A Moving — and Humorous — Book Awards Ceremony

The National Book Awards, 76th Edition, were bestowed last night during a ceremony in Manhattan held at Cipriani Wall Street. I watched it live on YouTube while I was cooking, and it was time well spent.

Jeff Hiller was the host, and his brand of humor was on full display; he’s a tad self-effacing and a lot of goofiness (if you have not watched “Somebody Somewhere” you are missing out). He’s also an author, and relayed a hilarious story about a typo on the cover of his book — and he was not the only speaker to give a call-out to copyeditors during the evening, a touch I appreciated.

The acceptance speeches of the awardees — including George Saunders’ (medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters) and Roxane Gay’s (Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community) — were moving, and timely. The arts are vital, especially in periods when unrest and division are acutely extreme.

Here is the list of awardees:

Young People’s Literature: “The Teacher of Nomad Land: A World War II Story,” by Daniel Nayeri (Levine Querido)

Translated Literature: “We Are Green and Trembling,” by Gabriela Cabezón Cámara, translated from the Spanish by Robin Myers (New Directions Publishing)

Poetry: “The Intentions of Thunder: New and Selected Poems,” by Patricia Smith (Scribner / Simon & Schuster) (I dare you to watch her acceptance address and not cry.)

Nonfiction: “One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This,” by Omar El Akkad (Knopf / Penguin Random House)

Fiction: “The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother),” by Rabih Alameddine (Grove Press / Grove Atlantic)

You can watch all of the moments here.