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“I consider Delany not only one of the most important science fiction writers of the present generation, but a fascinating writer in general who has invented a new style,” writes Umberto Eco. Samuel R. Delany discusses his novel Dhalgren, his childhood in Harlem, and the journey that led him to become the 2013 Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master of science fiction in this clip from Open Road Media.
In this 2016 video, Michael Chabon presents Toni Morrison with the Edward MacDowell Medal for outstanding contribution to the arts and American culture. Morrison, who received a lifetime achievement award from the PEN American Center, tells a packed audience about how she became a writer and the inspiration for her first novel, The Bluest Eye.
“You knew that she was motivated by the basic concept that we’re here for a short while, and we have to make sure we make it about something larger than just ourselves.” In this video from the 2020 National Book Awards Ceremony, authors and colleagues speak about the influence of Carolyn Reidy, the late president and CEO of Simon & Schuster, who was honored with the National Book Foundation’s 2020 Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community. Reidy died on May 12, 2020 at the age of seventy-one.
“We will need writers who can remember freedom.” In this video, Ursula K. Le Guin accepts the National Book Foundation’s 2014 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. Le Guin’s essay collection, No Time to Spare: Thinking About What Matters (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017), is featured in Page One in the January/February issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
“We keep on trying because there’s nothing else to do.” With a timely speech, Annie Proulx accepts the National Book Foundation’s 2017 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, which recognizes individuals who have made an exceptional impact on the country’s literary heritage.
Ana Blandiana reads the poems “Prayer,” “Above the River,” “A Transparent Being,” and “Country of Unease” from her collection My Native Land A4 (Bloodaxe Books, 2014) in Romanian with Viorica Patea, who translated the collection with Paul Scott Derrick, reading the English translation. Blandiana is the recipient of the Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry’s twelfth Lifetime Recognition Award.
