well, i would like to invite to

the stage my good friend who cares about books just much as i do. and i know we all do in the world we need it the most right now. i'm so glad to be here with you all. love you even if i don't know you. we share this message, love and hope and togetherness and, literary rigor and excellence in thought. in truth. so thank you so much for your work. please welcome to the stage kate mckinnon. hi.

you. thank you, john. he's pretty good. my name's kate. hi. it's nice to but i am a book awards virgin, so be gentle. i'm going to put on these glasses which are fake glasses that i wear to feel smarter because i am the dumbest person in this room. good evening. tonight we come together to celebrate the power of storytelling the way it connects us, challenges us, and transforms us. as we gather in this room, surrounded by some of most talented and visionary authors of our time, we are reminded that books do more than

entertain. they illuminate. they provoke. and most importantly, they change. that was written by chat petty. is that. i didn't know. i was so intimidated. i didn't know what to say at the opening. and i was telling my friend about it and he asked the robot. and that's what the robot said. don't use chatty beauty because i find distasteful and frightening and because i have an iphone seven, a platform that does not even support emojis. in any case. so this is not your mama's book awards going to have some fun tonight? who's drunk when. okay. it really. no, it really is. honor to be here tonight as a sketch comedian, there are a few

calls that you wait for. the call to join the cast of saturday night live. the call to thank to play an outlandish side character in a blockbuster film and course the call to host the national book award award. i set. i told the producers of this event, you know, the high point of my career wearing ryan gosling's genitals as a hat on live tv. i don't know. i have the requisite gravitas to host national book awards. and they said, we know they said they wanted something fun and light. and i said, oh, distract from the fact that the world is a bonfire and we're just toss some more wood on. and they said yes, in a way that

suggests that maybe they regretted the call. but i do. i wanted to be here because books do so many things. they inspire. they transfer sports. they kill spiders. when you can't find a shoe, i was told that this event is like the oscars of books. i said, so what's the budget for my opening number? do i get back up dancers, how many, etc. and said we can provide granola bars for the rehearsal. but john cena is and he will be naked. i i'm kidding. yeah i, i technically did join the literary world this year. i published a middle grade novel that was the most work. thank you. i'm sure you guys have heard this, but it's so much work during your book. i wanted to write a book for

young readers because when i was young, books did saved my life. thank you. i was choking on a fig newton and the woman babysitting hit me hard on the back with a copy of beowulf. and the newton was just lodged. but seriously seriously, i wasn't. i wasn't sure i wanted to write a book. i just knew that i had a like a burning itch to communicate and connect. but that could only be scratch matched by telling a story and sharing it. it is. why do we continue to write books? there are movies. i mean, are there already enough books? people are leaving these things in laundry rooms, you know, and yet and yet we continue because. the world spins on offering us new situations ranging from the tricky to the horrific and i

think ultimately we tell stories because want to help a a book is an offering it's a hand the darkness a way of saying i isn't this crazy see and that's something that a robot will never be able to do because thank you. yes. robots do not know what it's like to be certain you're going to die one day. robots not experience racism, food insecurity. robots do not lose their partners weep over election results or receive a devastating diagnosis, as most of all, robots do not know what it's like to confidently walk up to someone and say, hi, abigail, and only to learn that the person is named suzanne. but we know these things. people know these things. and so until we have solved problems of death and loneliness

and their byproducts, war and climate sensitive souls will continue to offer their theses of how to make the most of our fragile and fleeing fleeting time on this burning planet surrounded other frightened hearts and in that way, writing a book is nothing short of an act of kindness. so please give yourselves a round of applause for your kind impulse. reach out into the darkness darkness. okay, enough. the comedian. we are going to begin tonight with the presentation of the two lifetime achievement given by the national book foundation. the first is the 2024 literary, an award for outstanding service to the american literary community, presented in recognition of the honorees, dedication to expand, ending the audience for books and reading,

which is as martha stewart would say, a very good thing. pastor recipients include dr. maya angelou, carolyn reidy, dawn weber, and most recently paul yamazaki of city lights, booksellers and publishers. tonight's recipient is a lifelong advocate for black and african stories. through his work as a bookseller librarian, instructor, editor and, publisher, here to present the literary in this evening is 2020 lifetime achievement award honoree walter. walter mosley is an award winning of over 60 acclaimed books of fiction, including the upcoming been wrong so long it feels like right as well as works of nonfiction and plays. his work has been translated into 25 languages. it gives me great pleasure to welcome to the stage walter

mosley. i didn't know there was going to be a music. they have it on this thing, but i'm going to read my paper. it says almost exactly the thing, you know, because, you know, i just get the feeling that you get the feeling like when when you come and they say they want to see it so they can, but they just because they can put it up here, so they can read it, that they really want to make sure what you're saying isn't to embarrass anybody. anyway, i recently had occasion to call paul coates, a warrior publisher, the black man who traded the term slave for enslaved the black panther, who was on many a hit list. the man that brought literature into prisons. literature that most people didn't and still don't know exists. paul koch, who virtually bled

his own blood to ink his printing presses and who worked shoulder to shoulder with world shattering writers, editors, his own family, and those of us of the diaspora around the world. paul coates, who is still the only black publisher in america that prints his own books. this because he would not let our truths be bought out from under us or sabotaged. and when i say our truths i'm not just talking about black people, i'm i'm talking about living history that has been erased, eradicated murdered, and then resurrected in the form of zombie lies. paul shares information that every man, woman, and most especially every child in america. and therefore the world must know if they want their souls to survive. paul hodes, who will publish you when he is flesh and when he is penniless. paul, who decides what he will publish based on the quality of the truth of that work? paul coates, a man who believes in you, even if you don't

