell a communal plate of this award. in some ways what i feel tonight for the job of the writer is c's take a close and i'm comfortable look at the world they inhabit, the world we all inhabit and the job of the novel is to make it thing. walter had been looking for our world the past 30 years starting with the publication of his groundbreaking first novel devil in a blue dress to his most recent powerful short story collection the awkward black man. he has published 60 books ranging from the novel to the

existential thriller and beautiful meditation on aging and dying. walter is always in surge of new ground via dean's announced of the love of los angeles or his views on capitalism and raise and his political monographs. his inspiration of different genres and streams of thought with his science fiction or his plays are often referred to as departures for him but every new walter mosley work is a departure as well as a homecoming. a homecoming filled with pages that take astray to the edge and back and if we are lucky to stop at the crossroads. his journeys embraced in all the

complexities and frailties walters blackmail heroes who touched philosopher strong enough to kill with their bare hands and gentle enough to break a little girl's hair. >> characters constantly question the status quo all while demanding urgent answers of the world and himself and sometimes they carried the weight of all of our tails. with influences ranging from shakespeare to gwendolyn brooks and langston hughes walters worked deeply into not only the world we inhabit but the eminent world we might hope for, all that we are and all that we are becoming. walter's contribution to american writers expand beyond his own. in 1998 he helped. the publishing program at his

alma mater the city college of new york with the goal of training people of color to work in publishing. the past two years the program has graduated over 250 students who have gone on to work in publishing as editors designers or publishers. fiction is one of the few constructive human activities when we have to make something from almost nothing. walter wrote an element of fiction one of two prizewinners he's written. something from nothing he said is a receipt for failure and also the miraculous. tonight in spite of the many challenges and horrors we dare to celebrate the miraculous. it's my honor to introduce the winner of the book foundation award distinguished contributions to american legend walter mosley.

senate thank you so much for that. it was really wonderful and i'm really happy. also i'm deeply grateful to receive the distinguished contribution to american letters. i'd like to thank a few important people. ishmael reid david bradley samuel r. delany cornelius e. d percival everett nathan mccraw michael harper ralph ellison randall kenan amiri baraka iceberg slim stanley crouch quincy troupe neil degrasse tyson anne frank. these are a few names among my peers who are now or have lived

here. without them and so many others i could not tee here today. it's a great honor to be given this recognition. it has been more than 30 years since i embarked on the path brought in a mind that is too small to contain the full scope of a project that is endless and has within it like language itself the full experience. i love writing. slip results and foolish errands and silly puns and metaphors its ability to offer the millennia the human invention and defiance of poverty and ever encroaching techno. stories can be transmitted but they have yet to be surpassed by that or any other reading. stories keep their deep connection to the human heart word by word, sentence by sentence. my fellow writers and i and our

readers talk about love and reality and truth that might not ever be uttered except by the words and the books that we read, that we write and that we interpret. we write or speak to her readers but at the same time they receive our source applying them to their own unique experience. in this way writing is lyrical and democratic in the extreme. we are free in our minds to imagine, to conjure anything, anything at all. this brings me back to the beginning. there's a great way to hang of the reception of an 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. as a matter of course we have been changed, and eaton raped murdered robbed of her games are history and often even our

dignity. this has been an ongoing process and unending anguish. one might be cowed by the monumental negative space that this award represents. one might ask that such a thing make a difference? is this the dying death or her first breath? is today different from any other day over the past 400 years? i prefer to believe that we are on the threshold of a new day that this evening is but one of 10,000 steps being taken to recognize the potential of this nation. we the people who are darker than blue hill this nation brick vibrate. we crafted its jazz and realize police previous achievements cannot be ignored. we have been here from the beginning and we 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 through. 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 in new york. your car was coming down the street in the window was down just enough perceived -- to see the top half of your face. we could see her hat your eyes and a bit of your notes in my buddy sitting with me said you know that is walter mosley. you heard us and you looked at us and he rolled the window appeared fast-forward 15 years and i was at some kind of

fund-raiser for a literary event. marlon james was there and it was amazing part sitting at a table with my friend jacqueline wins in i felt away to 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 tip your hat and he simply said icu. i don't know if you remember it but it meant the world to me because it felt like you were saying that i had a place here, that i had earned a seat at the table to sit amongst the others and to-my square and added to an everlasting patchwork, patchwork for the people darker than blue and everlasting quilt of black voices. >> black people you said the only people the united states ever explicitly to become literate. i am now officially speechless.

