|
|
eNewsletter
|
October
2006 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Lawrence
Ferlinghetti to Announce National
Book Award Finalists from Famed
City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco
|
 The
eagerly-awaited announcement of
the twenty Finalists for the 2006
National Book Awards will take
place on October 11th at City
Lights
Books in
San Francisco. Poet
Lawrence
Ferlinghetti, a
co-founder of the store and the
recipient of the National Book
Foundation's first Literarian
Award For Outstanding Service
to the American Literary Community,
will make the announcement at
approximately 9:30 a.m. Pacific
Standard Time. City Lights is
one of the country's great
bookstores in the heart of a city
long associated with a passion
for literature. Harold Augenbraum,
the National Book Foundation's
executive director, will co-host
the announcement. Following the
announcement, invited authors
will be part of a group photograph
in homage to the famous photo
of Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Allen
Ginsberg and other prominent Beat-era
authors.
To receive an email listing the
twenty Finalists for the 2006
National Book Awards on October
11, please send an email to nationalbook@nationalbook.org
and state in the subject line
"Email Finalists on October
11." |
|
|
National
Book Foundation Spotlights Emerging
Fiction Writers
|
 This
year, the National Book Foundation
is introducing a new event for
National Book Awards Week.
On Monday, November 13th, "5
Under 35" will highlight
the work of five promising young
fiction writers. Past National
Book Award fiction finalists Jennifer
Egan, Edward P. Jones, Joan Silber,
Christopher Sorrentino and René
Steinke have each selected one
writer under 35 who has published
one novel or short story collection.
The selected writers will be posted
on our website www.nationalbook.org
on October 11th.
Amanda
Stern, novelist and founder of
the popular Happy Ending Reading
Series, will host the invitation-only
evening at the Paula Cooper Gallery
in Chelsea (New York). The event
includes an introduction by the
National Book Awards finalists,
readings by the selected authors,
and a reception. |
|
|
Want
to See All of This Year's
National Book Award Finalists
at Once?
|
 Even
though tickets for the National
Book Awards are by invitation
only, all twenty of this year's
National Book Award Finalists
will appear on the same stage
on November 14th at 7 p.m. at
the New School University in New
York City. Emceed by Nicole Krauss
and hosted by Director of the
New School Writing Program Robert
Polito, each Finalist will read
for five minutes from his or her
nominated work. Tickets
for the always sold-out event
will go on sale on October 12th
and are available from the New
School Box Office at (212) 229-5488.
|
|
|
The
Shelf Talks, as does the Medallion
|
 Free
shelf-talkers are available and
can either be used alone or together
with the distinctive Finalist's
silver medallion stickers, which
are affixed to book covers. These
attractive white and blue labels
will catch the eye of readers
in bookstores and in libraries.
If you would like to receive a
batch of 10 Winners and 10 Finalists
shelf-talkers call Sherrie Young
at (212) 685-0261 or e-mail syoung@nationalbook.org.
Medallion
stickers
(Finalist, Winner and Distinguished
Contribution to American
Letters medallions)
are also available to booksellers
and libraries at a modest cost.
For information about medallion
stickers email mandrews@nationalbook.org.
|
|
|
Seats
are Going Fast for the 2006 National
Book Award Teen Press Conference
|
 On
Tuesday, November 14th, 250 middle
and high school students attending
New York City public and private
schools will gather at the Donnell
Library's auditorium for the
popular Teen Press Conference
to interview the 2006 National
Book Award Finalists in Young
People's Literature.
Students will prepare for the
event by reading one of the five
finalists' books and drafting
questions based on character development,
the text, the writing life, and
what it means to be a National
Book Award Finalist. At the event,
each participating student will
receive a professionally designed
press kit with biographical information
on each author, excerpts from
their books, and materials related
to the National Book Awards.
Authors will read from their work
before the floor is turned over
to the students for the Press
Conference. Following the Conference,
students will be invited to interact
with the authors at a reception
in Nathan Straus Young Adult Center
of the Donnell Library.
Funding for this program is
made possible through a generous
grant from Con Edison.
Teachers and students interested
in attending the National Book
Awards Teen Press Conference should
contact Leslie Shipman at lshipman@nationalbook.org,
no later than Friday, October
20th. Include your name, name
of school, telephone number, and
number of students attending.
This event is popular and seats
are filling up quickly.
|
|
|
The
National Book Awards in the News
|
 The
September 20th announcement of
the year's recipients of the
Medal
for Distinguished
Contribution
to American
Letters,
poet Adrienne
Rich,
and the Literarian
Award for
Outstanding Service to the American
Literary Community,
Robert
Silvers and posthumously,
Barbara Epstein, co-founders
of The New York Review of Books,
was reported in newspapers, magazines,
television program, radio broadcasts,
and web sites around the world.
