National Book Foundation to Present Lifetime Achievement Award to Perri Klass
The National Book Foundation, presenter of the National Book Awards, announced pediatrician, writer, and National Medical Director of Reach Out and Read Perri Klass, MD, as the recipient of the 2026 Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community. The Award will be presented at the 77th National Book Awards Ceremony & Benefit Dinner on Wednesday, November 18, 2026. For decades, Klass has worked closely with doctors and nurses across the country and around the world to promote early childhood literacy through pediatric primary care through her work as longtime National Medical Director of the nonprofit Reach Out and Read. Klass is an energetic champion of the written word, former New York Times columnist, and Professor of Journalism and Pediatrics at New York University and Director of the Medical Humanities Minor.
“Perri Klass’s lifetime of service as a pediatrician, educator, and provider of books to children and families will have a lasting impact on communities everywhere—reaffirming the importance of reading and storytelling as an integral part of early childhood,” said David Steinberger, Chair of the Board of Directors of the National Book Foundation. “Throughout her career, Dr. Klass has innovatively combined her deep love of medicine, the humanities, and literature to support the health and wellness outcomes of millions of children and families. We are pleased to recognize her commitment to the power of books as a lifechanging tool for readers of all ages with the Literarian Award at the 77th National Book Awards Ceremony this fall.”
Born in Trinidad, Perri Klass was raised in New York City and New Jersey. She earned her AB in Biology from Harvard University, her MD from Harvard Medical School, and completed her residency in pediatrics at Children’s Hospital Boston, now known as Boston Children’s Hospital. In 1992, she completed a fellowship in pediatric infectious diseases at Boston City Hospital, now known as Boston Medical Center, and practiced pediatrics at an urban health care clinic in Boston for over a decade. While at Boston Medical Center, Klass helped build Reach Out and Read—a nonprofit organization that, since 1989, works with medical professionals to encourage parents to read aloud to their infants and young children as part of a family’s daily routine, in addition to providing free books during regular wellness visits. Over the past 35 years, Reach Out and Read has grown into a national network that serves families across all 50 states and provides 9 million books each year.
“As the child of two teachers, I have vivid memories of my parents reading aloud to me from a very early age—an act of love and care that set the stage for me to become a lifelong reader,” said Ruth Dickey, Executive Director of the National Book Foundation. “Perri Klass’s advocacy has been instrumental in promoting book access and showing that reading together is vital to early childhood development. Medical professionals, caregivers, families, children, and communities across the country will benefit from Dr. Klass’s extraordinary career for decades to come. The National Book Foundation is delighted to celebrate her as the recipient of the 2026 Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community.”
Klass is the author of more than a dozen books, including the novels The Mercy Rule, The Mystery of Breathing, Other Women’s Children, and Recombinations; the short story collections Love and Modern Medicine and I Am Having an Adventure; the memoir Baby Doctor: A Pediatrician’s Training; as well as Every Mother Is a Daughter: The Neverending Quest for Success, Inner Peace, and a Really Clean Kitchen, co-written with her mother, Sheila Solomon Klass, Quirky Kids: Understanding and Supporting Your Child With Developmental Differences, co-written with Dr. Eileen Costello, and The Best Medicine: How Science and Public Health Gave Children a Future. Her medical journalism has appeared in a wide variety of publications, including The Atlantic, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, The New England Journal of Medicine, Harvard Medicine, and others. She is also frequently featured in the New York Times, covering topics such as the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccines, mental health, grief, and much more. Klass’s many awards and honors include the 2006 Women’s National Book Association Award; the 2007 American Academy of Pediatrics Education Award; the 2011 Alvarez Award from the American Medical Writers Association; and the 2016 Arnold P. Gold Foundation Humanism in Medicine Award from the American Academy of Pediatrics. She was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2021 and currently serves on the National Board of Directors for Reach Out and Read.
Klass is the 22nd recipient of the National Book Foundation’s Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community, which is given to an individual or organization for a lifetime of achievement in expanding the audience for books and reading. Past recipients include Maya Angelou, Terry Gross, Kyle Zimmer, the literary organization Cave Canem, Doron Weber, Oren J. Teicher, Carolyn Reidy, Nancy Pearl, Tracie D. Hall, Paul Yamazaki, W. Paul Coates, and most recently, Roxane Gay. Nominations for the Literarian Award are made by former National Book Award Winners, Finalists, and judges, and other writers and literary professionals from around the country. Final selections are made by the National Book Foundation’s Board of Directors. Recipients of the Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community receive $10,000 and a solid brass medal.
The 77th National Book Awards will be held on Wednesday, November 18, 2026 at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City. The in-person Ceremony & Benefit Dinner, which will be livestreamed for readers everywhere, will include the presentation of the Foundation’s two lifetime achievement awards—the Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the Literary Community and the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters—as well as the 2026 National Book Award Winners in the categories of Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Translated Literature, and Young People’s Literature. For more information about the 77th National Book Awards Ceremony & Benefit Dinner and to register for the livestream, please visit nationalbook.org/awards.
About Perri Klass:
Perri Klass, MD is Professor of Journalism and Pediatrics at New York University where she directs the Medical Humanities minor. She attended Harvard Medical School and completed her residency in pediatrics at Children’s Hospital Boston. Klass is the author of The Best Medicine: How Science and Public Health Gave Children a Future, A Not Entirely Benign Procedure: Four Years as a Medical Student, and Baby Doctor: A Pediatrician’s Training. Her other books include four novels, and she writes regularly about children’s issues for many publications. Klass is the longtime National Medical Director of Reach Out and Read and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Header image: Perri Klass. (Photo credit: Paolo Cagnacci)
Cave Canem was conceived when poets Toi Derricote and Cornelius Eady were vacationing together in Pompeii, Italy in 1996. At the entryway of The House of the Tragic Poet, was the famous mosaic Cave Canem, which means “Beware of the Dog,” and signified to them that African-American poets need to have a safe space to practice their craft if they are to thrive.