♪ >> tonight we are gathered here with our literary community to celebrate the best we as artists have to offer. in 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 complexity. >> some of you know i grew up in rural alabama, very poor. very few books in our home and i remember 1956 when i was 16 years old some of my brothers and sisters and cousins tried to get a library card and were told that the library for white soul

by. we must pursue the goal of seeking out an honoring the voices of writers whose contributions to our culture have often gone unrecognized. >> i had a teacher in elementary school who told me he read, my child, read and i try to read every day. hello books. >> without those voices that are too often been excluded from the stage, those voices that have been disenfranchised, the underserved and the unjustly maligned. whatever excellence by the bin achieved was that s. compromise. >> i understood that i wanted to read about the experiences of the poor and the black of the south so the culture that is marginalized as for so long will see that our stories were seen

as universal and is lovely in a port is theirs for this is a life work and i'm only just beginning. >> the national book foundation we believe black lives matter. >> it's a jute futures sick idea, world in which the descendents of become poets. >> we acknowledge one of the great gifts of this moment is the recognition that struggles of black americans both now and of generations past has served to make us all more free. >> you won't enroll me in this life or you won't make me part of it. >> he looked at me and the people i've loved and he looked at my poor my black my southern children women and men can you cite yourself. you saw your grief, your love, your losses, you're gretzky or joyce or hopes. >> in her art and in our culture

we acknowledge inequities and culture in books can do real material harm and the power the organization wields two face this nation's literary trend means we must bear in it in mind always. every single time i niederreiter he looks at me and says i have never seen my story until i read yours. i'm reminded of why this matters and it's not going to be an an award in it's not going to be an accolade. it's going to be looking someone in the face and saying icu and in return i am told i am seeing. >> we strive to i'm the home for black voices artist and he was their example to mold the national book foundation into an institution that will celebrate and represent the full scope of what we as a people other companies. >> i will never lose my faith that you and i can create an

anti-racist america were racial disparities are nonexistent, where americans are no longer manipulated by racist ideas, where black lives matter. >> we have a lot of work ahead of us and i'm so proud to be part of a community that are least things 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 readers who previously have been excluded from this room. ..

>> thank you for tuning in his heart in a pandemic we were scared we cannot do the show and here we are. you are here watching and that matters because the books. they matter. we are grateful to have been able to celebrate all of our finalist today and we welcome you to the 71st national book awards. very very soon we will find out who will win.

let's take a look at the green room to the finalist and recorded a few hours ago that even though we cannot be together tonight we're so glad to be with our community thank you for dressing up and joining us your work is incredible. and forever will be a part of our history and her family. one book, we know can change your life and these books we also know will impact the world for years to come. every single one. 2020 has been a challenging year for all of us and the book community. this spring has the reality of the pandemic setting and we ask yourself how we should respond. the foundation is dedicated to

books and we need double down for more books in public public housing and to have even more conversation between national book award authors and readers around the country with the support of the mellon foundation we have the great privilege of collaborating with our colleagues at the academy of american poets in the community of magazine to launch a historic literary arts emergency fund. this effort granted three.5 million and really funding to 282 fellow literary arts organizations supporting this at every single level has never been more critical and i cannot be part or how bad board and the staff have come to be the moment. this is our fundraiser and also our words and we put together a video why we hope you support this work.

>> resistance and change it very often in the heart of words. >> the national support for 70 words the national book award shining a light in the world's shows will be value, but we are interested in and what is important. >> books are the most powerful force and history supports us. >> you already warned for the book. >> in march just like everyone else we decided we were distribute books we had the program all over the nation

and then to present the events and we had plane tickets and audiences lined up so very quickly we regrouped to make sure we are dealing with those extraordinary issues of the country we were facing so we worked even more deeply with our publishing partners and public libraries and public housing to make sure those books got into the hands of the people that needed them. >> of the education program is the idea to be a connection for young people and as a collaboration between the national book foundation and the us department of urban development with other nonprofit partners and agencies to change the fact public housing authorities

were classified working with publishing partners those that were sent directly to the public housing authorities. >> now we are in the pandemic mode you will be surprised with the public housing authorities those that are distributing nutritional meals and practicing social distancing so you have families coming in to access meals children are receiving a purple your books. >> they are even more excited to be given books during this time when they are cut off from other resources. >> we give out over three

