W. Paul Coates. Image: National Book Foundation
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
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Literature of the Black Diaspora
In what will be a rare father-son event on November 20, National Book Award-winning author Ta-Nehisi Coates will present his father, publisher W. Paul Coates, with the National Book Foundation‘s US$10,000 Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community.
Today’s news (September 4) opens the 2024 season of many National Book Award program announcements to come, with the identity of the 2024 recipient of the Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, followed by longlists in five categories, then finalists in those five categories, and then the winning announcement from the November 20 ceremony in New York City
Paul Coates, the winner of this year’s Literarian Award is the founding (1978) publisher of the Black Classic Press, which, as today’s media messaging has it, “has published remarkable, and often out-of-print works by and about people of the Black diaspora.”
David Steinberger
In a statement on today’s announcement, National Book Foundation board chair David Steinberger (chair and CEO of Open Road Integrated Media) is quoted, saying, “Over the course of his career, W. Paul Coates has recovered and discovered countless essential works of Black literature, and readers everywhere have reaped the benefits of his passion and care for the written word.
“Since the 1970s, Coates has modeled what it means to be a community-focused independent publisher and tireless advocate for Black diasporic writers and books. The Foundation is proud to count him among the former members of our board of directors, and it is our great pleasure to recognize Coates’ tremendous contributions to the American literary community at the 75th National Book Awards Ceremony.”
Progressive Afrocentric Literature
Born in West Philadelphia in 1946, Coates enlisted in the army and served in Vietnam from 1965 to 1967. On his return, he moved to Baltimore, where he began volunteering with the Black Panther Party’s community breakfast program and additional community programs that provided access to healthcare, clothing, and housing assistance.
As related in the National Book Foundation’s material for the news media today, After leading the local Black Panthers chapter for several years, he established the George Jackson Prison Movement—a prison literacy program to provide incarcerated readers access to progressive Afrocentric literature.
The movement led to the opening of The Black Book, a bookstore in Coates’ basement, which evolved into the Black Classic Press and later inspired the development of BCP Digital Printing. As founder and publisher of Black Classic Press, Coates has published original works by Yosef Ben-Jochannan, John Henrik Clarke, John G. Jackson, Walter Mosley, and many others, in addition to reissuing titles by Amiri Baraka, Edward Blyden, Amy Jacques Garvey, Larry Neal, JA Rogers, Bobby Seale, Carter Woodson, and WEB Du Bois.
Ruth Dickey
In her comment on today’s announcement, National Book Foundation executive director Ruth Dickey says, “As a librarian, publisher, and community activist, W. Paul Coates has been instrumental in preserving the legacy of remarkable writers and elevating works that have shaped our personal and collective understanding of the Black experience in the United States and in other parts of the world.
“Coates has demonstrated for more than 40 years the importance of reading the past and nourishing the creative imagination of present and future writers of the Black diaspora. We are honored to celebrate his extraordinary career with the 2024 Literarian Award.”
Ta-Nehisi Coates
At the National Book Award ceremony at Cipriani Wall Street each year, this and the Distinguished Contribution honors are presented by people whose own lives and work mean much to the recipients.
In this case, the winner’s son, Penguin Random House author Ta-Nehisi Coates, will make the presentation of the Literarian Award tohis father.
Ta-Nehisi Coates is the author of The Beautiful Struggle, We Were Eight Years in Power, The Water Dancer , and Between the World and Me, the last of which won the National Book Award in 2015. He’s the recipient of a National Magazine Award and a MacArthur Fellowship, and holds the Sterling Brown Endowed Chair at Howard University in the English department.
Books by W. Paul Coates’ son, Ta-Nehisi Coates
Expanding the Audience
W. Paul Coates is the 20th recipient of the National Book Foundation’s Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community, an honor that recognizes a lifetime of achievement in expanding the audience for books and reading.
Past recipients include Maya Angelou, Terry Gross, Kyle Zimmer, the literary organization Cave Canem, Doron Weber, Oren J. Teicher, Carolyn Reidy, Nancy Pearl, Tracie D. Hall, and most recently, Paul Yamazaki. Nominations for the Literarian Award are made by former National Book Award winners, finalists, and jurors, and other writers and literary professionals from around the United States.
Final selections are made by the National Book Foundation’s board of directors. Recipients of the award receive US$10,000 and a solid brass medal.
More from Publishing Perspectives on the National Book Awards in the United States is here and more on the vast field of international book awards and prizes is here. More from us on the United States’ market is here.