Sigrid Nunez's "The Friend," a meditative novel about grief, books and, not least, a Great Dane named Apollo, has won the National Book Award for fiction. Other winners Wednesday night included Jeffrey C. Stewart's "The New Negro: The Life of Alain Locke" for nonfiction and Justin Philip Reed's "Indecency for poetry.
During a ceremony and dinner benefit at Cipriani Wall Street when those honored had roots throughout the world, from Peru to Japan, Elizabeth Acevedo's "The Poet X" won for young people's literature, and Yoko Tawada's "The Emissary," translated by Margaret Mitsutani, won for translation, a category newly revived.
Nunez's book tells of a woman mourning the death of her literary mentor and of her bond with the dog he left behind. It is a story, in part, of connection and distance. And Nunez, author of such previous novels as "Salvation City" and "The Last of Her Kind," noted in her acceptance speech that she didn't seek community when she became a writer, but unexpectedly found it.
Nick Offerman attends the 69th National Book Awards Ceremony and Benefit Dinner at Cipriani Wall Street on Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018, in New York. (Photo by Brad BarketInvisionAP)
"I thought it was something I could do alone and hidden, in the privacy of my own room," she said. "How lucky to have discovered that writing books made the miraculous possible, to be removed from the world and be part of the world at the same time.
"And tonight how happy I am to feel a part of the world."
Nunez's novel was chosen from among five fiction works set mostly in the present, and touching with lyricism and intensity upon everything from race and sexuality to climate change. Finalist Jamel Brinkley, author of the story collection "A Lucky Man," told The Associated Press earlier Wednesday that "Our lives vibrate with uncertainty and mystery, with paths precariously taken or not taken, and they are often under threat by one thing or another. Many of our lives are under threat by design." Lauren Groff, a nominee for the story collection "Florida," said that "In these frightening and fraught times, I had to come into the full certainty that art was meaningful enough for me to devote my heart to it."
Lauren Groff attends the 69th National Book Awards Ceremony and Benefit Dinner at Cipriani Wall Street on Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018, in New York. (Photo by Brad BarketInvisionAP)
"Parks and Recreation" actor Nick Offerman served as master of ceremonies and soon learned that among the publishing community you're more likely to get cheers with tributes to reading than with double entendre about "thumb drives." One popular line: "In an age when our First Amendment rights and truth itself are very much in peril, books remain the ultimate repository of creative ideas and irreplaceable knowledge."
Honorary medals were given to novelist Isabel Allende and to Doron Weber of the Alfred P. Foundation for its support of books about the sciences. Weber was introduced by "Hidden Figures" author Margot Lee Shetterly, one of hundreds the foundation has helped support. Referring to concerns new and old, Weber called for the protection of "nonpartisan forms of knowledge" and the continued dialogue between art and science.
"We continue to invite scientists and humanists to engage one another," he said, calling them "two side of the same human impulse to understand and meaningfully describe the world around us and inside us."
Jamel Brinkley attends the 69th National Book Awards Ceremony and Benefit Dinner at Cipriani Wall Street on Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018, in New York. (Photo by Brad BarketInvisionAP)
Allende, author of "The House of the Spirits" and many other best-sellers, is the first Spanish language writer to receive an honorary National Book Award medal. A native of Peru, she has lived in the U.S. since the 1980s and for years was a political refugee from Chile during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.
"Although I am critical of many things in this country I am proud to be an American citizen. I have received much more than I ever dreamed of and I have been offered the opportunity to give something back," she said.
Allende said she has been an outsider, in transit, for much of her life. She spoke of her award as a kind of deed of ownership, a sign that she is home.
"Maybe I'm not an alien after all. Maybe it's time to plant my roots and relax," she said. "Maybe I'm not going anywhere, anymore."
The book awards are presented by the nonprofit National Book Foundation. Judges, who include writers, critics and other members of the literary community, chose from more than 1,600 books submitted by publishers when considering the awards. Winners in the competitive categories each receive $10,000. In translation, the prize money is divided between the author and translator.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Israel this week briefed Biden administration officials on a plan to evacuate Palestinian civilians ahead of a potential operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah aimed at rooting out Hamas militants, according to U.S. officials familiar with the talks.
