First edition of Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man on display at Penguin Random House’s headquarters. Ellison was the first African American writer to win a National Book Award.
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#Invisible Man #Ralph Ellison #NBAwards #Penguin Random House #Black History Month
#TBT to 1953, the year Ralph Ellison became the first African American to win a National Book Award for the now classic novel Invisible Man. Upon accepting the award, Ellison said “I was to dream of a prose which was flexible and swift as American change is swift, confronting the inequalities and brutalities of our society forthrightly, but yet thrusting forth it’s images of hope, human fraternity, and individual self realization.” Read Ellison’s speech here.
I had not, at the age of eighteen, read a single novel that communicated as much about the tragic and ludicrous function of racism in this country.
Harvard University sociologist Orlando Patterson with (from left) Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Ralph Ellison, and Ellison’s wife Fanny at the 1991 National Book Awards.
That night, Patterson made history when he became the first African American to win a National Book Award for Nonfiction for his groundbreaking history book, Freedom in the Making of Western Culture.
“I remember that I’m invisible and walk softly so as not awake the sleeping ones. Sometimes it is best not to awaken them; there are few things in the world as dangerous as sleepwalkers.” ― Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man
Invisible Man won the National Book Award in 1953. Read 2015 Finalist Angela Flournoy’s essay about her first encounter with Invisible Man here.
If I were asked in all seriousness just what I considered to be the chief significance of Invisible Man as a fiction, I would reply: Its experimental attitude and its attempt to return to the mood of personal moral responsibility for democracy which typified the best of our nineteenth-century fiction.
The opening line of Ralph Ellison’s acceptance speech for the 1953 National Book Award for his novel Invisible Man.
You can read his full remarks here.
On Saturday, January 24, Penguin Random House CEO and National Book Foundation board member Markus Dohle will be making #TimeToRead in support of National Readathon Day. From noon to 4pm, book lovers across the country will read and raise funds to support the Foundation’s education efforts.
What will you be reading?
Tag and share a selfie of yourself with a book to show your support for National Readathon Day. We’ll collect and share your photos on our feeds. And don’t forget to pledge to be a part of National Readathon Day! Visit nationalbook.org for details and some incredible fundraising incentives (like, tickets to the 2015 National Book Awards ceremony!).
Summer listening for Audio Month! Long listed for the National Book Award, Carl Hiaasen’s beloved SKINK for YPL readers is available from Penguin Random House Audio.
In honor of Black History Month, and for the second consecutive year, NBF presents a timeline of the first African Americans to become National Book Award honored authors.
The National Book Foundation’s own Executive Director, Lisa Lucas, presented at this year’s Penguin Random House Creative Writing Awards! It was a special night for all of the winners. Together with families, friends, and teachers, we celebrated the best writing from New York City’s high school seniors.
Pictured from left to right: James Stinnet, Third Place Fiction & Drama winner; Lia Kim, Second Place Fiction & Drama winner; Melanie Fallon-Houska, Director, Corporate Giving; Sophia Zhao; Lisa Lucas, Executive Director for the National Book Foundation.
Pictured from left to right: Melanie Fallon-Houska, Director, Corporate Giving, Richard Hoehler, OOBR award-winning actor and author/playwright. Christy Deng, First Place Memoir Winner, Chris Jackson, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief for One World (an imprint of Random House);Julissa Salas, First Place Graphic Novel Winner, David Kushner author and contributing editor for Rolling Stone; Sophia Zhao, First Place Fiction & Drama, Madison Aubey, First Place Poetry winner, Lisa Lucas, Executive Director for the National Book Foundation, Quameek English, Maya Angelou Award for Spoken Word.
$115,000 in scholarships were awarded to sixty-two New York City students in recognition of their achievement in poetry/spoken word, memoir, fiction, and graphic novel compositions. The National Book Foundation is proud to celebrate these high school seniors and their outstanding writing!
This week, we were thrilled to announce the Longlists for the 2019 National Book Awards. These titles in the categories of Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Translated Literature, and Young People’s Literature represent some of the best writing of the year. The Finalists will be announced October 8, all in the lead up to the 70th National Book Awards on November 20.
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Barnes and Nobles is gonna start serving food and alcohol.
Everybody’s cracking jokes about how it’s a desperate attempt to stay relevant in the age of Amazon.
But you know what? Props to them. This is exactly what Blockbuster didn’t do. At no point was Blockbuster like “Hey, movie rentals aren’t the lucrative enterprise they once were. Perhaps it’s time we become known for our cheesy garlic bread.”
that’s a fantastic plan, honestly? i would 100% go sit at a bookshop, buy a glass of wine, and pick up the newest biography. 50/50 i’d decide to buy it after a couple chapters, and even if i don’t, that’s still money i spent at B&N!
They could host book clubs with food and drinks where one of the employees shares their experiences with a book of their choice and tries to convince the guests to buy it.
Barnes and noble realizing the only reason people go to brick and mortar stores is for the experience and access to an enjoyable physical space they can socialize in (sure isnt for the price) and capitalizing on that is a stroke of genius and a really refreshing approach to the dilemma of competing with online stores
