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Dark-haired woman in a gray top, holding a stack of twelve books while she looks down at more books. Several people are behind her

Mississippi Author Jesmyn Ward: Winner of the 2022 Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction

Posted by: Leah Knobel

Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden announced today that the 2022 Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction will be awarded to Jesmyn Ward. The 45-year-old Mississippian is the two-time winner of the National Book Award for the novels "Salvage the Bones" and "Sing, Unburied, Sing" among other major literary awards.

Dark-haired woman in a gray top, holding a stack of twelve books while she looks down at more books. Several people are behind her

2021 National Book Festival Highlights: Poetry

Posted by: Anne Holmes

This week we highlight our poetry programs from the 2021 Festival, including conversations with Nikki Giovanni ("Make Me Rain"); francine j. harris ("Here Is the Sweet Hand") and Patrick Rosal ("The Last Thing"); and Claudia Rankine ("Just Us"), Phillip B. Williams ("Mutiny") and Kevin Young ("African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle & Song").

Dark-haired woman in a gray top, holding a stack of twelve books while she looks down at more books. Several people are behind her

2021 National Book Festival Highlights: Fiction

Posted by: Anne Holmes

This week we highlight just a few of our many standout fiction programs from the 2021 Festival, including conversations with Alice McDermott ("What About the Baby?") and George Saunders ("A Swim in a Pond in the Rain"), P. Djèlí Clark ("A Master of Djinn"), and Honorée Fanonne Jeffers ("The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois") and Deesha Philyaw ("The Secret Lives of Church Ladies").

Dark-haired woman in a gray top, holding a stack of twelve books while she looks down at more books. Several people are behind her

2021 National Book Festival Highlights: Current Events, Science, and History & Biography

Posted by: Anne Holmes

This week we highlight just a few of our many standout nonfiction programs from this year's Festival, including Heather McGhee on "The Sum of Us," Sarah Frier ("No Filter") and Anna Wiener ("Uncanny Valley") on their new books, and Matt Parker on "Humble Pi: When Math Goes Wrong in the Real World."