believe in yourself, who believes in you, even if he doesn't like you. these beliefs are grounded in his faith and social evolution, not personal gain. paul coates, the warrior publisher, cannot be bought out or put out of how many of us can say that? how many people in this room love every minute of self-sacrifice? how many people pile up the debt to off the weightier obligations of? our people? how many can be that serious that political and still find time to laugh and love and keep the faith? paul has lived a life of service. most people in the modern world are confused and befuddled because their hearts and minds are filled with so much missing affirmation that most of us, most of what they see and believe isn't even their, they say, i'm worth so much because my paychecks are so that that one over there must love or hate me because i feel the same for

them that the system i serve must be valid. because if that was not, my life would be worthless. paul quote has taught that none of that is true or maybe that most of it is not. he has done so by working side by side with me, extolling the greatness of others doing similar work who served on the national mall. we served on the national book awards together. we we've published together introduced each various times. i love paul coates. i admire him. but most of all, i respect how he has imbibed the harsh liquor of true citizenship and survived. in other words, his life and work gives hope to anyone who would dare to explore the dark spaces between the lines that demarcate the lives of.

i really don't know who walter was talking about. man. when walter has done introductions before, i'm usually looking for somebody to

come in with a cape, you know, because he's talked about superman and i don't i sat there shrinking in my chair. okay but i thank you and i thank everyone tonight for this honor. i'm going to try this teleprompter. i'm going to try to be braver than walter and i'm going to try do this thing. so me begin with a bunch of thank use. and by acknowledging someone who is here tonight, only in spirit, glenn thomas, son of writers, readers, press. glenn was half insane. and a final take about black book publishing. dan simon, carson charcoal and. i flew to london in 2001 to be with glenn as he became an ancestor. his spirit and his commitment to

always move black book publishing higher is ever present, and it's alive in this room tonight. i also want to thank my wonderful wife, who's at the table with me, rosalyn koch, for always supporting me in my downing times and just being there as love for me. she represents love i. i also love mosley. i mean, i love this guy. we publish we published gone fishing together. 28 years ago. gone fishing and easy rawlins prequel. we came together and became friends and brothers. my journey through life is better because of you.

mosley and appreciate you so much. and let me thank the national foundation and its board for this year's celebration and for the work you do every day to make this world livable for the entire literary community. i thank you for that and for your acknowledgment of me. neal baldwin director, former director of national book foundation brenda greene from the national black writers conference. troy johnson of abc and publishers group u.s., our distributor. thank you, guys being here. linda may your support black plastic press is part of a group of online black book publishers that includes third world press africa world press and justice

books. these legacy are surviving offers from the civil rights and human rights battles of the sixties and seventies along with newer like universal right press, we work every day to, maintain and expand black self narrating voices. we each have different thought we have. we each have a different focus. my focus is resisting black voices that are and confirm the right of black people to advocate and express in a world quick to deny our humanity for black people. our enslavement was what we call the my alphabet a great catastrophic event to survive that great disaster, my ancestors had to have stories of something better stories of past and stories of the future which

during the apa could only be expressed aspirationally despite penalties, torture and death, those aspirations later their way into print as stories about ourselves and our view of the world from our perspective of my ancestors understood the power in douglass asking what to the slave is the 4th of july. and so during the douglass asking emphatically, ain't i? woman they cherished the fundamental rights free people everywhere, the right to speak in our own, in our own style, without the permission of others, especially those sought to keep us enslaved or ban our aspiration. since our books and our humanity using self narrating voices in

1827, john russell worm and samuel cornish founded freedom sturm with the declaration we wish to plead our own cause for too. others have spoken for us. david walker used that voice in 1829 and marcus garvey in 1919. carter woodson captured and used it in 1921 when he formed the associated publishers to publish books written from the perspective of our self narrating voices. malcolm x, martin luther king and fannie lou hamer, we're those voices when they truth told black aspirations, sharing them with, america in the world, it took me a while to figure out, because i am late coming follower that i also am that tradition.

my mission is recovery and making black self narrating voices known to the world. i am not an interpret power. i prefer to let those voices speak to new generations themselves. i obsessively curate those voices, especially the old radical and less popular ones, the more obscure they are, the more important they in my quests. those voices are all black classics to me. i published them knowing that they are critical to fully understanding and making sense of the brightly colored mosaic that is american and world history. if those voices are not present, the result is a draft washed out monotone of history and, a narration where some awful

person steps up and insists that slave be was a necessary experience that taught black people many skills. i let that happen. to do this work and to be supported by my community as i have been since 1972 and to be reckoned that for that work tonight is humbling. it is also a reminder that all voices are important and, that all stories are important. thank you all and. thanks again to the the founding.

this incredible. we will tonight's celebrations with the presentation of the 2024 medal for distinguished contribution to american letters each year. the medals given to a writer who has enriched our shared literary and cultural heritage over the course of their career. previous recipients include tony morrison, isabel allende, art spiegelman, and most recently national humanities medalist, prize winner and national book finalist rita dove. tonight's honoree offered us some of the most significant literature of the 21st century, ranging from fiction poetry to investigative journalism to science writing. here to present the medal this evening is sam stoll of sam stoll office. the president principal of the frances golden literary agency, founded by frances golden in

1977. sam joined agency in 1997 and is a member of the board of directors of the association of american literary agents. gives me great pleasure to welcome sam stoll off. they didn't tell me when first became a literary agent that this was part of the job description. or i might have chosen a different line of work. we agents are more used to hiding comfortably, and they acknowledgment sections of our author's books rather than up on stage introducing. i owe my place on this stage to

barbara kingsolver. of course, but also to golden, the founder of agency. i now head, who some of you, of course, knew when barbara first looking for a literary agent in the 1980s, back when people still looked for and literary reference books. one listing jumped out at her. it read in part, no racist sex, just a just homophobic or pornographic material considered. and barbara said bingo. that's agent for me. frances was not only a fierce advocate for barbara's work, but something of a jewish mother to barbara and me. and that's the thread that connects us. if she could have been here, would have been compelling. barbara kingsolver. contributions to american letters then have been amazingly far more than i could do justice to.

