Events Calendar

For the third year running, current Longlisters, Finalists, and potential Winners join for a cross-genre panel conversation, presented in partnership with the Portland Book Festival. This year’s conversation features Brit Bennett (The Vanishing Half, Fiction), Evette Dionne (Lifting as We Climb: Black Women’s Battle for the Ballot Box, Young People’s Literature), and Jerald Walker (How to Make a Slave and Other Essays, Nonfiction).

Moderated by Novella Ford, Associate Director of Public Programs and Exhibitions at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

Please RSVP here.

All of the National Book Award Finalists in Fiction, Poetry, Nonfiction, Translated Literature, and Young People’s Literature traditionally gather before the Awards Ceremony to read excerpts from their honored works. This year, the program will happen virtually, presented in partnership with The New School.

Please watch the event here.

Join us for a [email protected] discussion with three-time National Book Awards finalist for Young People’s Literature Rita Williams-Garcia about her book Clayton Byrd Goes Underground. In the novel, Clayton follows his grandfather’s footsteps as a blues musician on a journey that takes him through the New York City subways to Washington Square Park. This event is open to the public and will feature a student-generated Q+A with the author.

Registration is required. Please register here.

2020 Finalists and potential Winners Kacen Callender (King and the Dragonflies, Young People’s Literature), Natalie Diaz (Postcolonial Love Poem, Poetry), and Deesha Philyaw (The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, Fiction) discuss their work and recognition in advance of the 71^st Annual National Book Awards, presented in partnership with the Texas Book Festival.

Moderated by Cristina Rodriguez, general manager and head buyer at Deep Vellum Books.

Please RSVP here.