The National Book Foundation

January 2008, eNewsletter

January 2008

NBF Expands BookUpNYC

After a successful first year, BookUpNYC, the Foundation's model after-school reading program that exposes participants to the broad literary culture of the United States, will expand from three to seven sites. With support from Bloomberg, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Theodore H. Barth Foundation, the R.R. Donnelley Foundation, and individual donors, the program aims to seek new ways to help sixth, seventh and eighth graders become lifelong readers and active participants in New York City' s literary and cultural community.

In addition to the increased number of sites, participants will begin to build their personal libraries. The Foundation and resident authors are creating a list of 25 essential books for these personal libraries. Contributions from individual donors and publishers in addition to publisher discounts will provide each participant with this core set of books.

To learn more about the program, visit http://www.nationalbook.org/bookupnyc.html.

For further information, contact the Foundation at (212) 685-0261.

Now Available:
Reading Ahead: An NBF Blog on the Future of Literary Reading

The National Book Foundation's Reading Ahead blog focuses on the current and future state of literary reading. Future topics will include new approaches to literature that take advantage of digitization and multimedia, expanding readership through new technologies, the growing neuroscience of reading, using innovative programs to expand literary reading, and new reading social networks. The Foundation's Executive Director, Harold Augenbraum, will invite authors, critics, and other literary professionals to "guest blog" and provide commentary. Readers will also have the opportunity to post comments.

2007 NBA Winners and Finalists in Paperback

Fiction

- Mischa Berlinski, Fieldwork
(Farrar, Straus & Giroux) - Currently available
- Lydia Davis, Varieties of Disturbance
(Farrar, Straus & Giroux) - Currently available
- Joshua Ferris, Then We Came to the End
(Little, Brown & Company) - February 2008
- Denis Johnson, Tree of Smoke
(Farrar, Straus & Giroux) - September 2008
- Jim Shepard, Like You'd Understand, Anyway
(Alfred A. Knopf) - September 2008

Nonfiction

- Edwidge Danticat, Brother, I'm Dying
(Alfred A. Knopf) - September 2008
- Christopher Hitchens, God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything
(Twelve/Hachette Book Group USA) - Fall 2008
- Woody Holton, Unruly Americans and the Origins of the Constitution
(Hill and Wang/Farrar, Straus and Giroux) - October 2008
- Arnold Rampersad, Ralph Ellison: A Biography
(Alfred A. Knopf) - Currently available
- Tim Weiner, Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA
(Doubleday) - May 2008

Poetry

- Linda Gregerson, Magnetic North
(Houghton Mifflin Company) - November 2008
- Robert Hass, Time and Materials
(Ecco/HarperCollins) - November 2008
- David Kirby, The House on Boulevard St.
(Louisiana State University Press) - Currently available
- Stanley Plumly, Old Heart
(W.W. Norton & Company) - March 2009
- Ellen Bryant Voigt, Messenger
(W.W. Norton & Company) - August 2008

Young People's Literature

- Sherman Alexie, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
(Little, Brown & Company) - September 2008
- Kathleen Duey, Skin Hunger: A Resurrection of Magic, Book One
(Atheneum Books for Young Readers) - September 2008
- Sara Zarr, Story of a Girl
(Little, Brown & Company) - February 2008

Jim Shepard, NBA Fiction Finalist, Nominated for The Story Prize

Jim Shepard's Like You'd Understand, Anyway, a 2007 National Book Award Finalist in fiction, was recently nominated as a finalist for The Story Prize. Shepard’s collection of eleven short stories features settings that include: the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown and its aftermath, a Nazi expedition in Tibet, and a female cosmonaut preparing for a space launch.

ATTENTION LIBRARIES: Big, Small, Public, Private, College, or School

Libraries interested in working with the National Book Foundation to promote the National Book Awards in your library, please contact Sherrie Young at syoung@nationalbook.org or call the Foundation offices at 212-685-0261.

