NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� Percival Everett's 鈥淛ames,鈥� a daring reworking of 鈥淭he Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,鈥� has won the National Book Award for fiction. Jason De Le贸n鈥檚 鈥淪oldiers and Kings: Survival and Hope in the World of Human Smuggling鈥� won for nonfiction, where finalists included Salman Rushdie's memoir about his brutal stabbing in 2022, 鈥淜nife.鈥�
The prize for young people's literature was given Wednesday night to Shifa Saltagi Safadi鈥檚 coming of age story 鈥淜areem Between,鈥� and the poetry award went to Lena Khalaf Tuffaha鈥檚 鈥淪omething About Living.鈥� In the translation category, the winner was Y谩ng Shu膩ng-z菒鈥檚 鈥淭aiwan Travelogue,鈥� translated from the Mandarin Chinese by Lin King.
Judging panels, made up of writers, critics, booksellers and others in the literary community, made their selections from hundreds of submissions, with publishers nominating more than 1,900 books in all. Each of the winners in the five competitive categories received $10,000.
Everett鈥檚 win continues his remarkable rise in the past few years. Little known to general readers for decades, the 67-year-old has been a Booker Prize and Pulitzer Prize finalist for such novels as 鈥淭rees鈥� and 鈥淒r. No鈥� and has seen the novel 鈥淓rasure鈥� adapted into the Oscar-nominated 鈥淎merican Fiction.鈥�
In taking on Mark Twain鈥檚 classic about the wayward Southern boy Huck and the enslaved Jim, Everett tells the story from the latter's perspective and emphasizes how differently Jim behaves and even speaks when whites are not around. The novel was a Booker finalist and last month won the Kirkus Prize for fiction.
鈥淛ames鈥� has been nicely received,鈥� Everett noted during his acceptance speech.
鈥淒emon Copperhead鈥� novelist Barbara Kingsolver and Black Classic Press publisher W. Paul Coates received lifetime achievement medals from the National Book Foundation, which presents the awards.
Speakers praised diversity, disruption and autonomy, whether Taiwanese independence or the rights of immigrants in the U.S. Two winners, Safadi and Tuffaha, condemned the year-old Gaza war and U.S. military support for Israel. Neither mentioned Israel by name, but both called the conflict 鈥済enocide鈥� and were met with cheers 鈥� and more subdued responses 鈥� after calling for support of the Palestinians.
Tuffaha, who is Palestinian American, dedicated her award in part to 鈥渢o all the deeply beautiful Palestinians that this world has lost and all those miraculous ones who endured, waiting for us, waiting for us to wake up.鈥�
Last year publisher Zibby Owens withdrew support for the awards after hearing that finalists were planning to condemn the Gaza war. This year the World Jewish Congress was among those criticizing Coates鈥� award, citing in part his reissue of the essay 鈥淭he Jewish Onslaught,鈥� which has been called anti-Semitic.
National Book Foundation Executive Director Ruth Dickey said in a recent statement that Coates was being honored for a body of work rather than any individual book, and added that while the foundation condemns anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry, it also believes in free expression.
鈥淎nyone examining the work of any publisher, over the course of almost five decades, will find individual works or opinions with which they disagree or find offensive,鈥� she added.
The National Book Awards have long taken place in mid-November, shortly after the elections, and they're an early snapshot of the book world's reaction: Hopeful after Barack Obama's victory in 2008, when publisher and honorary winner Barney Rosset anticipated 鈥渁 new and uplifting agenda鈥�; grim but determined in 2016, after Donald Trump's first victory, with fiction winner Colson Whitehead urging the audience to 鈥渂e kind to everybody, make art, and fight the power.鈥�
This year, as hundreds gathered for the dinner ceremony at Cipriani Wall Street in downtown Manhattan for the awards' 75th anniversary, the mood was one of sobriety, resolve and willed good cheer.
Host Kate McKinnon joked that she was recruited because the National Book Foundation wanted 鈥渟omething fun and light and to distract from the fact that the world is a bonfire.鈥� Musical guest Jon Batiste led the audience in a round of 鈥淲hen the Saints Go Marching In鈥� and sang a few lines from 鈥淗allelujah,鈥� the Leonard Cohen standard which McKinnon somberly performed at the start of the first 鈥淪aturday Night Live鈥� after the 2016 election.
Kingsolver acknowledged feeling 鈥渟macked down, at the moment,鈥� but added that she has known despair before. She likened truth and love to forces of nature, like gravity and the sun, always there whether you see them or not. The writer's job is to imagine 鈥渁 better ending than the one we've been given," she said.
At a Tuesday night reading by awards finalists, some spoke of community and support. Everett began his turn by confiding that he really 鈥渘eeded this kind of inspiration after the last couple of weeks. We kind of need each other right now.鈥� After warning that 鈥渉ope is not a strategy,鈥� he paused and said, 鈥淣ever had a situation felt so absurd, surreal and ridiculous.鈥�
It took a moment to realize he wasn't discussing current events, but rather reading from 鈥淛ames.鈥�
Hillel Italie, The Associated Press
