National Book Foundation and Miami Book Fair International Announce New Partnership to Bring National Book Award Winners and Finalists to the Miami Book Fair
National Book Award honored authors will travel to Miami the day after the National Book Awards Ceremony in New York
Miami, Aug. 19, 2014 – The National Book Foundation and Miami Book Fair International, presented by The Center for Literature and Theatre @ Miami Dade College, announced today that they will partner to invite all 20 of this year’s National Book Award Winners and Finalists to participate in the 2014 Miami Book Fair. The National Book Awards Ceremony will take place in New York on November 19 and the Winners and Finalists will travel to Miami the following day. National Book Award evenings at Miami Book Fair are made possible by support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
The partnership is an exciting step forward for both the Miami Book Fair, an internationally renowned and groundbreaking literary festival, and the National Book Awards, the United States’ foremost literary award. Having NBA authors in Miami to participate in the Fair’s literary programming will further expand the audience for National Book Award honored books and highlight the central place of the National Book Awards in the country’s literary culture.
The National Book Awards are presented in four categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, and Young People’s Literature. Winners and Finalists are selected by independent panels of five writers and other experts in the category. A Longlist of ten in each category will be announced during the week of September 15. Finalists will be announced on October 15.
The Miami Book Fair will take place from November 16 to 23 this year. The Fair presents over 500 authors a year during the eight-day event; audiences number over 200,000 each year.
“This is a wonderful partnership I envision carrying forward for many years,” said Mitchell Kaplan, chair of the Miami Book Fair Board of Directors. “It’s natural and makes sense on so many levels. The Fair has hosted many National Book Award Winners in its thirty-year history, we hope to do so for another thirty, and this partnership will just get stronger.”
“Our goal is to expand the audience for the best of American literature,” said Harold Augenbraum, Executive Director of the National Book Foundation. “Appearing in Miami right after the National Book Awards in New York represents an extraordinary continuation of our celebration and an opportunity for new and exciting relationships between this year’s Winners and Finalists and the avid readership that attends the Miami Book Fair.”
For regular updates on the Miami Book Fair, please visit www.miamibookfair.com, call 305-237-3528 or email wbookfair@mdc.edu. Find the Fair on social media at
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https://www.facebook.com/MiamiBookFair
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The National Book Foundation’s mission is to celebrate the best of American literature, to expand its audience, and to enhance the cultural value of good writing in America. In addition to the National Book Awards, for which it is best known, the Foundation’s programs include 5 Under 35, a celebration of emerging fiction writers selected by former National Book Award Finalists and Winners; the National Book Awards Teen Press Conference, an opportunity for New York City students to interview the current National Book Award Finalists in Young People’s Literature; NBA on Campus, a partnership that brings current National Book Award authors to Concordia College in Moorhead, MN; the Innovations in Reading Prize, awarded to individuals and institutions that have developed innovative means of creating and sustaining a lifelong love of reading; and BookUp, a writer-led, after-school reading club for middle- and high-school students, run in New York City and Bryan, Texas.
The National Book Award is one of the nation’s most prestigious literary prizes and has a stellar record of identifying and rewarding quality writing. In 1950, William Carlos Williams was the first Winner in Poetry, the following year William Faulkner was honored in Fiction, and so on through the years. Many previous Winners of a National Book Award are now firmly established in the canon of American literature, such as Sherman Alexie, Louise Erdrich, Jonathan Franzen, Denis Johnson, Joyce Carol Oates, and Adrienne Rich.
Miami Book Fair International, widely considered the largest and finest literary event in the U.S., is the premier event of The Center for Literature and Theatre @ Miami Dade College, a part of MDCulture, the Cultural Affairs Department of the College. The Center promotes reading, writing and theater at locations throughout South Florida by consistently presenting activities open to all. Its Generation Genius programs for children and teens promote literacy and learning. Its creative writing program has national appeal, and courses are taught by local and visiting authors. It is also home to Prometeo Theatre, the nation’s leading Spanish language, conservatory-style program offering training for actors, and featuring performances throughout the year. In 2012, the Center celebrated its tenth year with a renewed commitment to the advancement of literary and theater arts.
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