three.$5 million to fight the pandemic 282 organizations have benefited for the foundation. >> how the writers move around and interact with the young people we usually believe that there is no culture without the word instantly there is no justice spirit the literary emergency fund came at a moment when i don't think i realized how much the organization needed it this is at a time when people have to cut back it allows for the programming to the members and how we get adults excited

about talking about books by their friends and then with the national book award honoring brooks to speak more critically for different things are going on. >> that the program we have identified mass incarceration, policing in america, to help people understand what the cultural system the looks like and who is impacted. >> this is important because it's the first moving through difficult times. >> it made a difference in a community. >> there does need to be entities that are devoted to the object of the book and also the equality to have access to the book.

>> the national book award is many things to many people. but for us with the power of literature then to have a staff that is devoted and dedicated like we have to make sure that we are an institution in the middle of a pandemic we are a nonprofit and when we believe in the future without support it is far less assured so we hope you will consider making a donation of whatever you can.

>> i'm just a girl standing here in the library in address asking you to love books with money. books and what people are resilient we've all lost so much many luminaries. it's been a tough year. but we have also seen real limitations of the book. we haven't been bold enough in our vision we haven't been brave enough in our choices we haven't been confident enough in our values to make sure that this industry or community is a strong and inclusive as it could be whereas it should be or is it will be. and then to unprecedented problems and to take that fortitude to address the problems that have always been with us. we can do better. we know we can do better and we must do better. has many of you know, this is

my final year as director of the spine institution i will be joining think when random house has publisher in january. leaving is bittersweet. i will not cry but it's a comfort to see what we have altogether and to know this organization and the group of people have the skills and stamina and the flexibility to take on whatever comes next going first national book awards 2015 just days after the election, just like tonight and nobody knew exactly what was going to happen to us as a country but we came together and shared a meal and celebrated books in each other and that mattered and made us feel better and

then to have the national book award for national young people's literature with people through tears as a child he was kept from keeping a library card and to tell us how much it meant to be recognized we all walked away with a little more hope that the work that we did mattered and it was malleable and could change and improve that we could keep doing the work and it would keep making a difference. i came into this job a little shocked i had gotten the job before faith and it has been a gift in my life to be supported and guided by thinking about by a board of directors who believe in books the same way i do. they didn't give me the freedom to do my work but they gave me the tools how often do get to call on the best of the best to have them teach you?

they are the aunties and the uncles of great change in this industry end of my life and my gratitude for them is immeasurable. thank you to the board of directors for the national book foundation support and guidance of the organization reach new heights and it changed my life. also want to thank the staff at the national book foundation jordan, mary, andy, hannah, mad those are my rock and my friends, and a team i am so proud to work with every single day. team book got this done in the face of tremendous obstacles with grace in humor and hard work and great and never ever wants with daily doubting their belief in this tradition

and i am grateful that they believed enough for me to let me guide to the ship am also grateful for designers chips donated all the beautiful graphics that you see in the motion graphics go they have been with us since my first day and have been doing such gorgeous work and it is such a gift in this year we needed it. and the makers of c 41 who made her beautiful films this year. work so hard into a caption or and the team who is making tonight's insane and possible multifaceted 400,000 person lifestream possible release for media you are really useful.

2020 has taught us that every obstacle is an opportunity to reinvent how we go about our coalition celebrating the best literature in america, expanding the audience to ensure the books have a prominent place in american culture the national book foundation is strong and creative and will keep changing the world. one book and one reader at a time i look forward to supporting ensuring on those efforts forever. i am so glad and so proud and so lucky to have been the steward of this ship and i am really really grateful for my partner in crime and i have worked so closely with david steinberger our board chair i'm sorry we're not on stage together this time. over to you. >> thank you be set. i'm sorry we're not in stage together. we will do the best we can. i am in a special place.

