The winners of the 2015 National Book Awards, held last night in New York City, were:
Fiction: Fortune Smiles by Adam Johnson (Random House)
Nonfiction: Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates (Spiegel & Grau)
Poetry: Voyage of the Sable Venus by Robin Coste Lewis (Knopf)
Young People's Literature: Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman (HarperTeen)
|
|
| Adam Johnson | |
In accepting the fiction award, Johnson seemed a bit shocked, saying, "I was having the most wonderful, calm, peaceful evening because I knew this is one thing that wouldn't happen." He thanked many people, particularly editor David Ebershoff, who is leaving Random House to devote himself full time to his writing. "I'm going to miss him," Johnson said.
Coates dedicated the nonfiction award to the subject of his book, Prince Jones, "a friend of mine at Howard University," who was killed 15 years ago by police because he was mistaken for a criminal. "I'm a black man in America. I can't punish that officer," he said. "I can't secure the safety of my son. [But] I do have the power to say you won't enroll me in this lie. You won't make me a part of it."
Lewis noted that her winning poetry title "is my first book, which is why I'm blown away standing here." She thanked many people, including influential storytellers and poets from a range of cultures and eras. She cited the Mahābhārata, "the longest epic in the world," and finished her remarks by reading Pablo Neruda's poem "Keeping Quiet."
|
|
| Ta-Nehisi Coates | |
Shusterman recalled the difficulties his son Brendan had as a teenager and how his story became the basis for Challenger Deep, the young people's winner. At the depth of Brendan's illness, Shusterman recalled, his son said, "Dad, sometimes I feel I'm at the bottom of the ocean screaming at the top of my lungs and no one can hear me." Shusterman couldn't write the story for years, until Brendan was better, and called writing the book "a healing process for both of us." He added that he hopes Challenger Deep continues to help people and "remove the stigma of mental illness." At the end, in what may have been the most poignant moment of an evening of poignant moments, he called Brendan to the stage.
Also at the event, James Patterson was given the Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community, and Don DeLillo received the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.
 |
|
| James Patterson | |
Patterson recalled the long road from his rough-and-tumble beginnings in Newburgh, N.Y., to becoming a bestselling author and perhaps the single-largest benefactor to booksellers, bookstores, libraries and literacy and education efforts. He called himself "a serial donor" and urged others to donate. "Let's try to make sure there's another generation of readers out there--and bookstores and libraries and healthy, flourishing publishers."
DeLillo gave listeners a virtual tour of bookcases at his home that hold many old paperbacks that influenced him early in his life. Looking at those shelves, he said, "I'm not the writer at all. I'm the grateful reader."