Books About Palestine, Colonialism, Race, and Immigration Swept the 75th National Book Awards

On November 20^th 2024 at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City, the 75^th National Book Awards emphasized the crucial role of literature during an unsettling time for politics in the U.S. and the world. Writers and publishers spoke about literature as a form of history, resistance, and change-making. 

“As we gather in this room, surrounded by some of the most talented and visionary writers of our time, we are reminded that books do more than entertainment,” said Saturday Night Live comedian Kate McKinnon, the host of the night. “They illuminate, they provoke, and most importantly, they inspire change.” 

“That was written by Chat GPT,” McKinnon said, earning many laughs. But after the jokes, she shared a poignant message. “Why do we continue to write books?” she asked. “We continue because the world spins on offering us new situations, ranging from the tricky to the horrific—and I think ultimately, we tell stories because we want help. A book is an offering. It’s a hand in the darkness, a way of saying, ‘I know, isn’t this crazy?’ And that’s something a robot will never be able to do.” 

In a way, McKinnon’s message foreshadowed the sentiment of the night: Books are necessary in times of unrest, because books are human. 

Two writers were honored with lifetime achievements: Pulitzer-Prize winning author Barbara Kingsolver received the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters and W. Paul Coates, publisher and founder of Black Classic Press received the Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community.

“Paul shares information that every man, woman, and most especially every child in America and therefore the world must know if they want their soul,” writer Walter Mosley said as he presented the award. To him, Coates is “a warrior publisher.”

“I obsessively curate those voices, especially the old, forgotten, radical, and less popular. The more scared they are, the more important they are in my quest. Those voices are all Black classes to me. I publish them, knowing that they are critical to fully understanding and making sense of the brightly colored mosaic that is American and world history,” Coates said. “All voices are important, and all stories are important.” 

Sam Stoloff, president of the Frances Goldin Literary Agency, introduced Kingsolver’s contributions as “amazingly varied,” including “reviving the social novel,” writing fiction about climate change “before Cli-Fi was a thing,” and writing about the “dispossession of rural working people.” 

“All of these things are gathered in her most recent novel, the stunning Demon Copperhead,” Stoloff said. “The original memo is the social protest.” 

“I think we’re at our best when we’re disruptors,” Kingsolver said about writers. “I’m proud of the respect we have finally learned to give in this country to art that engages with the real ruckus of the world.”  

Next, the winners were announced. This year, the judges considered a total of 1,917 titles. The winner in each category—fiction, nonfiction, poetry, translated literature, and young people’s literature—receives a medal, a trophy, and $10,000. Each finalist receives a medal and $1,000. 

Shifa Saltagi Safadi won the award for young people’s literature, for Kareem Between, a coming-of-age novel about a Syrian-American boy navigating middle school and home life. “So often I saw books where Muslims were the villains, and I’m glad I finally got to write a story were we’re the heroes,” she said in her speech. While the novel started as historical fiction, Safadi emphasized that it is no longer historical fiction because “dehumanization of Arabs and Islamophobia have been rising more than ever in this past year to justify a genocide of the Palestinian people.” At the end of her speech, she called for justice, freedom, courage, and a free Palestine. 

Author Yáng Shuāng-Zǐ and translator Lin King won the award for Translated Literature for Taiwan Travelogue, a love story nested in an exploration of lost histories and colonial power. Shuāng-Zǐ delivered the acceptance speech in Mandarin Chinese with King translating: “Writing about the past is a means of moving toward the future. Taiwan has never stopped facing the threat of invasion from another powerful national. Meanwhile, internally, the Taiwanese have a complicated relationship with our own national and ethnic identities… I, Shuāng-Zi, write in order to answer the question of ‘what is a Taiwanese person?’ and write about Taiwan’s past as a step into its future.” 

The award for poetry went to Lena Khalaf Tuffaha for Something About Living, a collection about the oppression of the Palestinian people. “Our service is needed as writers. Our service is needed as human beings, in every room, in every space, especially where there is something to risk, where there is an opportunity to be lost, where that courage will really cost you—that’s what’s most needed,” Tuffaha said. “I want us to feel and be uncomfortable and be disoriented and be angry and get up, and demand that any administration, no matter what letter it has at the end of its name—D, R, whatever—should stop funding and arming a genocide in Gaza.” 

The award for nonfiction went to Jason De León for Soldiers and Kings: Survival and Hope in the World of Human Smuggling, a work of reportage that chronicles the lives of smugglers guiding migrants across Latin America to the U.S. Border, investigating poverty, violence, and undocumented immigration. In his speech, he said that he “will not accept the dystopian American future” of corruption and injustice that faces people today. “These storytellers that I’m so grateful to be in this room with, I know that you will help us find our way,” he said. “Let’s all go read some banned books—we’re gonna need them in the future.” 

Finally, Percival Everett accepted the most highly-anticipated award—the award for Fiction—for James, a novel that re-imagines Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from the perspective of Jim, Huckleberry’s friend who escaped enslavement. “I can feel some hope,” Everett said. “But it’s important to remember, hope really is no substitute for strategy.” 

If there’s one takeaway from the 2024 National Book Awards, it’s that writing is crucial to history, including present and future history. Literature is a force for change, a fundamental part of cultural narratives, and always political. 

Here is the 2024 National Book Award shortlist, with the winners in bold:

Fiction

Nonfiction

Poetry

Translated Literature

Young People’s Literature