watching tonight, on behalf of the board of directors of the national book foundation, like to welcome you to the 71st national book awards program coming to you tonight live from the room at the new public library and i cannot think of a more fitting place to be behind me inscribed in marble is the year 1910 in the words, the city of new york has erected this building for the free use of all the people. that pretty much says it all into my fellow board member the leader of the new public library for making this beautiful room available to us tonight. it is great to be here. tonight is done for 71 years we honor great writing to recognize incredible writers and to celebrate leaders whose lives are changed by books but

the national book awards are not just an award show that the single greatest source of income and a year-round public and education programs like the one described in the video we just watched together. so far we have raised almost $500,000 which is great, the goal is to raise $750,000 that we still have a ways to go. we don't have the usual ticket and table sales so contributions for individuals that are more than ever we are asking you tonight to please consider making a contribution which you can do right now and national book.org. there is a way to show our gratitude for anyone who makes a donation of $100 or more, we will send you one of the shares finalists books mailed directly to think so support of our friends at baker and take you to a fellow member the leader of baker and taylor for making this possible and

also our publishing partners for their generosity to provide the books to you may look forward to sending to as many of you as possible while supplies last we can assure you it will be a great read. if you didn't have you and hand the last time, national book.org now we need to say something cues because none of this would be possible without the support of our sponsors penguin random house amazon, barnes & noble, facebook, simon & schuster also thankful for harpercollins the family foundation with norton and

company thank you all. >> we need to acknowledge and thank those who read over 1600 books and for the first time digitally as this is not a typical year it is a major commitment to be a judge and we thank you all into my colleagues in board of directors and a special thank you to the national book foundation amazing staff a team of eight who accomplished so much. thank you for a wonderful host and jason reynolds for his passion and to help us celebrate as you already know this is lisa's last national book awards as director after helping us for five years we

are so thankful and so proud. look forward to a great success is a publisher of the on after many years of working with her in her new role. lisa does not know this yet but we have a gift for her commissioned especially for this occasion. i am pleased to share with everyone an original painting by a fantastic artist amber cleve clever, jane has created a book i'm sorry a work excuse me that encompasses each and every book that one a national book award during lisa's five years and it will not be completed until after tonight will later this evening we learned of this year's winners when they can be added. now let me say just a few more words about lisa. now let me say just a few more words about lisa. thank you.

i will miss our world and weekly calls, your energy, your drive and believe what we could make happen in the difference in the world. thinking back this week but everything you have accomplished coming back to that day when you first told me we might be able to get books to kids through public housing authorities they were called book dessert - - book deserts and if we do nothing more than just get books into the home of a child the child's chances in life 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 into the home of thousands

and thousands of kids and if that doesn't make a difference in the world i don't know what is. from all of us, thank you again for everything you have done for books, writers and readers. >> thank you. it is an great to work with you also it's all been brought to additional sponsor waterproof packs on - - mascara thank you for

everything. >> congratulations to lisa and thank you for all of your work the last five years we love you so so much and also to all of you watching again, please feel free to donate literacy only operates when met with accessibility and that's what the national book foundation is doing. time to get going with the national book awards but first, let's check in with our audience and how it is going so far. one thing for me so speech and that video that they will lead to get around the whole entire country to see what the audience is watching from tonight, brooklyn, long island, shy town, so many people around the country a beautiful tapestry of readers the national book words are particularly exciting because until the moment leaves the judge's mouth no one knows the decision not the foundation board, no staff, not me the

judges made their final decision only earlier today's everybody here is that you're the same time for the first time. the winners of each category will be announced by the chair of the respective category in reverse alphabetical order these are young people's literature, translated literature, poetry, nonfiction and fiction. and the first is near and dear to my heart which is the national book award for young people's literature. >> young readers need works to reflect their own experiences while also expanding the horizon this finalist for the national book award for young people's literature include a novel and a verse about the formative years of graphic novel documenting a refugee

journey and imagining of japanese-american teenagers with their incarceration during world war ii from eastern europe to the bayou of louisiana they are young people the whole entire world the panel chair from people's literature is writer and general manager of the red balloon. >> good evening am honored and happy to be here on behalf of the people's literature committee thank you for joining us tonight amid covid disruption i have the privilege of having a large stack of books to read to take us out of this world make us more able to live in it thank you to the national book foundation and especially to

lisa lucas for the flawless leadership through this process also the exceptional privilege of meeting weekly with a group of thoughtful and passionate leaders who understand good literature for kids ebony thomas thank you for your insight and kindness and commitment to find merit in each book which led to many hours of lively conversation when i look back on the year 2020 i'm grateful i will have these memories to keep. our five national book award finalist for keying and the dragonflies published by scholastic press. we are not free. everybody looking. when stars are scattered.

