On Thursday, November 15, the National Book Award winners were announced in New York, in a ceremony hosted by Nick Offerman. In addition, writer Luís Alberto Urrea presented the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters to Isabel Allende, saying in his presentation that “Isabel is calling us to believe in words of love, words of witness. You can’t build a wall to keep them out. You can’t lock them up. She has taught us that words have wings. They fly over barriers, and they sing all over the globe.” Hidden Figures author Margot Lee Shetterly presented Doron Weber with the Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community. Weber is the vice president and program director for the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation,which runs a program for Public Understanding of Science, Technology & Economics, which supports projects that bridge science and the arts (check out the link–it’s a pretty amazing place!).
Then came the announcement of the Winners of National Book Awards in the categories of Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Translated Literature, and Young People’s Literature. We are pleased to list the winners below, with links to their NOBLE catalog entries. Come into the Library and check out these award-winning books for yourself!
Young People’s Literature
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
Translated Literature (New category!)
The Emissary by Yoko Tawada, translated by Margaret Mitsutani