but what i would say all is that barbara has been ahead of her time showing us the way. she was reviving the social novel at, a time when ironic detant and introspection were still very much the literary fashion, starting with her first novel, the bean trees, which among other things, the sanctuary movement protecting central americans, political refugees, and later in the majestic the poison wood bible, which skewered the arrogance of american imperial exceptionalism. she was writing fiction about climate before fire was a thing in novels like behavior, which sounded an early alarm about how environmental disasters would devastate human communities in ways we see so clearly now because she trained as a biologist, her writing has always been eyed about the ways humans are embedded in ecosystems, rather than standing apart them.

she was advocating for local and seasonal when locavore ism was still a new idea in memoir, she wrote with her family animal vegetable miracle, about the year they spent eating only what could be grown near their home. she's a writer farmer in the tradition of her fellow kentuckian, wendell berry. she eats from her garden as those of you who follow on instagram have seen, and she knits. wolff that from the sheep that she raises, she writing about the dispossession of rural working long before we all became preoccupied with the regional schisms. our country starting with her very first book holding the line about a copper mine strike in arizona and all of these themes are gathered in her most recent novel, the stunning demon copperhead. although inspired by charles dickens, the original novelist

of social protest, the book has as much kinship with mark and demons astonish the original voice barbara has given us the huck finn of our times. she done all this with a warmth and humor, an uncanny ear for appalachian speech, a wealth of vivid metaphor, and an aphoristic wit that are her trademark. i am glad that the national book foundation calls this a prize for distinct contribution rather than a lifetime. although they also call it that if you look closely at the website, artists are naturally about having their work premature early summed up. but barbara is at the height of her powers and we have so much more to look forward. and with that it is my honor to, on behalf of the national book, the medal for distinguished

contribution to american letters to, my dear friend, the great barbara kingsolver. for. thanks, sam. sorry i made you do that, but you, you. you knocked it out of the park. you all looked so beautiful for for people who usually go to work in sweatpants. or is that just me.

this is an honor. i never imagined and will never forget. and i am so grateful. to all the people that paul had. the gracious gracious presence of mind. thank. i thank them to. the of an award like this as sam implied, is that you've been around for a lifetime. and i have. i've written through crises that seemed unsurvivable to me through administration phones that rose and fell. i've seen totally of the sun. so i know that when everything goes dark, the sun still up there. when i was new to this

profession? the credited goal of our was to be perfect and contained and morally disengaged art that made people uncomfortable was likely to get scolded by critics. i know this from experi ence, but it's all i knew how to do. i come from who aren't in this room, who've never been in a room like this, or in this city. or maybe not in any city, maybe not even very far from where they were born. i write with their hearts in throat. the kinds of stories that i grew up hungry, underpinned with questions about class loss and power and how we got to this place where so many people are left outside hungry and readers

it. they lived in that world to booksellers and and my wonderful publisher harpercollins has always had my back. but there were hedwig and the headwinds were always there. the people that are there to let you know you're not going get in the club. if you talk that much about folk. i have lived long enough to see that change. maybe those critics retire today or, maybe so many writers pulled up their chairs to the table so many of you that we had to get a new table. the rowdy one where we ask the big, scary, uncomfortable questions and stake hearts on the people and the places that

really need us. artists get called a lot of dreamy things. we're lighthouses. we're visionaries. we are soothers of the breast. maybe. but i think. we're at our best when disruptors, when we when we rattle self-absorption. and the lazy belief that my best interests are everybody's best. we get to crack open. what doris lessing called unself. we use our best beautiful tricks to lure people into letting go of themselves for a little so they can look into the soul of another human. because that empathy, my

friends, is our salvation as. james baldwin told us. we are still each only hope. the fact of me stan di because that empathy, my friends, is our salvation. as ng hjames baldwin told us, w are still each other's only hope. the fact of me standing here with you, with this old medal around my neck feels like a miracle to a country girl from kentucky. in the disguise of a sparkly dress. and i'm so happy, not so much for me, but for all of us in the seismic shift in the rules of our art, and who gets to play. i'm proud of the respect we have finally learned to give in this country to art that

engages with the real ruckus of the world. the thrill of that engagement gets me up in the morning and will keep getting me up for all the tomorrows i have, which i'm banking on a good many of them. even on the days where i've been smacked down for the truths i believe in, and the people and the places i love. and i'll confess, i'm feeling smacked down at the moment. and maybe you are too. here's what i know. truth and love have been struck down so many times in history before now. truth because it's often inconvenient, and love because its vulnerable. but truth is like gravity and the sun behind the eclipse. it doesn't matter what rules

people make up. it's still there. and love stays alive if you tend it. our job is to remember what there is to love. the people and places that need us to bring them into the room. into the heart of the unacquainted stranger. our job is to invent a better ending than the sorry one we were given. nobody can take care of everything at once. but it's still worth taking care of something, because there are so many of us to do it. we're not erased. we're still here, like gravity, like the sun behind the eclipse. thank you. >> please welcome david steinberger, share of the

national book foundation's board of directers. >> good evening. on behalf of the board of directers of the national book foundation, welcome to the 75th national book awards. so 75 years. okay, where are my friends from hashet and david shelly, where are you guys? so david moved from the uk to the u.s. about a year ago? right? so i felt i had to explain to

him that i understand in the uk 75 75 years is not a big deal. because like twinings tea, they started making it in the 1700s, or 1600s or something. if you're not from the 1700s, nobody gets excited. but here in the united states, 75 years is a really big deal. and to get to 75 years, you need a lot of help from a lot of people. so i get to say thank you. and i want to start by saying thank you to everybody who's with us tonight. the 800 people who are in room, and the people who are joining us, thousands of them from their homes. so thank you. thank you for being here with us. and thank you to all our sponsors who make this evening possible, particularly i want

to thank our platinum sponsors. so the najaffi companies, thank you. thank you to penguin random house. thank you to our gold sponsor amazon literary partnership. our silver sponsors amazon, mgm studios, barnes and noble, bpg usa, central national gotsman. thank you mcmillan publishers and simon and schuster. thank you, thank you all. okay. thank you all so the following individuals for their exceptional generosity. karen and marcus dole. the steven m. and joyce trust.

