The National Book Foundation

eNews for October 2008

Mark Your Calendar: Author Scott Turow to Announce National Book Award Finalists on October 15

On October 15, the eagerly-awaited announcement of the twenty Finalists for the 2008 National Book Awards will be made from the stage of the Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago by author Scott Turow. The announcement will be transmitted by videolink and be available at www.nationalbook.org at 12 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Bookstores, libraries and bloggers are invited to link to the Foundation's website.

If you are not a registered eNewsletter recipient and would like to receive a list of the twenty Finalists for the 2008 National Book Awards and a hot link to Turow’s video announcement, please send an email to nationalbook@nationalbook.org and state in the subject line “Email Finalists on October 15.”

Turow picture © Greg Martin.

Maxine Hong Kingston and Barney Rosset to Receive Foundation's Lifetime Achievement Awards

The Foundation announced Maxine Hong Kingston as the recipient of its 2008 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters and Barney Rosset the 2008 Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the Literary Community.

Both will be presented at the 2008 National Book Awards ceremony on Wednesday, November 19. Writer and actor Eric Bogosian will host this year's National Book Award Ceremony and Dinner.

For more about the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters and past honorees, please visit the Foundation's website at www.nationalbook.org/amerletters.html. For more information about The Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the Literary Community and past honorees, visit the Foundation's website at www.nationalbook.org/literarian.html.

Photos: Maxine Hong Kingston © Gail K. Evenari. Barney Rosset © Arne C. Svenson Astrid.

NATIONAL BOOK AWARDS WEEK

November 17: 5 Under 35 Party to be held at Tribeca Cinemas

with host Dean Wareham and special guest DJ Chuck Klosterman

For the third year in a row, the National Book Foundation will celebrate the work of the next generation of young fiction writers at the "5 Under 35" party and reading. This year’s honorees are Matthew Eck, Keith Gessen, Sana Krasikov, Nam Le and Fiona Maazel. They were selected by National Book Awards fiction finalists Joshua Ferris, Francine Prose, Mary Gaitskill, Jim Shepard, and winner Jonathan Franzen.

The invitation-only event kicks off National Book Award Week and will take place at Tribeca Cinemas. Following an introduction by the National Book Award finalist or winner who selected them, each 5 Under 35 author will give a brief reading from their selected book to an audience of writers, editors, agents, publishers, journalists and bloggers.

For more information about the 2008 5 Under 35 fiction writers and the National Book Award authors who selected them, click on www.nationalbook.org/5under35.html.

November 18: "Stinky Cheese" Author Jon Scieszka To Host Popular 2008 NBA Teen Press Conference

2007 NBA Finalist's and Winner at last year's Teen Press Conference. (L to R) Brian Selznick, Kathleen Duey, Sherman Alexie, Sara Zarr, M. Sindy Felin.

On Tuesday, November 18, the Library of Congress’s National Ambassador of Young People's Literature, “Stinky Cheese” author Jon Scieszka will welcome over 300 middle and high school students from New York City public and private schools to the auditorium of The New York Public Library’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture for the Foundation’s popular National Book Awards Teen Press Conference.

Students will prepare for the event by reading one of the five Finalists' books and drafting questions based on 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, when they will interview the 2008 National Book Award Finalists in Young People's Literature. Students will have the opportunity to meet the authors and have their books sign at a reception following the event.

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 must contact Rebecca Keith at rkeith@nationalbook.org, no later than Friday, October 24. Include your name, name of school, telephone number, and number of students attending. This event is very popular and seats fill up quickly.

November 18: Want to See All The 2008 National Book Award Finalists at Once?

All twenty of this year's National Book Award Finalists will read together at New York City’ s New School on November 18 at 7 p.m., the evening before the Awards ceremony. Robert Polito, Director of the New School Writing Program, will host and novelist Anya Ulinich, one the Foundation’s 2007 "5 Under 35" selections, will emcee. Each Finalist will read for five minutes from his or her nominated work. The Foundation will email ticket information later in October.

November 19: Winners to be Announced at the National Book Awards Ceremony and Dinner

On the evening of Wednesday, November 19, over 600 members of the literary community, the country's literary stars, national and international press, and bloggers will attend the National Book Awards Ceremony and Benefit Dinner to hear the Winners in Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, and Young People's Literature announced at Cipriani Wall Street.

In addition, writer Maxine Hong Kingston and legendary publisher Barney Rosset will be honored as the recipients of the Foundation's lifetime achievement awards. Writer and actor Eric Bogosian will host the event.

If you are not a registered eNewsletter recipient and would like to receive a list of the 2008 National Book Awards Winners in Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry and Young People's Literature, please send an email to nationalbook@nationalbook.org and state in the subject line “Email Winners on November 19." The Winners will also be posted on our homepage and available to our Twitter followers.

