Being Brave on Behalf of Books

Header Photo Credit: Christian Rodriguez

May 20, 2026

Dear Readers,

This week, I celebrate five years at the National Book Foundation, on the heels of rolling out our ambitious new strategic plan for the five years ahead.

I’m so grateful to you for caring about books, and so proud of all that we’ve accomplished together over these years in support of books and reading:

• Honored 250 extraordinary books through the National Book Awards; named 30 debut novelists to watch through 5 Under 35; and celebrated 15 works of fiction, nonfiction and poetry that bring science to life through Science + Literature
• Collaborated on the Inside Literary Prize—the first major US book prize judged by currently incarcerated readers—alongside Freedom Reads, the Center for Justice Innovation, and Lori Feathers
• Distributed over 1.7 million new, free books to children and families in 63 public housing communities across the US
• Brought over 275 authors to communities across 30 states, DC, and Puerto Rico for free, co-curated events
• Launched a new Teacher Fellowship supporting 22 teachers and over 3,600 students
• Built our capacity to do this work, including growing our staff from six to 13; made all internships paid; created two strategic plans to carry us to the 75th National Book Awards and, now, to the 80th; upgraded our technology; and more than doubled our budget

All of this work has prepared us to meet the current moment, when books are threatened in interconnected and unprecedented ways, through book bans, attacks on the freedom to read, and an erosion of public support and funding. It is a daunting moment—I never imagined that in my lifetime I would see books attacked in the ways they are right now.

And yet, there are also reasons for us to have hope. Book sales continue to grow each year, and a recent survey by Bain revealed that 60% of people wish they read more—the only media people reported wanting to consume more of—and that parents overwhelmingly want their children to develop a love of reading.

This April, over spring break for NYC public schools, I joined three-time National Book Award Finalist Rita Williams-Garcia for a visit to New York City Housing Authority’s Gun Hill Community Center in the Bronx. Eighty students gathered for a morning of book and art making before listening to Rita tell the story of her life as a writer, showing pictures of books she wrote and illustrated as a young girl and the covers of her 13 books—or, what she called, “Living in the plan of my dreams.” The students listened eagerly and asked lots of questions, including a boy who asked how writing had changed Rita’s life. She responded that when her first book sold in 1987, she had been on the verge of losing her apartment; selling her first book allowed her to keep her home and to build a life in books, following that plan of her dreams. I saw the girl in front of me sit up taller and clutch something tightly. As students lined up to get their books signed before a pizza lunch, I glanced down at the little girl, perched on the very edge of her seat, and saw she was gripping a construction paper book of her own, the cover adorned with the brightly-colored words, “My Dream.”

At the National Book Foundation, our work is to honor extraordinary books like Rita’s, ensure more readers find them, and create opportunities for little girls like this one to meet authors, build their home libraries, and follow their own stories and dreams.

I feel proud of and grateful for all that we have accomplished together on behalf of books, and I’m also excited for the plans we have for the five years ahead. Our new five-year strategic plan, Championing Books: Deepening Connections, Community, and Our Commitment to Readers, is about being brave on behalf of books, reaching more readers, and building community around reading. In the five years ahead, we’ll work to:

• Secure a streaming partner for the National Book Awards, to ensure the honored books reach the widest possible audiences and reinforce the central role that books play in our culture
• Present authors in 125 free events in every corner of the country, reaching 40,000+ adults through co-curated literary events with local partners
• Distribute 1.6M free books to children and families in 72 public housing communities, adding 10 new communities over the five years
• Pilot a geographic strategy, focusing our expansion on rural and Tribal communities who have the least access to books and literary events
• Support 40 teachers in projects that build a joy of reading in their school or classroom
• Re-design our website to better connect readers to books, and build our capacity to do all this work

This is a moment when books need all of us—as readers, as advocates, as champions. There is so much critical work ahead, but we can’t do it without your help.

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I hope you’ll consider joining our campaign in support of books. We need you. And books need all of us.

Yours in reading, and in dreams and pizza,

Ruth Dickey, Executive Director