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FOR RELEASE
SEPTEMBER 10, 2008
Contact: Camille McDuffie
Goldberg McDuffie Communications
(212)446-5106
cmcduffie@goldbergmcduffie.com
MAXINE HONG KINGSTON TO
RECEIVE
THE MEDAL FOR DISTINGUISHED
CONTRIBUTION TO AMERICAN LETTERS
FROM THE NATIONAL BOOK FOUNDATION
BARNEY ROSSET,
LEGENDARY PUBLISHER,
TO RECEIVE THE LITERARIAN AWARD FOR
OUTSTANDING SERVICE TO THE
AMERICAN LITERARY COMMUNITY
To Be
Honored on November 19 at the 2008
National Book Awards Ceremony hosted by Eric Bogosian
Scott
Turow to Announce National Book Award Finalists
From Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theater on October
15
New York, New York
– The National Book Foundation, presenter of the
National Book Awards, will bestow its 2008 Medal for
Distinguished Contribution to American Letters on Maxine
Hong Kingston in recognition of her outstanding
achievements as a writer of fiction, memoir, and nonfiction.
Born to Chinese immigrant parents in California, Kingston
has employed a range of literary styles and stories
in her work to create a startling new approach to immigrant
memoir and fiction and influence two generations of
American writers. She was the recipient of a National
Book Award in 1981 for China Men.
The Medal will be presented at the 59th National Book
Awards Ceremony and Benefit Dinner at Cipriani Wall
Street in New York City on Wednesday, November 19. Writer
and actor Eric
Bogosian will emcee the event.
Also that evening, The National
Book Foundation will award Barney
Rosset, the legendary publisher, The Literarian
Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary
Community. Rosset, through his publishing house, Grove
Press, and his magazine, The Evergreen Review,
introduced American readers to such literary giants
as Samuel Beckett, Harold Pinter, Jean Genet, and Eugène
Ionesco, as well as many of the writers of the Beat
generation. He fought two landmark first amendment battles
in order to publish the uncensored version of D.H. Lawrence’s
novel, Lady Chatterley’s Lover, and Henry
Miller’s Tropic of Cancer. Rosset was
a tenacious champion for writers who were struggling
to be read in America and this award recognizes his
vision and his enormous contributions to American publishing.
In making the announcements,
Harold Augenbraum, executive director of the Foundation,
said, “This year’s distinguished honorees
broke new ground in American literary publishing. Kingston
exposed the great story of American immigration to a
new, rich blend of fiction, memory, folk-tale and political
idea. Rosset opened a door to brash concepts about reading
in America, letting controversial literary work speak
for itself. Our Board of Directors is honored that they
will be with us to accept these Medals.”
Maxine Hong Kingston is the
nineteenth recipient of the Medal
for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.
Previous recipients include Joan
Didion, Norman
Mailer, Toni
Morrison, and John
Updike. This year’s ceremony marks the fourth
year that the Foundation has presented the Literarian
Award, which was established to recognize individuals
whose life’s work has enhanced the literary world.
Previous winners are Terry
Gross, Robert
Silvers and Barbara Epstein, and Lawrence
Ferlinghetti.
Note: more detailed biographies
of Maxine Hong Kingston and Barney Rosset follow at
the end of the release.
Scott
Turow to Announce Finalists on October 15 in Chicago
The twenty Finalists for the
2008 National Book Award will be announced on October
15. Bestselling author Scott
Turow will make the announcement from the stage
of the Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago and it will be
transmitted by videolink (the video will be available
at www.nationalbook.org
at noon on that day).
The National Book Award will
be presented in four categories: Fiction, Nonfiction,
Poetry, and Young People’s Literature. The winner
in each category will be announced at the National Book
Awards Ceremony and Benefit Dinner in New York City
on Wednesday, November 19. This year, the event will
take place in a new venue – Cipriani
at 55 Wall Street. The Awards, which have been given
since 1950, are the country’s foremost symbol
of literary excellence, given to writers by writers.
For more information about
the Finalists Announcement and the invitation-only Awards
dinner, please contact Camille McDuffie at Goldberg
McDuffie Communications (212)446-5106.
Maxine Hong Kingston
 Maxine
Hong Kingston was born to Chinese immigrant parents
in Stockton, California in 1940 and graduated from the
University of California, Berkeley. A long-time member
of the Berkeley faculty, she is currently Senior Lecturer
for Creative Writing.
Her nonfiction books include
The Woman Warrior, which won the National Book
Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction, China Men,
which was awarded the National Book Award in 1981,
Hawaii One Summer, Through the Black Curtain,
To Be the Poet, and The Fifth Book of Peace.
She has written one novel, Tripmaster Monkey: His
Fake Book. Kingston is the recipient of an American
Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature and
a National Humanities Medal from the National Endowment
for the Humanities, as well as the title of “Living
Treasure of Hawaii.”
Maxine Hong Kingston photo
© Gail K. Evenari.
Barney Rosset
 Barney
Rosset was born in 1922 in Chicago and purchased the
small Greenwich Village publisher, Grove Press, in 1951.
At Grove he published in America for the first time
such literary giants as Samuel Beckett, Jean Genet,
Tom Stoppard, Harold Pinter, Kenzaburo Oe, and many
of the Beat writers, such as Jack Kerouac and William
Burroughs. In two epic legal battles, he fought for
and won the rights to publish D.H. Lawrence’s
Lady Chatterley’s Lover (in 1959) and
then Henry Miller’s, Tropic of Cancer
(in 1961). He also founded a literary magazine, The
Evergreen Review, which inspired many young Americans
to embrace the counterculture. The magazine continues
to publish online at www.evergreenreview.com.
Eric Bogosian
 Eric
Bogosian is a writer, playwright and actor known for
his comedic monologues and social commentary. In addition
to his numerous one-man shows he has performed throughout
New York, he starred on Broadway in his acclaimed drama,
“Talk Radio,” which was revived last year
with Liev Schreiber. Several of his one-man shows were
made into films, including “Sex, Drugs, and Rock
& Roll,” He has appeared in several films
and is well-known to television fans as Captain Danny
Ross in Law and Order: Criminal Intent. He
is also the author of two novels, Mall and
Wasted Beauty. More information is available
at
www.ericbogosian.com.
Eric Bogosian photo ©
Susan Johann.
Scott Turow
 Scott
Turow is a writer and attorney. He is the author of
seven best-selling novels: Presumed Innocent, The
Burden of Proof , Pleading Guilty, The Laws of Our Fathers,
Personal Injuries, Reversible Errors and Ordinary
Heroes. A novella, Limitations, was published
as a paperback original in 2006 following its serialization
in The New York Times Magazine. His works of
non-fiction include One L (1977) about his
experience as a law student, and Ultimate Punishment
(2003), a reflection on the death penalty. He frequently
contributes essays and op-ed pieces to publications
such as The New York Times, Washington Post, Vanity
Fair, The New Yorker, Playboy and The Atlantic.
He lives in Chicago, where he is a partner at Sonnenschein
Nath & Rosenthal. More information is available
at www.scottturow.com.
Scott Turow photo ©
Greg Martin.
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