the susan m. wallace foundation. tell susan we thanked her, ken. and debra wily. i'm going to ask some of the people in this room to stand up. if you are a national book award honoree, past or present, that's a finalist, a long lister, or a national book award winner, 5 under 35. could you please stand right now? thank you. okay. all right. not done though. all right. okay, stay standing here, because if you are a board member of the national book foundation, current or past, please stand up. all right. and lastly, if you are a member of the national book foundation staff, past or present, please join us and stand up. yeah.

so please look around. you are all part of our 75 year history. thank you all. all right, we've got a brief video about the work that we do. that work is always guided by our mission which i think some of you know i never get tired of reciting. our mission is to celebrate the best literature published in the united states, expand its audience, and ensure that books have a prominent place in our culture. thank you, everybody. >> the national book award embodies a value fully expressed or realized the value

of creative power itself. >> this is a luminous novel. >> half of it is literally hard labor. to secure a event over which no one has had control over in the first place. >> a craft that appears solitary, but needs another for its completion. >> certainly, all too frequently, it has been the writer and not the politician, who has been the truer friend of liberty. >> books have exalted me, and helped me discover more of myself. that is the power of a story well told. >> and i had a teacher in elementary school who told me, read my child, read. and i tried to read everything. >> books are us. books are our ideas, our heart. books are our place where we can imagine. they're like our first steps toward changing the world. >> they contain counterhistories to the stories that were told about us.

they are useful in building movements. they're useful in inspiring future generations. they have a transformative power to them. >> the national book foundation has broaden people's ideas about what good literature is. where good stories come from. they're open to all the books and all the stories and all the writers. >> the national book foundation is bringing attention to communities that have not been represented in literature. and that culture of reading is enlarging our capacity for empathy. and hopefully that has real- world repercussions. >> there's no better way to connect writers to their audiences. the national book foundation helped bridge that gap. so you don't have to be in the major cities to see an author at the peak of their talent, and their abilities. >> it's obvious to me that the national book foundation cares about capturing the totality of the american experience.

it doesn't exist everywhere in the literary world. and even within the national book foundation that has been a process. we're seeing that as the juries diversify, so does the nominees. and in fact, so does what we learn about the american experience. >> when you look at all the books is that have been nominated by the national book awards, they have knowledge and depth. there's a sense of an eganist who looks beyond the ordinary to keep pushing the boundaries. it's not just celebrating the books and readers of today, but also the readers of tomorrow. there's a real joined upness in the way the operation promotes access to books to those who might not have it. >> it does kind of fulfill some of that early childhood dream of wanting to be a team. this is the team that i can claim, and that's team book. >> being a part of team book, it just makes you feel like you're not the only one that

loves books that wants to open those books up and learn more. >> being part of team book is being particulate of a community standing up and cheering for books to say they're powerful and important and critical, and essential. >> for the next 75 years, the national book foundation will keep celebrating the best books published in the united states. we'll keep bringing writers and books to readers all over the country, and we'll keep leaning into how can we most extensively and most inclusively think about that work. >> literature provides us with things that no other art form does. we need readers. we need books to help lead us and inform us, and the national book foundation can play a crucial role in all of that. >> hard times are coming when we will be wanting the voices of writers who can see alternatives. >> but the storyteller cannot afford to forget, must always be ready to hold himself or her

self to account. >> it's about making it possible for the entitled as well as the dispossessed to experience one's own mind dancing with another's. >> to live over the course of a few pages in the experiences of another and to create a world where we can all be free. ♪♪ >> please welcome to the stage, ruth dickey, exective director of the national book award foundation. >> good evening, everyone.

i love in the video hearing jose and jen talk about what it means to them to be part of team book and as i look around this room tonight, i see so many incredible members of team book joined by thousands of readers, tuning in online from around the country and around the world. together we are the people who believe that books matter. and who help connect them with readers of all ages in all corners of the country. thank you for being part of the best team. as we just heard ursula kay is a, hard times are coming when we will be wanting the voices of writers who can see alternatives. as we witness mounting attacks on book bans and expression. we know hard times are not only coming, but they are here already, and we all want and need the perspectives,

possibilities, and empathy that books can inspire. we must come together to stand up for books for the next 75 years and beyond. at nbf, we launched a new fellowship. we've distributed over 2 million new books to young people and families living in public housing communities. yeah. and over the past five years, we've brought free books and free program events with national book award honored writers to all 50 states, d.c., and puerto rico. but we truly cannot do this work without you. so if you believe in the power of literature, we need each and every one of you to invest in the future of books and readers. you'll find qr codes on your tables as well as paper envelopes and we'll have collection boxes and staff at

the door as you leave tonight to help collect any physical donations. your support of any amount will help us stand up for books and reach readers all year long. hard times are coming. we need you. and books need all of us. so as you make your donations, which i hope you do, i'd love to thank just a few more people. immense thanks to tonight's host kate mckinnon for bringing much-needed laughter to tonight's celebrations. huge thanks all to our special guest jon batiste for the gift of his music. thank you to the national book foundation board of directors, book council, host committee and after-party committee for your time and leadership. i love the screams. thank you to the empire state building for helping mark 75 years by lating up national book foundation blue.

