National Book Foundation

Awards and honorsthe National Book awards (nbas) are one of the nation's most prestigious literary prizes, with a stellar record of identifying and rewarding quality writing. Within a decade of its founding in 1950, the nbas acknowledged the work of writers such as hannah arendt, w.h. Auden, saul bellow, truman capote, rachel carson, ralph ellison, william faulkner, marianne moore, vladimir nabokov, flannery o'connor, katherine anne porter, adrienne rich, eudora welty, and william carlos williams-authors who have helped shape the Foundation of literature in the united states. (continues on schedule o)this tradition continues, with the nbas today honoring a diverse community of writers including elizabeth acevedo, robert a. caro, masha gessen, terrance hayes, ibram x. kendi, laszlo krasznahorkai, jacqueline woodson, jesmyn ward, and colson whitehead, among many others. Awards are selected by a panel of peer writers and literary leaders, and are currently presented in five categories: fiction, nonfiction, poetry, translated literature, and young people's literature. In fiscal year 2023 the winners were, respectively: rabbit hutch by tess gunty; south to america: a journey below the mason-dixon to understand the soul of a nation by imani perry; punks by john keene; seven empty houses by samanta schweblin, translated by megan mcdowell; and all my rage by sabaa tahir. The National Book Foundation also awards an annual medal for distinguished contribution to american letters to a person or entity "who, in the opinion of the board of directors of the National Book Foundation, has enriched our literary heritage over a life of service, or corpus of work." In fiscal year 2023, the medal was presented to author and comic artist art spiegelman. The National Book Foundation also presents an annual literarian award for outstanding service to the american literary community, which in fiscal year 2023 was awarded to librarian tracie hall. Finally, the 5 under 35 program identifies and celebrates five emerging fiction writers annually, selected by former National Book award finalists and winners. In fiscal year 2023, the honorees were mateo askaripour, chelsea t. hicks, morgan talty, jenny xie, and ada zhang.nba-honored authors are the cornerstone of the National Book Foundation's programs, which serve readers of all ages across the country, free-of-charge, with a strong emphasis on urban and rural communities where there are barriers to engagement with the literary arts.public programsthe National Book Foundation's public programs fall under the moniker of nbf presents, a series of public readings and book-based discussions with nba-honored authors at colleges, universities, libraries, performance venues, and Book festivals across the country, and includes topical programs like literature for justice, a National project that distributes nba-honored titles to prisons and detention centers around the country in partnership with literature for justice committee member reginald dwayne betts organization freedom reads. In fiscal year 2023, nbf presents included both virtual and in-person programming, and curated 22 events featuring 63 National Book foundation-honored authors, and engaging over 5,000 audience members. Nbf also continued its new science + literature program, which identifies three books annually to deepen readers' understanding of science and technology with a focus on work that highlights the diversity of voices in scientific writing. The science + literature selections in fiscal year 2023 were dyke (geology) by sabrina imbler, real life by brandon taylor, and blockchain chicken farm: and other stories of tech in china's countryside by xiaowei wang. Education and accessthe National Book Foundation is committed to inspiring a love of reading among young people through educational programs such as bookup, a writer-led, after-school program for middle-school students in three us cities; Book rich environments, which in fiscal year 2023 distributed close to 325,000 free books to children and families living in public housing authorities in 56 communities across 34 states and Washington, dc; and teen press conference, an opportunity for students in new york city and miami to hear from and ask questions of the 2022 National Book award finalists in young people's literature.