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. 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, lszl 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 2024 the winners were, respectively: blackouts by justin torres; the rediscovery of america by ned blackhawk; from unincorporated territory [amot] by craig santos perez; the words that remain by stnio gardel, translated by bruna dantas lobato; and a first time for everything by dan santat. 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 2024, the medal was presented to poet rita dove. The National Book Foundation also presents an annual literarian award for outstanding service to the american literary community, which in fiscal year 2024 was awarded to bookseller paul yamazaki. 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 2024, the honorees were antonia angress, tyriek white, zain khalid, jenny tinghui zhang, and maya binyam.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 topical conversations with National Book foundation-honored authors at colleges, universities, libraries, prisons, performance venues, and Book festivals across the country, and includes topical programs like science + literature, 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 2024 were the bathysphere Book: effects of the luminous ocean depths by brad fox, the glass constellations: new and collected poems by arthur sze, and digging stars by novuyo rosa tshuma. In fiscal year 2024, nbf presents included hybrid and in-person programming, and curated 28 events featuring 71 National Book foundation-honored authors, distributing 1,000 free books, and engaging over 7,362 audience members. 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 2024 distributed over 308,000 free books to children and families living in public housing authorities in 60 communities across 37 states and Washington, dc; teen press conference, an opportunity for students in new york city and miami to hear from and ask questions of the 2023 National Book award finalists in young people's literature; and the nbf teacher fellowship, which supports eight 6th-12th grade classroom teachers with both a Book buying budget and work stipend as they made reading for pleasure a part of their students' everyday school experience.