The National Book Foundation returns to the Portland Book Festival to celebrate past and present National Book Award–honored authors, ahead of the 76^th National Book Awards on Wednesday, November 19. 2024 National Book Award Winner Jason De León (Soldiers and Kings: Survival and Hope in the World of Human Smuggling, Nonfiction) and 2025 National Book Award Finalist Megha Majumdar (A Guardian and a Thief, Fiction) gather for readings and conversation on human and humane storytelling. Using anthropology, research, and heart, De León and Majumdar bring readers into their worlds and consider what we’re willing to do to survive and to protect those that we love from borders and one another.

Moderated by Ruth Dickey, Executive Director of the National Book Foundation, and presented in partnership with Literary Arts’ Portland Book Festival.