The officials, who were not authorized to comment publicly and requested anonymity to speak about the sensitive exchange, said that the plan detailed by the Israelis did not change the U.S. administration’s view that moving forward with an operation in Rafah would put too many innocent Palestinian civilians at risk.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to carry out a military operation in Rafah despite warnings from President Joe Biden and other western officials that doing so would result in more civilian deaths and worsen an already dire humanitarian crisis.
The Biden administration has said there could be consequences for Israel should it move forward with the operation without a credible plan to safeguard civilians.
“Absent such a plan, we can’t support a major military operation going into Rafah because the damage it would do is beyond what’s acceptable,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said late Friday at the Sedona Forum, an event in Arizona hosted by the McCain Institute.
Some 1.5 million Palestinians have sheltered in the southern Gaza city as the territory has been ravaged by the war that began on Oct. 7 after Hamas militants attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages.
The United Nations humanitarian aid agency on Friday said that hundreds of thousands of people would be “at imminent risk of death” if Israel moves forward with the Rafah assault. The border city is a critical entry point for humanitarian aid and is filled with displaced Palestinians, many in densely packed tent camps.
The officials added that the evacuation plan that the Israelis briefed was not finalized and both sides agreed to keep discussing the matter.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Friday that no “comprehensive” plan for a potential Rafah operation has been revealed by the Israelis to the White House. The operation, however, has been discussed during recent calls between Biden and Netanyahu as well as during recent virtual talks with top Israeli and U.S. national security officials.
“We want to make sure that those conversations continue because it is important to protect those Palestinian lives — those innocent lives,” Jean-Pierre said.
The revelation of Israel's continued push to carry out a Rafah operation came as CIA director William Burns arrived Friday in Egypt, where negotiators are trying to seal a cease-fire accord between Israel and Hamas.
Hamas is considering the latest proposal for a cease-fire and hostage release put forward by U.S., Egyptian and Qatari mediators, who are looking to avert the Rafah operation.
They have publicly pressed Hamas to accept the terms of the deal that would lead to an extended cease-fire and an exchange of Israeli hostages taken captive on Oct. 7 and Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
Hamas has said it will send a delegation to Cairo in the coming days for further discussions on the offer, though it has not specified when.
Israel, and its allies, have sought to increase pressure on Hamas on the hostage negotiation. Signaling that Israel continues to move forward with its planning for a Rafah operation could be a tactic to nudge the militants to finalize the deal.
Netanyahu said earlier this week that Israeli forces would enter Rafah, which Israel says is Hamas’ last stronghold, regardless of whether a truce-for-hostages deal is struck. His comments appeared to be meant to appease his nationalist governing partners, and it was not clear whether they would have any bearing on any emerging deal with Hamas.
Blinken visited the region, including Israel, this week and called the latest proposal “extraordinarily generous” and said “the time to act is now.”
In Arizona on Friday, Blinken repeated remarks he made earlier this week that "the only thing standing between the people of Gaza and a cease-fire is Hamas.”
The Chahine family prepares to bury two adults and five boys and girls under the age of 16 after an overnight Israeli strike in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, May 3, 2024. An Israeli strike on the city of Rafah on the southern edge of the Gaza Strip killed several people, including children, hospital officials said Friday. (AP Photo/Ismael Abu Dayyah)
FILE - Palestinians line up for free food during the ongoing Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip in Rafah, Jan. 9, 2024. A top U.N. official said Friday, May 3, 2024, that hard-hit northern Gaza was now in “full-blown famine" after more than six months of war between Israel and Hamas and severe Israeli restrictions on food deliveries to the Palestinian territory. (AP Photo/Hatem Ali, File)
Palestinians rescue a woman survived after the Israeli bombardment on a residential building of Abu Alenan family in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, early Saturday, May 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Ismael Abu Dayyah)
President Joe Biden walks across the South Lawn of the White House as he talks with White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre Thursday, May 2, 2024, in Washington, after returning from a trip to North Carolina. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