many thanks to really useful media. our partners both on the beautiful video you just saw and on tonight's broadcast. thanks to c-span and thanks to our designers chips and jarfong. last, but not least, thank you to the volunteers, interns, and small, but mighty staff of the national book foundation. and i'm going to tell you all their names, because i want them spoken in the resume. huge thanks. ali romero, ailene lovette, meg tansy, megan reynolds, edward cartamizo, and special thanks to madeline shelton, our senior manager of awards and honors. and also, a huge thank you to meredith andrews, who after 29 years with the national book

foundation will celebrate her final national book awards ceremony on staff this evening. can we give them all a round of applause? [applause] and now, it's my great honor to welcome back to the stage, the one and only, jon batiste. ♪♪ ♪ don't stop dreaming don't

stop believeing because you know that our time is coming up so let's soak up the days and dance the night away so with all you've got don't stop don't stop dreaming don't stop believing because you know that our time is coming up let's

soak up the day and dance the night away i heard there was a secret call that david played and it pleased the lord but you don't really care for music do ya it goes like this the fourth the fifth the minor fall and

the major lift the babel king composing hallelujah hallelujah '.

don't stop believing believing. because you know that our don't stop dreaming don't stop believeing because you know our

time is coming up so with all you've got don't stop oh when the saints go marching in oh how i want to be in that number let me hear you -- oh yeah everybody let me all.

yeah. hey. let me hear you yeah thank you.

♪♪ >> thank you! ♪♪ >> jon batiste. whoo! i have to say, guys, i'm feeling some things i haven't felt in a while. inspiration. hope. good. and now i have the pleasure of kicking off the final chapter of this evening's program. hello. the presentation of the 2024 national book awards. okay, so guys, so not everyone

knows this, but part of what makes this evening so special is that none of us, except for each category's judges know who the winners of the national book award winners are in advance. nobody! earlier today, the five judges in each awards category made their final decisions, and tonight we will hold our breath in anticipation, as the award winners are announced live from the stage by each panel chair. the winners are going to be presented in reverse alphabetical order, that's young people's literature, then translated literature, then poetry, and then non-fiction and finally fiction. the awards categories in the panel chairs will each be introduced by the voice of a fellow book-lover who's helping us celebrate from afar.

so first off, we have the finalist for 2024 for young people's literature. and that's going to be introduced by the voice of actor comedian and writer, jenny slade. let's go! >> young people's literature opens our eyes to possibility. the finalist for young people's literature teaches people the importance of preserving history. the significance of living in the present moment. these stories serve as a reminder that we are all capable of confronting our problems big and small. and we each hold the key of freeing other selfs from expectations. the panel chair for this year's national book award for young

people's literature is breen lopez. a book seller for three decades, lopez is an advocate for representation and inclusion in all aspects of the children's book industry. >> thank you. first i would like to thank my fellow judges at table 72. rose brock, and mike jung for their commission and heart for this experience. our collective insight as authors, and book sellers allowed for some profound discussions and consensus building. i would also like to thank all of you incredible authors in this room. i've been a book seller for almost 35 years. i worked with the legendary glenn goldman at book soup,

which is where i started in los angeles, and for those three decades i have shared your books. you've given the gifts of your writing with generations of book-lovers and you've allowed readers of all ages to see themselves and each other through your creativity. it has made my chosen career incredibly fulfilling and impactful. my fellow book-sellers, educators, librarians and teachers are on the front line every single day in this country. facing termination, facing all sorts of horrible situations where the joy of their lives and their careers is being stopped, and it's because of the books that we share. the books that share empathy, the books that share joy. the books that share understanding. the books that you've written. books that so many wonderful authors have written. the final national book reward for young people's literature,

all of these people have done that. they are violet duncan, buffalo dreamer. josh galarza, the great cool ranch dorito in the sky. mcmillen publishers. erin entrata calling, the great state of being. shifa saltagi safadi, kareem be between. between. and this year's award year's national book award goes to "kareem between." shifa saltagi safadi, author. t.

and now salute to asilomar allowed us to thank you to a love for blessing with this dream come true and honoring me with the ability to my dean and omar and beloved prophet muhammad, peace be upon >> thank you so much. thank you to allah for blessing me with this dream come true, and beloved prophet mohammed,

peace be upon him. i'm thrilled to be here. thank you to the judges, and everyone involved in making this beautiful event happening. it has been inspiring to be here i read your books among mine. thank you to my sister for watching my kids so i can be here. it was not an easy task. there are four of them. my parents for always believing in me. they came from syria to give us a better life, and it was a struggle for with a new culture and language, and they showed us what it looked like to be strong, proud, muslims. i wouldn't be who i am without my parents. thank you. thank you to my siblings, my inlaws, my community for all of your support. thank you to my husband for being the best life partner. for being the reason i'm up here today, because i would not be an author without him. thank you to my kids, my

biggest inspiration motivation and the greatest gift from allah. i'm most proud of being their mother and i also promised my son i would say this -- go chicago bears! writing is a team effort. thank you to everyone on gideon's between dream team. thank you for championing all my work with compassion and care. my brilliant editor who truly infuses magic in every edit and who's insight makes every work makes my heart shine. shout out to here two years ago, she was here with sivil tahed as well, she is that awesome. thank you to every single person at penguin young readers who helped get "kareem between" in this world. and as well as the school and

library team for fiercely advocating for gideon and loving this book. thank you to the many wonderful people who have encouraged me along the way. specifically, thank you to the muslim authors who stepped forward first and paved the way for me to be inspired to follow me dream of writing. i would not have had the bravery of writing my first books if i had not seen muslim books on the shelves. i would not have believed i could do it had i not seen people before me who showed me what it looks like. so many times i saw books where muslims were the villains, and i'm so glad i saw books where we were the heroes. standing up against racism, about being proud of who you are. a story about something that happened eight years ago. but it's not historical fiction anymore, and it does not apply to only that time or only the muslim ban and our work did not

stop in 2020. in fact, dehumanization of arabs and islamophobia has been rising more than ever in this past year. to justify a genocide of the palestinian people. justice, justice and freedom is for all people. all of our liberations are tied together from people in sudan, in congo, in syria, and every corner of the world, to people here in america and deep within our hearts. change starts with each of us. we have to stand together protest injustice no matter where it is, and continue to speak the truth. even when we're afraid of the future. and as one of my favorite books says, bravery comes with shaky hands. so be brave, and free palestine! ♪♪

