As the National Book Awards came to a close on Wednesday, finalists for the prestigious literary prizes took the stage in New York to speak about the Israel-Hamas war, with others at the ceremony also choosing to address banned books.
Aaliyah Bilal, who was nominated for the fiction award for her short story collection “Temple Folk,” read from a prepared statement as a group of fellow finalists stood around her.
“On behalf of the finalists, we oppose the ongoing bombardment of Gaza and call for an humanitarian ceasefire to address the urgent humanitarian needs of Palestinian civilians, particularly children,” Bilal said at the ceremony.
We oppose antisemitism and anti-Palestinian sentiment and Islamophobia equally, accepting the human dignity of all parties, knowing that further bloodshed does nothing to secure lasting peace in the region.”
Some audience members in the room responded with a standing ovation. But the authors’ coordinated statement also underscored tensions within the literary community — upon learning that a group of awards finalists planned to make a statement about the war, two sponsors decided not to attend the ceremony, The New York Times reported.
Zibby Owens, owner of Zibby Media, wrote in a Substack essay ahead of the ceremony that her company decided to withdraw its support and attendance after she learned the authors planned to “collectively band together to use their speeches to promote a pro-Palestinian, anti-Israeli agenda.” She added that she felt the event would promote discrimination against Israel and the Jewish people.
The subscription service Book of the Month, which remained a sponsor, told CNN in a statement that it did not attend the ceremony, but continued to support the event.
It’s not unusual for political statements to feature at the National Book Awards, as the National Book Foundation noted in its own statement ahead of the event.
Aside from the finalists’ comments about the Israel-Hamas war, several speakers and authors used their platforms at the awards ceremony to address efforts to ban books in US schools and libraries.
LeVar Burton, a children’s author and former host of the iconic TV program “Reading Rainbow,” emceed the awards ceremony and opened with a joke.
“Before we get going, are there any Moms for Liberty in the house?” he asked, referring to a conservative group behind recent attempts to remove certain books from school shelves. “No? Good. Then hands will not need to be thrown tonight.”
In his opening speech, Burton alluded to the climate in which book banning attempts are taking place.
“It was my mother who taught me at a very young age that if you can read in at least one language, you are, by her definition, free. And that idea of freedom feels especially fraught in this global political moment,” he said. “There are wars and rumors of wars and the machineries of war at work. On the home front, we are fighting for control of truth and how we interpret truth in this country. Books are being banned, words are being silenced and writers and others who champion books are under attack. “
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Aaliyah Bilal, who was nominated for the fiction award for her short story collection “Temple Folk,” read from a prepared statement as a group of fellow finalists stood around her.
“On behalf of the finalists, we oppose the ongoing bombardment of Gaza and call for an humanitarian ceasefire to address the urgent humanitarian needs of Palestinian civilians, particularly children,” Bilal said at the ceremony.
We oppose antisemitism and anti-Palestinian sentiment and Islamophobia equally, accepting the human dignity of all parties, knowing that further bloodshed does nothing to secure lasting peace in the region.”
Some audience members in the room responded with a standing ovation. But the authors’ coordinated statement also underscored tensions within the literary community — upon learning that a group of awards finalists planned to make a statement about the war, two sponsors decided not to attend the ceremony, The New York Times reported.
Zibby Owens, owner of Zibby Media, wrote in a Substack essay ahead of the ceremony that her company decided to withdraw its support and attendance after she learned the authors planned to “collectively band together to use their speeches to promote a pro-Palestinian, anti-Israeli agenda.” She added that she felt the event would promote discrimination against Israel and the Jewish people.
The subscription service Book of the Month, which remained a sponsor, told CNN in a statement that it did not attend the ceremony, but continued to support the event.
It’s not unusual for political statements to feature at the National Book Awards, as the National Book Foundation noted in its own statement ahead of the event.
Aside from the finalists’ comments about the Israel-Hamas war, several speakers and authors used their platforms at the awards ceremony to address efforts to ban books in US schools and libraries.
LeVar Burton, a children’s author and former host of the iconic TV program “Reading Rainbow,” emceed the awards ceremony and opened with a joke.
“Before we get going, are there any Moms for Liberty in the house?” he asked, referring to a conservative group behind recent attempts to remove certain books from school shelves. “No? Good. Then hands will not need to be thrown tonight.”
In his opening speech, Burton alluded to the climate in which book banning attempts are taking place.
“It was my mother who taught me at a very young age that if you can read in at least one language, you are, by her definition, free. And that idea of freedom feels especially fraught in this global political moment,” he said. “There are wars and rumors of wars and the machineries of war at work. On the home front, we are fighting for control of truth and how we interpret truth in this country. Books are being banned, words are being silenced and writers and others who champion books are under attack. “
LeVar Burton used to encourage kids to read books. Now he’s telling adults not to ban them | CNN
As the National Book Awards came to a close on Wednesday, finalists for the prestigious literary prizes took the stage in New York to speak about the Israel-Hamas war. Others spoke out against book bans.
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