FOUNDATION PARTNERS WITH BAM, AWP AND ASIA SOCIETY

Eat, Drink and Be Literary Season Begins This Month

The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) presents eight acclaimed authors for Eat, Drink & Be Literary: Dinner and a Reading in BAMcafé. The events begin at 6:30 p.m. with live music and wine provided by Napa Valley's award-winning Pine Ridge Winery, followed by a delicious buffet dinner in the BAMcafé prepared by executive chef, Tim Sullivan. At 8:00 p.m. the literary program begins with authors reading from their works, after which they will participate in a discussion with the moderator, and answer questions from audience members. Brownstone Books will provide books for purchase and signing.

The featured authors and moderators in January and February are:

January 17: George Saunders, with Aoibheann Sweeney - SOLD OUT
February 7: Deborah Eisenberg, with Aoibheann Sweeney
February 28: André Aciman, with Harold Augenbraum

For a complete listing, ticket pricing, and information please visit, www.nationalbook.org or www.bam.org.

5 Under 35 at the AWP's Annual Conference

The Foundation will participate in the 2008 Association of Writers and Writing Programs Conference on Thursday, January 31 at the Hilton Hotel in New York City when “5 Under 35” honorees Asali Solomon, Anya Ulinich, Amity Gaige, Kirstin Allio and Samantha Hunt read from their work. "5 Under 35" celebrates emerging fiction writers from the across the country during National Book Awards Week.

For more information about “5 Under 35” visit www.nationalbook.org/5under35.html.

The NBF Teams with Asia Society's Friday Literary Salon

The Foundation's executive director, Harold Augenbraum, interviews award-winning novelist Susan Choi about her latest work, A Person of Interest, where she explores the ethnic, social and psychological dimensions of contemporary American society in an age of terror, real and perceived.
Friday, February 1
6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Asia Society and Museum
725 Park Avenue, NYC.

Cost is $7.00 for Asia Society members & students/seniors with I.D. $15.00 for nonmembers.

For more information about this event visit www.asiasociety.org.
Photo: Sigrid Estrada

Giving to the National Book Foundation

The National Book Foundation is a non-profit organization that depends on the help of friends to support our mission, to celebrate the best of American literature, expand its audience, and enhance the cultural value of good writing in America. Please visit the Donate Now page on our website to strengthen the Foundation's public and educational outreach programs by making a tax-deductible contribution online. Thank you for your support.

Upcoming Educational Outreach Programs

January 26

BookUp NYC Harlem Field Trip

Hue-Man Bookstore & Cafe

Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture

January 28
Authors in School Residency with Nina Crews
Astoria, Queens, New York

January 28

BookUp NYC

CAMBA Renaissance Program

Crown Heights, Brooklyn

January 29

BookUp NYC

Union Settlement

Manhattan

February 1
BookUp NYC
Kingsbridge Community Center
Bronx, New York

Mark These Dates

February 1
Harold Augenbraum, the Foundation's executive director, interviews author Susan Choi.
Asia Society's Literary Salon
New York City

January 31
5 Under 35 at the AWP Conference.
Writers selected in the Foundation's 5 Under 35 program read from their honored work.
1:30 - 2:45 p.m.
Hilton Hotel, New York City

For a complete listing of events, visit the Foundation's program calendar.

Dates for the 2008 National Book Awards

April 15
Guidelines and entry forms mailed to publishers

June 16
Entry form deadline

November 19
National Book Awards Ceremony
New York City

The National Book Foundation thanks the following corporate sponsors for their generous support.

Barnes & Noble; Bloomberg; Borders; Central National-Gottesman Inc.; Coral Graphics; R.R. Donnelley; Hachette Book Group USA; Ingram Book Group, Inc.; Levenger, Inc.; W. W. Norton & Company; Penguin Group (USA); Perseus Books Group; Quebecor World; Random House, Inc.; John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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