Calling All Librarians, Booksellers and Teachers

Complimentary NBA Promotional Materials - While Supplies Last

At noon Eastern Standard Time on Wednesday, October 15, when the 2008 National Book Award Finalists are announced, over 3,000 libraries, booksellers and teachers will begin to promote the authors and their books with complimentary posters and bookmarks provided by the Foundation.

The Foundation still has a limited supply of posters and bookmarks, which it will mail upon request. The attractive letter-size poster, printed in color on heavy stock, will catch the eye of readers in bookstores and in libraries and can be affixed to a wall, posted in a window, or arranged on a table surrounded by the 2008 National Book Award Finalists' books. The bookmarks invite patrons to view this year's National Book Award Finalists and Winners—as well as those of past years—on the Foundation’s website, http://www.nationalbook.org/nba2008.html.

The poster and bookmark are also available to download from the Foundation’s website, along with a list of National Book Award Winners and Finalists from 1950 to the present (.pdf).

Libraries and Bookstores: If you would like to receive a poster and a batch of 25 bookmarks, please e-mail Sherrie Young at syoung@nationalbook.org.

Silver medallion stickers (and gold medallions) to affix to National Book Award Winners and Finalists are also available to booksellers at a modest cost. For information about medallion stickers email haugenbraum@nationalbook.org. All proceeds from sticker sales go to support the Foundation and its educational outreach programs.

IN THE NEWS

The Associated Press recently reported that Horace Engdahl, the permanent secretary to the Swedish Academy, which selects the recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature, stated "The U.S. is too isolated, too insular. They don't translate enough and don't really participate in the big dialogue of literature. That ignorance is restraining."

Harold Augenbraum, the executive director of the National Book Foundation, politely responded by offering to send Engdahl a reading list of U.S. literature. To read the entire article, visit http://tinyurl.com/53jhqj.

In addition, read Harold's brief list of suggested reading to Mr. Engdahl at http://tinyurl.com/4x2487.

Follow the Foundation on Twitter

The NBF will be tweeting about author events, awards updates, and details about National Book Awards Week. Find out who the 2008 Finalists are in real-time, as they are announced, starting at noon on October 15.

Tweets will also be sent around 9:30 p.m. EST, on Wednesday, November 19, after each judge announces the Winner in Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry and Young People's Literature.

Subscribe to our feed at http://twitter.com/nationalbook. Send us suggestions of whom we should follow by tweeting us or email Meredith Andrews at nationalbook@nationalbook.org.

NATIONAL BOOK AWARD DATES

October 15, Announcement of this year's National Book Award Finalists, Chicago

November 17, National Book Awards Week Begins with 5 Under 35, a celebration of the next generation of fiction writers

November 18, National Book Awards Teen Press Conference, New York City

November 18, National Book Awards Finalist Reading, New York City

November 19, 59th National Book Awards Ceremony and Dinner, New York City

NOW AVAILABLE:
2008-2009 Reading
Hot Spots Map, NYC

The 2008-2009 map of New York City's "Reading Hot Spots" is now available for free upon request.

Developed by the National Book Foundation and designed by Bloomberg, the map was conceived to introduce participants to the wealth of literary culture and resources available in New York City. It includes independent and chain bookstores, libraries in all five boroughs, literary centers and other institutions where participants can visit free of charge.

For your free copy or copies, please send an email to Katie McDonough at kmcdonough@nationalbook.org and state in the subject line "Request, Reading Hot Spots Map." Include your name, name of the organization, mailing address and the number of maps. Since supplies are limited, we can only send one map per individual or 25 per store or library.

BookUpNYC EXPANDS

BookUpNYC, the Foundation's model after-school reading program, has begun its third year, with sites in the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Manhattan. The program pairs groups of middle-school students with published authors who introduce them to new books and discuss the publishing process and other aspects of literary culture.

Throughout the school year, these five writers serve as literary role models and mentors to middle-school students. As BookUp's goal is to help develop lifelong readers, the Foundation gives copies of all books read in BookUp sessions to each student, allowing them to build their personal libraries.

With support from the Theodore H. Barth Foundation, the R.R. Donnelley Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, The New York Community Trust, and the New York State Council on the Arts as well as individual donors, the five writers meet every week with their individual groups to read and discuss books and engage in creative activities based on their reading.

The books are selected jointly by the writers and the participants. In addition, writers and their students take organized field trips to independent and chain bookstores, libraries, and other literary sites, making them part of the literary community.

To learn more about the program and to view the calendar of field trips, visit http://tinyurl.com/4oonj7.

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

Barnes & Noble; Random House, Inc.; Bloomberg; Coral Graphics; R.R. Donnelley; Lindenmeyr Book Publishing Papers; Penguin Group (USA); Borders; Hachette Book Group USA; HarperCollins Publishers; Levenger; John Wiley & Sons, Inc.