>> congratulations to the winner of the 2024 national book award for young people's literature. and now, for the finalists for the 2024 national book award for translated literature introduced by the voice of director, actor, and author, ethan hawke. >> literature and translation is our gateway to the world. translated into english from arabic, french, mandarin, chinese, and swedish, the finalists for the 2024 national book award for translated literature grapple with the global rise in book banning, exexplore the cultural erasure of indigenous families and search for the truth and stability amidst political unrest. in these novels, protagonists fight to survive unspeakable violence. the paneled chair for this

year's national book award for translated literature is jhumpa lahri, interpreter of maladies was awarded the pulitzer prize award in fiction. [applause] >> good evening. the game of translation. the stakes of translation. the travail of translation. the hard work of travel through the boundless face of a book on the other side of the border. go expecting trouble. go out prepared. i cite the legendary rosemariy waldrop, poet, translator, and cofounder of burning deck press, to remind us of what a

risky endeavor translation is. translation has never been easy, but it has always been a necessary form of resistence to hedge mondayicmonic forces. by means of linguistic translation can freely circulate and endure. over the past six months we have read books composed in 33 languages. certain themes stood out. portraits of loneliness, the human cost of war, and colonial oppression, and a world on the brink of environmental disaster. i would like to salute my fellow panel members for the intelligence and range of perspectives they brought to each of our meetings, and for

the time and energy spent considering these books. aron agi, and julia sanchez. we as a group would like to thank ruth dickey and madeline shelton at the national book foundation for steering us through the process. we are grateful to the national book foundation for continuing to celebrate contemporary literature, composed in languages other than english and to reward two creative writers together. the author of one book, and the translator who transforms it into another. though in this case, one of the books had two translators, i would just like to acknowledge that. last, but not least, we hail independent publishers and small presses. [applause]

for continuing to serve as the main port of entry for translated literature in the united states. as the discourse of closed borders intensifies in this country, and others, we applaud their efforts to center foreign titles on their lists and to enable translators to practice their unique, crucial labor. the finalists in this category are -- the book sensor's library, translated by ranya abdelrahaman and saw ad

hussain. linnea axelsson, and saskia vogel, fiston mwanza mujila, and roland glasser. and somar yazbek, where the wind calls home, translated from the arabic by larry price, world editions. and the winners of the 2024

national translated book award are yang shuang-zi and lin king for taiwan travelogue. ♪♪ show of war was made by

genesis was also the horseshoe sort of shanghai evaluation. george old. taiwan so taiwan on the taiwan divining hole didn't hit home for the yuan then dual to asia in ebay news. you login here on the tonga divining line will be an ac or is a some menial chung da which is to be tinder new york, georgia uses taiwa [speaking non-english]in chin ths or josh binyon chin. it was it how you ever or should you so avoid taiwan george in

the old says you the soldier or shoe shall you just go all the way down thank. this is what she just said sorry yeah okay. some people me why i write >> thank you. >> this is what she just said, sorry. yeah, okay. some people ask me why i write about things from 100 years ago. i always tell them writing about the past is a means of moving toward the future. more than a century ago, some taiwanese people began making the assertion taiwan belongs to the taiwanese. today, many taiwanese continue to assert this, but now we are addressing it to a different

audience. before we were saying it to the japanese. now we are saying it to the chinese. for more than a century in between, taiwan has never stopped facing the threat of invasion from another powerful nation. many while, internally, the taiwanese have a complicated relationship to our own national and ethnic identities. some of us still identify as chinese, just as how some of us used to identify as japanese. i write in order to answer the question of what is a taiwanese person. i write about taiwan's past as a step into its future. and thank you so much to the national book foundation for recognizing us, which i think we both feel is a recognition for the place that we come from, taiwan, and thank you so

much to gray wolf press -- [applause] >> especially our editor for believing in us. thank you so much. [applause] ♪♪ >> congratulations to the winners of the 2024 national book with award for translet'sed literature. and now for the finalists for the 2024 national book award for poetry introduced by the voice of singer songwriter actor and author janelle monae. >> poetry helps us make sense

of our complicated lives, illuminating the mundane and entangling the vorred. the finalists for the 2024 poetry reflect on the combination of meaning, ruin ate in silence and contemplate home and indigenous identity in the united states. these works investigate the power and shortcomings of contemporary poetry, while simultaneously reclaiming language as a tool for survival. one that is essential to poets and readers alike. the panel chair for this year's national award on poetry is richard blanco. the recipient of the 2023 humanities medal.