and the way back i'm happy to announce issues national book award for young people's literature goes to king and the dragonflies. ♪ king in the dragonflies hooks from the first sentence the voice rings true things the task sick masculinity and self-discovery slowly come into focus as they begin to understand the first hope of this world and has created a

timely story that is painfully timely. >> can you hear me? >> i'm trying not to cry but i really appreciate it. thank you national book foundation and the panel of judges for this incredible honor. this is an interesting year to win an award. this has been the hardest and

most painful and devastating year in many people's memories in our lifetime. for this is also been an empowering year for many to reflect not only ourselves but the society we live in to look at the wounds internal and external and to grow on know i'm not the only one that believes the next generation is meant to change everything young people change the world in so many ways and it is an honor and a privilege to be given the platform and the opportunity with hope and guidance and to be impacted by the power of young people. as an author for young readers i often talk about the necessary balance between pain and hope and joy but i am grateful for this moment. thank you to my agent that you are a rock and i'm so grateful

for you. on every day of this journey. thank you to scholastic in miami seeing editor along with the incredible marketing and publicity team. and my family to all of you, i love you so much and thank you for your support and thank you to my mom who believed in the subtle dream of mine from the very first moment of my little picture book their every hope that i still have. thank you.

>> congratulations 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 translated literature. the first award added in over two decades in the translated literature award is a global perspective honoring books from all over the world published here in the united states. and now the national book award for translated literature. >> we are living in a fractured world the national. it finalist for translated literature have made clear this is a sure planet and this award recognizes exceptional books translated in english with the 2020 finalist are translated from arabic, german, japanese, spanih and swedish.

these extra ordinary books show the fragility of love and the violence of abuse and the effects of the past on the present each makes a decisive case for global literature and those perspectives reaching beyond national borders in the national book award for translated literature in 2012 the macarthur fellow author of three novels including for unnamed. >> this year and i cannot imagine to be on this journey with more remarkable leaders thank you for your brilliance with this vigorous and

passionate debate and the friendship. >> over the course of several months the fellow judges and i have the distinct pleasure of selfishly and miraculously escaping our isolated pockets to the hard earned miracle of stories that have been meticulously translated for more than a dozen languages and in a moment profound uncertainty and isolation in each novel, story and essay that we encountered brought us back to an obvious but easily overlooked fact the world is remarkable that each active translation bears witnes witness. the five books that made the short list this year are as intimate as expansive and political and personal marvels of foreign language brought home to us in the dedicated work of extraordinary translators word by word, line

by line the fragmented world brought back together. the five finalists for the national book award in translation are, high as the water rises. the family clause. tokyo station. and the pitch - - minor detail. this year's national book award for translated

literature goes to the tokyo station published by riverhead book. >> translated from japanese an imprint of penguin and random house this translation the japanese writer is a welcome and necessary addition which unfolds to the deceased narrator from the train station looking at japan is the gateway of the capital with multiple thresholds told in the authority and compatriot through those circumstances.

>>. >> i am so happy that this book has been translated into english and from the nuclear

plant and the main character and not japanese but and it

was difficult translated. i want to sing her praises. there is so much i would like to say and for many people thank you. finally i would like to share the stories the state four

years. thank you. >> thank you so much this is unbelievable i could not have imagined three years ago when i started to translate this novel it would win the national book award for translated literature there are so many people i have to think first laura and glory at riverhead for helping to put this book out in america and making this happen, but before that thank you to everyone for believing in the book in the first place. also to my parents for always believing in me and encouraging me and my husband

for supporting me to the point of moving to japan with me. but most importantly thank you mary for trusting me as a first time name translator. [speaking speaking japanese] thank you for letting me translate your beautiful novel thank you to the people love fukushima to be 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 a high five and a hug would be phenomenal right now. and now what i like to call the piano of literature and the cornerstone of this whole thing the national book award for poetry. >> not only teaching us about the world the sears finalist for the national book award for poetry investigates immigration and colonialism in the effects of systemic violence and contemplates cultural identities these books asked us to recognize beauty and our imagination and to build a future worth celebrating the national book award for poetry the poetry collection is a finalist for the 2017 national book award for poetry.

