National Book Foundation Partners with OCB for Fourth Year
The “National Book Foundation Presents: Memorializing Memory” OCB session is set for 11:30 a.m. Thursday, April 3 in the Baxter Room of the J. D. Williams Library. It features National Book Award-honored authors Hanif Abdurraqib, the recipient of a MacArthur Foundation “Genius” grant whose latest book There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension (Random House, 2024) is a reflection of basketball, life and home; and Vanessa Angélica Villarreal, author of Magical/Realism: Essays on Music, Memory, Fantasy, and Borders (Penguin Random House, 2024) in conversation with moderator and UM English and creative writing professor Sheila Sundar, author of Habitations.
Preceding the panel is a welcome lunch hosted by the Friends of the UM Library, which is free by registering here.
“The National Book Foundation is honored to partner with the Oxford Conference for the Book for the fourth year running, fueled by our shared goals of connecting readers with authors and exceptional books, and to recognize Mississippi as a vibrant center of the nation’s literary culture and community,” said Ruth Dickey, executive director of the National Book Foundation. “We’re eager to introduce audiences to the work of National Book Award honorees Hanif Abdurraqib and Vanessa Ángelica Villarreal.”
Abdurraqib and Villarreal are recognized poets, essayists, and cultural critics whose work reveals the intrinsic interconnectedness between subject and writer, whether LeBron James, Game of Thrones, or parenthood. Join the authors for readings and conversation on the porousness of memory, self, and writing.
Besides the Book Conference, the day before at 11:15 a.m., the authors have a panel at Coahoma Community College in Clarksdale on April 2to discuss the people, places, and things that they love and, sometimes, that disappoint them—from basketball to Beyoncé. Join the authors for readings and conversation on the relationship between pop culture and contemporary literature, which is moderated by Richard Purcell, a researcher, writer, and the Herbert H. McAlexander Chair of English at the University of Mississippi. Presented in partnership with Coahoma Community College and the Coahoma County Higher Education Center at Whiteside Hall, Coahoma Community College in Clarksdale.
NBF Presents, the moniker for all of the Foundation’s public programs, represents the Foundation’s commitment to connect readers of all ages across the country with National Book Foundation–honored authors and their books. NBF Presents is made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
The Foundation’s national public programs are co-presented with book festivals, cultural and performing arts centers, two-and four-year colleges and universities, and public libraries. This season features events curated alongside new and returning partners in Arizona, California, Florida, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Nebraska, and New York to celebrate books as a center of pop culture, expand their audiences through book-to-screen adaptations, and explore the infinite possibilities of translation and of storytelling.
In addition to the Foundation’s in-person events, readers everywhere are invited to tune in virtually to a special Read with NBF event in June, hosted online by Dickey and other members of Team Book. Read with NBF offers readers behind-the-scenes access and content around the most recent cohort of National Book Award Winners and connects a community of readers around the country and world.
“This spring season of NBF Presents, we continue to create spaces for engaging, thought-provoking, and necessary conversations between authors and readers around topics that matter to them,” said Dickey. “Last fall, we reached a significant milestone for the National Book Foundation: presenting programming in all 50 states, Washington, D. C., and Puerto Rico in celebration of our 75th anniversary. We remain committed to connecting with readers in-person and online to center and celebrate the transformative power of literature and of community.”
Read a review of Abdurraqib’s book here.
Read Paste magazine’s mention of Villarreal’s book as one of the best non-fiction memoirs of 2024 here.
The “National Book Foundation Presents: Memorializing Memory” OCB session is set for 11:30 a.m. Thursday, April 3 in the Baxter Room of the J. D. Williams Library. It features National Book Award-honored authors Hanif Abdurraqib, the recipient of a MacArthur Foundation “Genius” grant whose latest book There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension (Random House, 2024) is a reflection of basketball, life and home; and Vanessa Angélica Villarreal, author of Magical/Realism: Essays on Music, Memory, Fantasy, and Borders (Penguin Random House, 2024) in conversation with moderator and UM English and creative writing professor Sheila Sundar, author of Habitations.
Preceding the panel is a welcome lunch hosted by the Friends of the UM Library, which is free by registering here.
“The National Book Foundation is honored to partner with the Oxford Conference for the Book for the fourth year running, fueled by our shared goals of connecting readers with authors and exceptional books, and to recognize Mississippi as a vibrant center of the nation’s literary culture and community,” said Ruth Dickey, executive director of the National Book Foundation. “We’re eager to introduce audiences to the work of National Book Award honorees Hanif Abdurraqib and Vanessa Ángelica Villarreal.”
Abdurraqib and Villarreal are recognized poets, essayists, and cultural critics whose work reveals the intrinsic interconnectedness between subject and writer, whether LeBron James, Game of Thrones, or parenthood. Join the authors for readings and conversation on the porousness of memory, self, and writing.
Besides the Book Conference, the day before at 11:15 a.m., the authors have a panel at Coahoma Community College in Clarksdale on April 2to discuss the people, places, and things that they love and, sometimes, that disappoint them—from basketball to Beyoncé. Join the authors for readings and conversation on the relationship between pop culture and contemporary literature, which is moderated by Richard Purcell, a researcher, writer, and the Herbert H. McAlexander Chair of English at the University of Mississippi. Presented in partnership with Coahoma Community College and the Coahoma County Higher Education Center at Whiteside Hall, Coahoma Community College in Clarksdale.
NBF Presents, the moniker for all of the Foundation’s public programs, represents the Foundation’s commitment to connect readers of all ages across the country with National Book Foundation–honored authors and their books. NBF Presents is made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
The Foundation’s national public programs are co-presented with book festivals, cultural and performing arts centers, two-and four-year colleges and universities, and public libraries. This season features events curated alongside new and returning partners in Arizona, California, Florida, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Nebraska, and New York to celebrate books as a center of pop culture, expand their audiences through book-to-screen adaptations, and explore the infinite possibilities of translation and of storytelling.
In addition to the Foundation’s in-person events, readers everywhere are invited to tune in virtually to a special Read with NBF event in June, hosted online by Dickey and other members of Team Book. Read with NBF offers readers behind-the-scenes access and content around the most recent cohort of National Book Award Winners and connects a community of readers around the country and world.
“This spring season of NBF Presents, we continue to create spaces for engaging, thought-provoking, and necessary conversations between authors and readers around topics that matter to them,” said Dickey. “Last fall, we reached a significant milestone for the National Book Foundation: presenting programming in all 50 states, Washington, D. C., and Puerto Rico in celebration of our 75th anniversary. We remain committed to connecting with readers in-person and online to center and celebrate the transformative power of literature and of community.”
Read a review of Abdurraqib’s book here.
Read Paste magazine’s mention of Villarreal’s book as one of the best non-fiction memoirs of 2024 here.
Books Pollinate Our Brain Gardens, by Blair Hobbs
