by Julie F.
As the leaves turn color, autumn breezes swirl, and school starts once again, readers everywhere can look forward to activities and festivities for National Book Month in October. A celebration that focuses on the importance of reading, writing, and literature, National Book Month was established in 2003 by the National Book Foundation (NBF). Their mission honors the best literature published in the United States, expanding its audience and ensuring that books have a prominent place in our culture.

The National Book Foundation is guided by the following core beliefs:

• Books are essential to a thriving cultural landscape.
• Books and literature provide a depth of engagement that helps to protect, stimulate, and promote discourse.
• Books and literature are for everyone, everywhere.

The NBF vision is for books and literature to remain at the center of our vibrant national conversation. Their awards and additional programs encourage existing readers and build new and diverse audiences for books and literature.

Each National Book Month, NBF honors the best authors and books through the annual National Book Awards, with finalists announced each October. The awards, first presented in 1950, honor the best Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Translated Literature, and Young People’s Literature published each year. Judges are recruited and selected by the NBF and include 25 distinguished writers, translators, critics, librarians, and booksellers, a panel of five for each category. The NBF also presents a Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, awarded to a writer whose lifetime service and body of work has enriched American literary heritage. There is also a Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community, presented to an individual for increasing access to and expanding the audience for books and reading.

You can browse National Book Award winners and nominees at www.nationalbook.org/national-book-awards/years. The website also includes video clips of the award winners’ acceptance speeches at the annual November ceremonies. Many of these authors, from Flannery O’Connor and Ralph Ellison to Louise Erdrich and Jesmyn Ward and many more, have written books that stand the test of time and are found in our catalog and libraries and bookstores worldwide. To continue the celebration, stop by any branch and ask your librarian for their favorite recommendations from the National Book Awards lists!

Julie is an instructor and research specialist at HCLS Miller Branch who finds her work as co-editor of Chapter Chats very rewarding. She loves gardening, birds, crime fiction, all kinds of music, and the great outdoors. Julie facilitates the Bas Bleu and Spies, Lies, and Alibis book discussion groups at Miller.