>> good evening everyone. it is an honor to be with you tonight and an indescribable honor to serve alongside panel members and elizabeth willis wish we could sincerely thank you for your dedication under the unforeseen difficulty i thank you for the respectful discourse we shared established amongst us to allow openness and honesty and the ability to encounter our

differing views not as opposition but important consideration moving forward in these times especially it was a testimony to the power when conducted with care and integrity and absolute respect for our community for me it will be a lifelong memory with the books we read with on the poetry of witness these books were courageous to fully hold

and many of these address social issues the turbulence and turmoil that we are in while also acknowledging and embracing a natural world all in creation and for all of the complexity the parameters of love remain indefinable and many of these books. but without question, we understand that existence. it is. it is. it is. and it is what makes us human. and with celebratory music and fireworks.

this year's national book award finalist fantasia for the man in blue. excuse me i think i read it in the wrong order. i will start again. the finalists are a treatise. fantasia for the man in blue. dmz colony.

and the postcolonial love poems published by gray wolf print. this year national book award winner for poetry dmz colony. ♪ homelands present and past's share one sky within the korean war devastating the

survivor accounts and photographs and drawings and handwritten text shows the truth between fact and critical imagination we are all victims of history that compels us. >> thank you so much. this just feels very unreal to me. i would like to think the national book foundation i'm grateful and honored to be in the company thank you and this

award is for my father. poetry has changed my life. the international women's network has taught me to think critically about translation the wonderful small has generously publish the translation ugly duckling and vagabond and special press. thank you. >> it in a recent interview the act of poetry is one of those preparatory acts people

can engage in. and the labor of poetry and in 19542 calls out the fact that the military has a popular world abroad and can do so we may have already arrived and therefore it is more important to be engaged in the non- predatory of writing and reading poetry and translation

between those here and abroad. >> congratulations to the winner and back to our host, jason reynolds. >> thank you. only two words left this is me again knocking on the door for support if you believe in this work and want to support , please consider donating to the national book award. this is the category of the books i have the most admiration for nonfiction. the 2020 finalist for national book award very broadly with the fee history aside on - - essays in memoirs immigration

and the denial of citizenship and the disposition of native americans and what it means to be black in america and to expand our world and the panel chair for the national book award for nonfiction is the author 16 books including the environmental literature classic refuge in a natural history of family dividing time between the red rock desert in cambridge massachusetts as a writer and resident at harvard divinity school. >> good evening. thank you for supporting the national book foundation and for bringing us together and to ann anna. at a time when we hardly know what to believe or who to trust the nonfiction book my

colleagues and i picked this year is in the power of one's word, these words place by writers with the fidelity to fax and a level of ideas and then to me and orient our thinking through the fields of nonfiction because the contents of a community to become accountable for the knowledge which has been shared and as a result we know we see the world differently but we inhabit because of what we encountered with these five extraordinary books my fellow judges and i become a community with the wisdom contained that a community who cared about each other, this

is the alchemy of literature of how we read is how we read one another. i want to think with all my heart this pandemic please know that you mark this moment for me with respect and friendship and love. to those honored tonight we recognize your gift to make a true story a living landscape. we fell in love with the carson and how identity is not only shared but deepened. he felt the ignorance of how to make a slave even as you made us laugh until we didn't

and then to expose the heinous policy of racism in this country we call america. between those past and present with the undocumented americans and it is true the dead are arriving. you show us who you are in the end where the republic but also with the force field of hope and dignity of ancestors. the five finalists for the national book award in nonfiction are the undocumented americans. the dead are arriving.

on where the republic. on where the republic. how to make a slave and other essays. and the winner of the 71st national book award of nonfiction is the dead are arriving. ♪ the dead are arriving. and imprint of ww norton and company.

the depiction of malcolm x. one of the most misunderstood americans. his story derives from street criminal tomorrow listed revolutionary is unlikely and profound it is comprehensive and written with uncompromising details. the dead are arriving is the most accessible and compelling telling of an 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.

it is so hard to believe this. first of all after interviewing the two other brothers of malcolm x. my father decided to write the dead are arriving. that would be one of the most important americans of the 20th century into clear focus to show not just family but the world when she was born and to provide context to the man who more than any other leader in the sixties was best to consider who we are and from whence we come in what we could become. and then begin the journey we see how malcolm x. has influence people internationally and now we see you all over the world continue to embrace because the message rings true.