[applause] >> good evening, everyone. buenos noches. it's my first time at this award ceremony and it's such a beautiful, amazing space and energy. it's been an amazing privilege, to say the least, to serve as chair and judge in a fantastic journey, really. a journey into the essences of the poets that we read. a journey into the very vibrancy of what american poetry is all about, as well as, and very importantly, an unforgettable journey alongside

my fellow distinguished judges. four immensely, talented, sensitive, and inciteful poets that have changed my life. let us all give each of them our heartfelt thanks. carolyn forchet, if you're here, wave your hand, i haven't seen some of them. amy, and rina priest. one of the things that i learned of serving as a chair, or as a judge, is that we have bonded for life around something that is really important to us. that is another great gift of what the national poetry, what the national book foundation does for us. their dedicated passion and

work, couplewide the mission of the national book foundation serve to uplift poetry's life questioning, life affirming, and life enriching power. which, of course, we especially need during these tumultuous times. a cliche that has actually come back to life when we most need poetry. to serve as a consolation. to guide us through our storms of hatred, despair, toward horizons of reconciliation and hope. in the words of june jordan, to tell the truth is to become

beautiful. to begin to love yourself. value yourself. and that's political in its most profound way. we were quite impressed, of course, in many ways, in many respects, by the hundreds of collections that we thoughtfully considered. and we were especially awed by the incredible breath and diversity of the many voices, styles, subjects, themes that we encountered. it thrills me to say, or to report, that without a doubt the state of poetry is indeed alive and well. [applause] thank goodness, and thanks to the courageious, and encouraging work of the many poets we deliberated,

especially, of course those that were short listed and the finalists of tonight. all of whom, moved us profoundly in different, and very important ways. the finalists from the national book award for poetry are ann carson for wrong norma. fady joudah for bracketed elipses. i know, i feel it with you. for milkweed editions. m.s. redcherries from mother penguin books. modern poetry, gray wolf press.

lena khalaf tuffaha for something about living. university of akron press. drum roll. and this year's national aword for award for poetry goes to -- lena khalaf -- i don't even need to finish the name. ♪♪

they were right. it's heavy. sorry. thank you. thank >> okay, they were right, it's heavy. sorry.

thank you. thank you. good evening, everyone. and good morning to beloved risa where it is the 411th day of the genocide. i was actually thinking of sharing that quote that richard did from one of my heroes, june jordan, who talks about loving yourself enough to become beautiful to tell the truth. and we are now living in the second november of the american- funded genocide in palestine. i hope that every one of us can love ourselves enough to stand

up and to make it stop. our service is needed as writers, our service is needed as human beings in every room in every space, especially where there is something to risk. where there is an opportunity to be lost, where that courage will really cost you. that's what's most needed. i don't want to write anything that is a consolation. i don't want to consol. i want us to feel just a tiny fraction, a tiny fraction more than we do in our deeply comfortable american lives despite all the pain and suffering that is here too. i want us to feel and be

uncomfortable, and be disoriented, and be angry, and get up and demand that any administration, no matter what letter it has at the end of its name, d, r, whatever -- that any administration that we pay for should stop funding and arming a genocide in raza. my father's name was musah khalaf. he was born in 1938. he sat me down and told me the story of the homeland he couldn't live in anymore.

that story has driven me my entire life. has driven me, has motivated me. i'm proud to stand here today and to accept this honor as a palestinian american on behalf of all the deeply beautiful palestinians that this world has lost. and in honor of all those miraculous ones who endure, waiting for us. waiting for us to wake up. thank you so much. >> congratulations to the winner of the 2024 national book award for poetry. and now for the finalists for

the 2024 national book award for nonfiction. introduced by the voice of singer songwriter, actor, and writer, demi lovato. >> nonfiction gives us a road map to the past, present and hopefully a more hopeful future. the finalists immerse us in the front lengths of the smugglers at the u.s. border. scrutinize our harmful relationships to body and to fatness. these works offer deeply intimate meditations on grace, revenge, life, and death. and explore one family's displacement within the united states across generations to integrate the very idea of american history and american identity. the panel chair for this year's

national book award for nonfiction is tressie mcmillian cottom. >> and now, let's please welcome to the stage, nonfiction judge, timothy morton. >> well hello everybody. hi. i'm not tressie cottom. thank you for laughing about that. my name is tim, and as you can tell from my accent, i'm from texas. thank you for laughing again. so english people started this whole america business didn't we? and i think i ought to take this opportunity to apologize. but that's the whole point of the thing we call nonfiction isn't it. that doesn't mean you have to be from texas to write non- fiction, or you have to be an apologetic brit. sometimes it doesn't turn out the way we expect and we need

witnesses to that. we need to feel out our bearings. we need to learn how to live with a situation to live with it. sometimes reality is stranger than fiction and in these daunting and turbulent times we need strong minds and souls to encounter the world as it is to take risks and do what it takes to disclose that world to us no matter what. wn and with a full heart and to share that online with everyone so that we can make the future be different from the is to jump into the unknown with a full heart and to show that with everyone so that we can make the future be different from the past. the books we chose were uniquely powerful in taking the reader on a journey into the unexpected from a close-up study of human smuggling that does not let up and it's expiration of the human desire for freedom to moving account from the christian community

figuring out how to work with the exclusion and inclusion on the deepest levels. from a feminist intervention that dominates discipline and medicalize bodies for profit to a book that starts with assassination and ends with an uneasy mercy, to a book that evokes another america. a world of indigenous people existing alongside the one we know too well. being part of judging this award was so important to me that i took my own book, and bookstores now. it was so good. but the panel had no difficulty choosing the actual finalist. we were of one mind and i'm touched and grateful to all of them for the journey that we went on. i want to thank the other four judges. brenda child, tracing mcmillan

cotton. thank you for letting me be a part of this. i don't get out much and i liket to see the overlaps between people. not the contrasts. thing on this committee was about overlaps. we have so much more in common than the stuff that divides us. we are grateful to the national book award and in particular to ruth and madeline for their n guidance and wisdom through this process. we were absolutely unanimous in selecting the five finalists for the national book award for nonfiction are jason de leon . soldiers and kings. survival and hope in the world of human smuggling.

eliza griswold, kate manne, on shrinking. on shrinking. salman rushdie, for knife. deborah jackson taffa whiskey tender. harpercollins publishers. and the winner is jason de leon.

[ music ] my my children will beo know i didn't get to hug kate mckinnon. that was the. >> my children will be sad to know i did not get to hug kate mckinnon. maybe that's still a possibility though.

