• Author Joan Didion was selected as the recipient of the 2007 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, which will be presented by novelist Michael Cunningham

• Journalist Terry Gross was selected as the recipient of this year's Literarian Award For Outstanding Service to the Literary Community, which will be presented by radio and television host Ira Glass

For the second consecutive year, the host for the National Book Award Ceremony and Dinner will be writer Fran Lebowitz.  

Finalists for this year's National Book Awards will be announced at 9:30 a.m. on October 10^th at The Library Company of Philadelphia, the oldest public library in America, by Philadelphia literary and cultural critic Camille Paglia. The announcement will be preceded the evening before by a public discussion on literary awards with James English, author of the highly regarded The Economy of Prestige, and the National Book Foundation's Executive Director, Harold Augenbraum, moderated by Philadelphia literary critic Carlin Romano.

The selected writers will kick off National Book Awards Week at an invitation-only party and reading on November 12^th, where they will be introduced by the National Book Award authors who selected them.

For a list of the 2006 5 Under 35 fiction writers and the National Book Award authors who selected them please visit www.nationalbook.org/5under35.

The Foundation's ongoing relationship with Concordia includes Concordia faculty and administration attending the National Book Awards Ceremony and Dinner and the Teen Press Conference and two National Book Award Finalists visiting the campus each spring in the company of Foundation Executive Director Harold Augenbraum. Based on the success of the author visits, the National Book Awards on Campus program was formed.  

Authors who have participated in the program are Rajiv Chandrasekaran, the 2006 National Book Award Finalist in Nonfiction for Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside the Iraq's Green Zone, Ben Lerner, the 2006 National Book Award Finalist in Poetry for Angle of Yaw, Alan Burdick, author of Out of Eden, An Odyssey of Ecological Invasion, and Leo Damrosch, author of Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Restless Genius, both 2005 National Book Award Finalists in Nonfiction.     

Colleges and universities wishing to take part in the National Book Awards on Campus program should contact Harold Augenbraum at haugenbraum@nationalbook.org.

For further information about Patricia McCormick at Concordia, visit www.cord.edu/student/orientation/SummerBookRead.htm.

Ashbery, whose work spans five decades, is a four-time National Book Award Poetry Finalist. He won the Award in 1976 for his collection Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror, which also received a Pulitzer Prize.

Excerpts of Ashbery's poems will air on the channel as short promotional spots. Full texts will appear on mtvU.com. It is Ashbery's hope that the one-year gig "will get people interested in poetry and that other poets will benefit."

For more information on John Ashbery and mtvU, visit www.mtvu.com/on_mtvu/ashbery. For more information on Ashbery's National Book Award-winning work, visit www.nationalbook.org.

Students will prepare for the popular 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. Students will also have a second opportunity to interact with the authors at a reception in the Nathan Straus Young Adult Center of the Donnell Library following the Conference.

Teachers and students interested in attending the Teen Press Conference must contact Leslie Shipman at lshipman@nationalbook.org no later than Friday, October 19^th. Include your name, name of school, telephone number, and number of students attending. This event is popular and seats will fill up quickly.

Funding for this program is made possible through a generous grant from Con Edison.

The new medallions are currently available from the Foundation. For a list of National Book Award Winner and Finalist books that can benefit from these medallions, please visit www.nationalbook.org. To order medallion stickers, email Harold Augenbraum at haugenbraum@nationalbook.org.

Last year the Foundation participated as a cultural partner to help showcase Brooklyn's literary side. This year we will have a booth and look forward to meeting and speaking to readers, writers, librarians, booksellers, teachers, or anyone curious about the National Book Foundation's programs and the National Book Awards. Reading Hot Spots maps and shelf-talkers will be available at our booth, and brand new medallions can be ordered.

The festival will present National Book Award authors Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Edwidge Danticat, Paula Fox, Mary Gaitskill, June Jordan, Gloria Naylor, Francine Prose and Jacqueline Woodson. Other authors scheduled to be present are Jim Carroll, Mike Farrell, Kimiko Hahn, Philip Lopate, Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez, and Colson Whitehead.

For more information on the Brooklyn Book Festival visit www.visitbrooklyn.org.

• September 16^th, Visit the National Book Foundation at Brooklyn Book Festival in Downtown Brooklyn, New York
• September 24^th, Announcement of 5 Under 35 next generation of fiction writers, New York City
• October 9^th, The Library Company presents “Winning Words: the History & Meaning of Book Prizes,” with Harold Augenbraum, Executive Director of the National Book Foundation; James English, Professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania and Director of the Penn English Program in London; and Carlin Romano, books columnist and critic for the Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia, PA
• October 10^th, Announcement of this year's National Book Award Finalists
• November 12^th, National Book Awards Week Begins with 5 Under 35, a celebration of the next generation of fiction writers
• November 13^th, National Book Awards Teen Press Conference at Donnell Library, New York City
• November 13^th, National Book Awards Finalist Reading, New York City
• November 14^th, 58^th National Book Awards Ceremony and Dinner, New York City