Poetry watches life with affection.
In 1974, American poets Philip Levine, Jean Valentine, and David Kalstone served as Judges for the National Book Award for Poetry. That year, the Judges chose two Winners and Levine’s letter– sent to the National Book Foundation– provides the text for the Judges’ citation for one of them.
#NPM15 pop quiz: Who shared the 1974 National Book Award for Poetry with Allen Ginsberg?
#TBT to 1971
Biologist E.O. Wilson pictured in his laboratory at Harvard University, the year he published his National Book Award Finalist book The Insect Societies. One of the world’s most influential scientists, E.O. Wilson’s latest work– The Meaning of Human Existence– was a National Book Award Finalist in 2014.
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.
Happy birthday Oprah Winfrey! To celebrate, here’s a #TBT of Oprah at the 1999 National Book Awards where she was the recipient of the 50th Anniversary Gold Medal.
Bonus #TBT: Oprah is standing next to Toni Morrison, the 1996 recipient of the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.
#TBT 0ur scrapbook of press clippings of the 1985 National Book Awards Ceremony.
#TBT A 2004 National Book Foundation media campaign to promote reading. Our poster, featuring the cartoon work of @newyorkermag Cartoon Editor Robert Mankoff, was distributed to book stores across the country. #bookschangelives #truth #booktastic #bookstagram
Can you guess which major American artist contributed the cover art for our 2011 National Book Awards program book? Hint: he currently is the subject of a huge retrospective at the @whitneymuseum!
#tbt #NBAwards #books #bookstagram #art #painting #?
WHAT BECOMES THREE LEGENDS MOST?
Erica Jong, Lauren Bacall, and Betty Friedan celebrate Bacall’s 1980 National Book Award (briefly known as the American Book Awards) for her autobiography, Lauren Bacall: By Myself, at the ceremonial dinner.
Sharing the news that the seriously funny @DanielHandler will be hosting this year’s #NBAwards reminded us of another brilliant humorist who served as Master of Ceremonies. Steve Martin, pictured here at the 50th Anniversary National Book Awards with Ceremony attendee Bill Cosby, emceed the National Book Awards in 1999, 2000, and 2002. #TBT #NBAwards #SteveMartin #LetsGetSmall #KingTut #banjos! #ShopGirl #LAStory #FatheroftheBride #FatheroftheBride? #YesWeLikedThatMovie #PicassoattheLapinAgile #SteveMartinPrizeforExcellenceinBanjoandBluegrass
Throwin’ it way, WAAAAYYY back.
Our #TBT, William Carlos Williams, pictured here with Eleanor Roosevelt, Nelson Algren, and Ralph L. Rusk, at the first National Book Awards Ceremony in 1950. Williams won the Poetry Award for both his Selected Poems and part 3 of his opus Paterson. On our online exhibition of #NBAwards Poetry Winners , poet Ross Gay writes: “Maybe Paterson is Williams’ dream of democracy, of freedom. His attempt at being free. Can a poem be that?”
“Kill a tree! Save a book!”
Our #TBT is dedicated to Carrie Brownstein, wunderhost of our 2013 5 Under 35 Celebration last November. (Awesome party photos here.) Carrie’s hit series Portlandia returns tonight on IFC. As a warm up to its premiere, watch Carrie share her alt-reality vision of our 5 Under 35 selection process.
Gene Luen Yang, a 2013 #NBAwards YPL Finalist for his phenomenal graphic novel Boxers & Saints has just released the first of six monthly e-installments of his latest book The Shadow Hero. Created with Sonny Liew, The Shadow Hero chronicles the adventures of the Green Turtle, a comic-book character first created by Blazing Comics in the 1940s. Indeed, the Green Turtle was the first Asian-American super hero to appear in American comic books.
Yang’s publisher FirstSecond has published lots of fun information about the history of the Green Turtle and Yang’s creative reimagining of the super hero’s life story and exploits.
To celebrate the Russian Federation’s first Olympic games, we offer our Literary “Olympian” Vladimir Nabokov, a SEVEN-time Finalist for a National Book Award. Pictured here in 1958 in Life magazine scribbling notes for Lolita. (Yes, it was a staged moment.)
1958: Pnin
1959: Lolita
1965: The Defense
1973: Transparent Things
1975: Look at the Harlequins!
1976: Tyrants Destroyed and Other Stories
We have some great short essays about Nabokov here, here, and here.
alwaysbringabookwithyou
all-these-paperback-dreams
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