Also included in the news was
that the host for this fall's
National Book Awards ceremony
will be writer and humorist Fran
Lebowitz.
|
|
|
NBF
Co-Sponsors New Literary Conference
for Writers of Fiction and Poetry
|
 From
November 2nd to 4th, the Council
of Literary Presses (CLMP), in
conjunction with the National
Book Foundation, The New School
Writing Program, Donadio &
Olson, and Sobel Weber Associates,
Inc., will present a conference
for post-MFA writers of literature
at The New School in New York
City. The conference will focus
on forging lasting relationships
with editors, agents, and publishers.
Participants will learn how to
maneuver the marketplace by attending
programs such as "Grassroots
Marketing," The Art of Giving
a Reading," "Publishing
in Lit Magazines," and "The
Brass Tacks of Contracts."
Presenters
include many members of New York's
literary and publishing community,
including Harold Augenbraum, executive
director of the National Book
Foundation, editors and publishers
Sonny Mehta of Knopf and Morgan
Entrekin of Grove/Atlantic, Sara
Nelson, editor-in-chief of Publishers
Weekly, agent Irene Skolnick,
and National Book Award Winners
and Finalists Alan Burdick, Christopher
Sorrentino, Cole Swenson, and
Jean Valentine.
The
cost for the three-day conference
is $350.00. For more information
visit www.lwcnyc.org.
|
|
|
National
Book Award Judges to Discuss Truth
in Nonfiction, Texas Tech University
|
 The
2005 National Book Award Nonfiction
judges Mark
Bowden, Dennis Covington,
Brenda
Wineapple and Gregory Wolfe
will participate in a panel that
addresses truth in nonfiction-including
their thoughts on judging the
National Book Awards-on Wednesday,
October 11th at Texas Tech University,
organized by Covington, a professor
of creative writing and a National
Book Award Nonfiction Finalist
for Salvation on Sand Mountain:
Snake Handling and Redemption
in Southern Appalachia. Bowden,
Wineapple and Wolfe will also
deliver individual talks about
their work. Bowden is author of
Black Hawk Down, a 1999
National Book Award Finalist in
Nonfiction. Wineapple is author
of Hawthorne: A Life. Wolfe
is author of Beauty Will Save
the World: Art, Faith, and the
Stewardship of Culture.
The panel discussion and the individual
talks are free and open to the
public. The panel will be filmed
by C-Span for later broadcast.
For more information please visit
http://www.ttu.edu.
|
|
|
Symphony
Space and the National Book Foundation
Celebrate Mavis Gallant
|
 On
November 1st, Russell Banks, Jhumpa
Lahiri, Michael Ondaatje and Edward
Hirsch will celebrate and read
from the work of Canadian-born
short-story master Mavis Gallant
at Symphony Space in New York
City, as a special focus of its
popular Selected Shorts:
A Celebration of the Short Story
series. Ms. Gallant, who lives
in Paris, is acclaimed for her
mastery in short story writing
that has influenced American writers
for nearly fifty years. She has
published more than 100 short
stories in the New Yorker,
the third-most in the magazine's
"storied" history. Gallant
will make a rare New York appearance
at the event.
The event is co-presented by PEN
and the National Book Foundation.
For more information and tickets,
visit www.symphonyspace.org.
|
|
|
Mark
These Dates for the National Book
Awards and Other 2006 Events
|
 October
11th, Announcement of this
year's National Book Award
Finalists at City
Lights Bookstore
in San Francisco, announced by
Lawrence
Ferlinghetti
October 11th, Truth
in Fiction Panel Discussion
with 2005 National Book Award
Nonfiction Judges at Texas
Tech University
November 1st, A
Special Celebration for Mavis
Gallant with guests
Russell Banks, Edward Hirsch,
Jhumpa Lahiri, and Michael Ondaatje
at Symphony Space, New York City
November 2nd-4th, the Literary
Writers Conference,
a program of the Council
of Literary Magazines and Presses,
co-sponsored by Donadio &
Olson, the National Book Foundation,
the New School Graduate Writing
Program, and Sobel Weber Associates,
Inc., New York City
National Book Awards
Week
November 13th, 5 Under
35, a celebration of the next
generation of fiction writers,
with National Book Award Finalists
and Winners, New York City, hosted
by Amanda Stern
November 14th, National
Book Awards Teen Press Conference,
Donnell Library, New York City,
sponsored by Con Edison
November 14th, National
Book Awards Finalist Reading
at the New School, New York City,
hosted by Nicole Krauss
November 15th, National
Book Awards Ceremony and Dinner,
New York City, hosted by writer
and humorist Fran
Lebowitz
|
|
