The National Book Foundation has named the 25 judges for the five categories of the 2020 National Book Awards. Among the sterling judges (five for each category) are several booksellers:
On the fiction panel: Keaton Patterson, lead buyer for Brazos Bookstore, Houston, Tex.
On the nonfiction panel: Hannah Oliver Depp, owner of Loyalty Bookstores in Washington, D.C., and Silver Spring, Md. She's also a founding member of the American Booksellers Association's Committee on Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and serves on the boards of Bookshop.org, An Open Book Foundation and the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association.
On the translated literature panel: Brad Johnson, owner of East Bay Booksellers in Oakland, Calif. He has been a judge for the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses Firestarter Award for Fiction and the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association Award for Poetry.
On the young people's literature panel: Joan Trygg, general manager of Red Balloon Bookshop, Saint Paul, Minn., who has been a bookseller for 28 years. She is also a creative nonfiction writer.