BookExpoCast

Nicole Krauss emcees, as the fifth and final of five groups of finalists read from their National Book Award-nominated work.

For Young People’s Literature, M.T. Anderson reads from The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Vol. 1: The Pox Party (Candlewick Press); for Poetry, James McMichael reads from Capacity (Farrar, Straus & Giroux); for Nonfiction, Taylor Branch reads from At Canaan’s Edge: America in the King Years, 1965-1968 (Simon & Schuster); and for Fiction, Mark Z. Danielewski reads from Only Revolutions (Pantheon).

Nicole Krauss emcees, as the fourth of five groups of finalists read from their National Book Award-nominated work.

For Young People’s Literature, Nancy Werlin reads from The Rules of Survival (Dial/Penguin); for Poetry, H.L. Hix reads from Chromatic (Etruscan Press); for Nonfiction, Rajiv Chandrasekaran reads from Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq’s Green Zone (Alfred A. Knopf); and for Fiction, Ken Falfus reads from A Disorder Peculiar to the Country (Ecco/HarperCollins).

Nicole Krauss emcees, as the third of five groups of finalists read from their National Book Award-nominated work.

For Young People’s Literature, Patricia McCormick reads from Sold (Hyperion Books for Children); for Poetry, Ben Lerner reads from Angle of Yaw (Copper Canyon Press); for Nonfiction, Timothy Egan reads from The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl (Houghton Mifflin); and for Fiction, Richard Powers reads from The Echo Maker (Farrar, Straus & Giroux).

Nicole Krauss emcees, as the second of five groups of finalists read from their National Book Award-nominated work.

For Young People’s Literature, Martine Leavitt reads from Keturah and Lord Death (Front Street Books/Boyd Mills Press); for Poetry, Nathaniel Mackey reads from Splay Anthem (New Directions); for Nonfiction, Lawrence Wright, who could not attend, had George Packer reading from The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 (Alfred A. Knopf); and for Fiction, Jess Walter reads from The Zero (Judith Regan Books/Harper Collins).

Emcee Nicole Krauss, author of The History of Love: A Novel and Man Walks Into a Room, hosts the always-surprising and entertaining night of reading by the 20 National Book Awards finalists on the evening before the gala awards ceremony. There were five reading groups each with one finalist from each NBA category.

In the first group, for Young People’s Literature, Gene Luen Yang reads from American Born Chinese (First Second/Roaring Book Press/Holtzbrinck); for Poetry, the editor for Louise Glück (she was absent) reads from Averno (Farrar, Straus & Giroux); for Nonfiction, Peter Hessler reads from Oracle Bones: A Journey Between China’s Past and Present (HarperCollins); and for Fiction, Dana Spiotta reads from Eat the Document (Scribner/Simon & Schuster).

In this special BEA podcast, we present coverage of the Lifetime Achievement Awards, presented at the National Book Awards on November 15, 2006.

Poet Mark Doty presented the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters to Adrienne Rich. David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker, presented the Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community to Robert Silvers and, posthumously, Barbara Epstein, co-founders of The New York Review of Books. Author Fran Lebowitz was the host.

BEA is proud to present podcast coverage of the invitation-only gala ceremony at the 57th National Book Awards that was held this November 15, 2006 in New York City. Listen to the announcements of the winners and hear the honorees’ acceptance speeches.

The National Book Awards, which is presented by the National Book Foundation, was hosted by Fran Lebowitz.

Young People’s Literature: M.T. Anderson for Octavian Nothing (Candlewick Press)

Poetry: Nathaniel Mackey for Splay Anthem (New Directions)

Nonfiction: Timothy Egan for The Worst Hard Time (Houghton Mifflin)

Fiction: Richard Powers for The Echo Maker (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)

Photos courtesy of Lorenzo Ciniglio.