want to think norton imprint peter miller and i also want to thank and the editor the commitment of the manuscript and those that study throughout the journey have kept this on course without you this word not have been possible thank you to the fellow nominees and to lisa lucas more importantly i want to thank my father for committing to this enormous work and for bringing me on as

the copilot. my mother and my brothers walter and linda having one --dash and to my families for the love and support over 30 years. thank you. >> congratulations to the winners now back to our host, jason reynolds. >> congratulations. to you and to your father and your entire family. now last, but not least the national book award for fiction. >> in a year when we are all more isolated than ever before fiction reminds us we are not alone the national book award for fiction spores the working

class and church lady in the climate crisis and action movie stars and families at home during the apocalypse arranging, yes but in the enormous humanity infinitely familiar they are a chance to question who we are and who could be the author of the feminist about women and hunger. >> it's a pleasure to be here tonight always certainly wish we were in the same room it has been an honor to serve on the fiction committee of the 2020 book awards and to have an a truly incredible panel of judges and we have the endless

and relentless support from the national book foundation so i think all of them. fiction is and always has been and will be my first love both as a writer and the reader i love it so very much one of the greatest gifts of the process was having to read books i might not ordinarily know about were gravitate toward an issue the committee and i read a lot of books. a lot. they were epic novels intricately crafted short stories love and marriage and warren devastation and those that were serious and moving and hilarious and thrilling or a combination of all of those things. if you published fiction please know you were respected

and enjoyed. this is been an impossible year almost every way dealing with a pandemic and the political climate both terrifying and absurd i am in all of the art producing under such challenging circumstances. but not nearly enough time to talk about what we accomplished despite the challenges it's hard to write when it feels the world is falling apart and even harder to write well and when democracy will shatter all art it matters more than ever we have a responsibility as writers to respond to the political moment and to bear witness into the council during the q&a to instruct and

entertain and to that and the writers who make the long and short list instructed and entertained and memorable ways in behalf of the fiction committee i congratulate you all. this year's finalist leave the world behind the secret lives of church ladies. and in. her chinatown this year's winner is inferior chinatown. >> with this flat-out

hilarious and heartbreaking it is a gut punch of a novel. that wonderfully inventive work to spotlight every man protagonist in this hierarchical world and a story of his own life. >> what? [laughter] thank you. nice to meet you. i cannot feel anything in my body right now. i prepared nothing. talking about how realistic i

thought this was. thank you to the national book foundation thank you to everyone that pantheon and i will forget apply will thank you later at the book group you are all incredible. and to the judges and to all the other judges until the people who make tonight possible in a year when the words are escaping me i've had goosebumps when i saw john lewis talk about his library card even though i have seen that during tech rehearsal it makes me tear up. walter mosley gave me

goosebumps hearing about book deserts made me cry again. there's not many reasons for hope right now. but then hearing about all of these books and have read them to go on to read many more it's what keeps me going that this community can sustain other people and we can also do that for people. i don't know where it is happening in pretty sure this is all a simulation. i'll probably just stop talking now anybody that i forgot to think you know i love you. 's thank you for this honor it is incredible. >> congratulations to the winner and now back to our host, jason reynolds.

>> congratulations. and the enormous congratulations to the winners of tonight's national book awards. thank you to julia whelan who is the announcer and the voice from different audio books from her own right thank you to the finalist and winners and judges and attendees and viewers in the national book awards would not be possible without the wonderful support of readers everywhere and of that support we raised $500,000 tonight which is nothing to sneeze at but we did not reach our goal. that's okay because the national book foundation once to reach you by the end of the year so please spread the word and share and help us get the nonprofit where it needs to be. we have one surprise left so stay tuned but as far as i am concerned my job is done. good night from washington dc

take care and be kind and tell each other you love one another and thank you for attending the national book awards. >> now for a special treat from the 2020 translator literature judges thank you for joining us and good night. >> greetings. particularly on the floor think briefly will only be a short while until at the very least we can put this calendar year behind us. ♪

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thank you and good night.

>> we are not in germany were germans can say i didn't know what was going on in the camps. these were happening again and again so the choices are really a deliberate act of forgetting or lack the

engagement or a refusal to understand to vote in the mechanisms that have allowed these things to happen. >> thank you and what the words of money. coming to life from the beautiful public library from downtown austin texas. to be the greatest literary stars in america and the kirkus editors and staff in new york