National Book Awards: The Good News

The National Book Awards celebrate the best writing in the United States across five categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Translated Literature, and Young People’s Literature. The window for submissions was opened on 26 March, the same date the judges were announced.

All titles must be submitted by 13 May. Judges will read intensely to prepare a longlist of 10 books by 15 September. Then, those 10 books are re-read and re-evaluated for inclusion as one of 5 books on the finalists list. The winner is announced on Wednesday 18 November. The Awards Ceremony is one of the most anticipated events for writers, publishers, and readers eager to celebrate the best books of the year.

I’m excited to share with you that I’ve been selected to be a judge on the National Young People’s Literature Award Committee. What really thrills me is the group of people I’ve been selected to work with.

 I’m excited about all the diverse ways they bring experience, talent, and interest to the committee. I hope you’re as excited about our work as I am.

I have a little bibliographic information about each of them, as well as who they’d most like to meet over dinner, an informal way to know them a little better.

Brandy Colbert 

Our committee chair would like to meet and dine with Imani Perry, the distinguished scholar of race, law, literature, and African American culture of along with Deesha Philyaw, author, columnist, and public speaker.

Brandy is an author of books for children and teens, including Black Birds in the Sky: The Story and Legacy of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, The Only Black Girls in Town, and Little & Lion. Her work has received the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award for Nonfiction, the Stonewall Book Award, and was a finalist for the Young Adult Library Services Association Award for Excellence in Nonfiction. She lives in Los Angeles. (Photo credit: Photos by Jamaal)

Tricia Ebarvia is a lifelong educator, activist, and speaker. She’d most like to dine with Maria Ressa, a Filipino American journalist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate and cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw.

After teaching high school for twenty years, she is currently an administrator at an independent school in Philadelphia. A co-founder of the Institute for Racial Equity in Literacy, Tricia works with educators across the country on curriculum and instruction. The daughter of Filipino immigrants, Tricia is the author of Get Free: Antibias Literacy Instruction for Stronger Readers, Writers, and Thinkers.

Jarrett J. Krosoczka is a New York Times bestselling author and illustrator of more than 50 titles for young readers. Over his 25-year career in publishing, he has given young readers the Lunch Lady graphic novels; the graphic memoir, Hey, Kiddo—a National Book Award Finalist; and several picture books. Krosoczka has also collaborated across media with Crayola, Lucasfilm, Marvel, and Apple TV. (Photo credit: StudioJJK LLC) Jarrett’s dining compainions would be award winning authors/illustrators Jerry Craft and Dan Santat.

Anne Ursu is the author of acclaimed novels Not Quite a Ghost, The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy, The Lost Girl, Breadcrumbs, and The Real Boy, among others. Her work has been selected as a National Book Award Longlister, a Kirkus Prize finalist, and as a best book of the year by Parents magazine, NPR, Bookshop.org, and Publishers Weekly. She lives in Minneapolis. (Photo credit: John J. Ursu) Anne’s dream dinner would be with Napheesa Collier, forward for the Minnesota Lynx, and film maker Ryan Coogler.

I could easily see each of these dining events presented on a podcast as the guests bond over curiosities. insights, humor, and good food, very similar to what our time together will be like over the next few months.

Me? I’d love to have dinner with my two precious grand girls. They live in LA and I never see enough of them.

Filed under: Awards