>> [ cheers and applause ] if you manifest it, it will come. my editor said you have to write something in case this happens. so i went and i wrote something and i'm not even supposed to be a., but i'm grateful to be up your. thank you to the national book foundation and the judges for putting this up. a long list and short blisters who have reminded me that i still have a pretty good bout of imposter syndrome. this book was a project about a bunch of banged up and beaten up downed people that refuse to

give up hope and it began with a list of people saying how come no one listens to us. and i wish he was here today. and he get a kick out of the fact that people are listening to his words. this is for him. and everybody out there trying to make ends meet and trying to do the right thing while keeping hope alive. thank you to the people at the undocumented immigration project and thanks to the family for watching the kids right now. i want to shout out to the wonderland crew who we could have not written this book out with that. trent scott amy, and the kids thank you. mike you are my brother.

my mom, who always said just do what you love and that's all that matters. kate for teaching me how to write and to love it. my wonderful therapist, teresa. this book brooksby in half this book broke me in half. and she help me to duct tape myself back together so i could move forward. and not lose sight about how the past chiefs and future. the folks at viking made this whole thing -- these people who

do the work of the book, which is so important and i want to recognize that this is a team effort. i was trying to pick up a press, they said don't pick it up based on an editor. and i wanted to go with franking but -- from the very beginning i wanted to work with her. i would not be with her. i have deep gratitude for the people for representing me especially marco margo. in my corner all of the time.

all of the things that she believed in this book for, and i have a lot of ideas to pitch to you before. my funny and beautiful and very patient wife. abigail, i love you so much. i would not be here. you were here from the bit very beginning. you were heater from the very beginning. and my kids who are probably watching lord of the rings or kate mckinnon close encounter skits. they wanted to know if we could get an autograph. those little guys inspire me every day.

and remind me not to live in a world without hope. and i will not accept the dystopian american future of unchecked corruption, border was, misogyny, mass deportations, transphobia, climate change denial, and all this other garbage that this incoming administration wants to propagate and profit from. i will not accept that and we will not accept that. we will not. i have more hope now than ever before. these storytellers that i'm grateful to be in this room with , i know you will help us to find our way. my kids have this band, but to quote them they would say we

need to go read some banned books and we will need them in the times ahead. thank you so much. now for the r the 2020, for national book award for fiction, introduced by the voice of >> congratulations to the winner of the 2024 national book award for nonfiction. and now, for the finalists for the 2024 national book award for fiction. introduced by sandra oh. >> fiction invites us to shift our perspective the finalists for the 2024 national book award for fiction introduce us to protagonists who attempt to out run the ghosts of their

ancestors. and reclaim their own narrative. from the oppressors text. they are reading we see this care and what it means to remain loyal to the people and places you left behind collectively the 2024 finalists critique, center, and celebrate the written word. the panel chair is lauren groff. a three time national book award finalist for fiction. >> hello. i've never seen this view before. for so many of us this is been a hard year telescoping the end

into further darkness. i've heard people questioning the worth of reading or writing fiction during times like these. i do understand the urge to turn away from pleasure. it can feel like escapism. but i believe that art is the refinement of all that is good and noble and worthy inhumanity and that denying pleasure is denying the best part of who we are the divinity that burns like an amber inside each human chest. fiction is a way to come at the truth about staring directly at it the way we should not stare at the sun during an eclipse. fiction teaches us all the reasons why we must care for

one another. turning away from pleasure from art from fiction is tantamount to turning away from the reasons why we fight for more dignity, more equality, more love for other human beings in this world. the 2024 national book awards fiction panel was a feast of love. through health crises and technological gremlins and apocalyptic political moments, this jury kept its cool, generosity and willingness to remain open to the forceful opinions of others. we worked beautifully together to make this list, brilliant short list and the radiant winter. thank you to my fellow judges. one brief note to the finalists, i've been where you

are and that although you may not be able to hear me through the blood pounding in your ears , i hope you take the knowledge into the world beyond this evening that every single one of you deserves to win this award. we thank you for giving your gifts to us. now, the finalists for the national book award for fiction are ghostroots by pemi aguda martyr! by kaveh akbar james, percival everett. all fours by miranda july, my friends by hisham matar random

house, and the winner of this year's national book award in fiction is percival everett for james. [ music ] if there are a few horn here, i feel a lot better.

i, i want to thank the national foundation and the judges for putting >> if there were a few horses in here, i would feel better. i want to thank the national foundation and the judges for putting the reputations on the line. just like kate i'm not very good at this so i will appeal to chatgpt and then i asked the apple intelligence on my phone to improve it and then i passed it to siri and i came up with this. now is the time for all good people to come to the aid of the party. although this is no doubt very true, it's a terrible

acceptance speech and i apologize. and it's yet another illustration that a.i. is no substitute for the real thing. two weeks ago i was feeling pretty low and i still feel pretty low. as a lookout at this, so much excitement about books, i do feel some hope, but it's important to remember, and i said last night, hope is really no substitute for strategy. james has been nicely received and i owe a lot of thanks to my publisher, bill thomas.

to my editor, to my statistic publicist and to everyone at doubleday. have to say that i also owe some thanks to grey wolf press. >> [ cheers and applause ] >> and my editor there for 30 years. and with great affection someone i called the mob boss, my agent. who tonight asked me, how many hours did you spend on the new

novel? you have to think my teenage sons, whose near-complete apathy about my career helps me keep things in perspective. and is always my best friend and wife nancy. thank you. >> you know, that was it. that was the whole thing. and i feel -- thanks to everyone

who shared from their mouth and mind and heart. and congratulations to all of the finalists and all the winners and thank you for all being here. and let's get back to work. good night. >> please join us for the after party on the mezzanine. if you ce