The Blackest National Book Awards ever will be livestreamed on Facebook
According to the LA Times, the National Book Awards will be streamed live on Facebook on November 15th in New York City via the National Book Foundation’s Facebook page. Past National Book Awards ceremonies have been live-streamed on the National Book Awards site, but it is assumed that the change to Facebook Live will open up the prestigious, expensive (tickets are $1,250 and by invitation-only) black-tie event to a much larger audience.
Additionally, the ceremony is being produced by Telescope, which uses a traditional three camera set up, which will create the feeling of a polished broadcast television event.
The National Book Foundation has even gone to the length to create a predictions ballot, which people can use to vote for their predicted winners in the specified categories of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and young people’s literature. The ceremony will be hosted by actress Cynthia Nixon, who won a Tony Award this year for her role as Birdie in Little Foxes on Broadway. Nixon also portrayed Emily Dickinson in the 2016 film A Quiet Passion.
The ceremony will begin streaming at 4:20 PST (6:20 CST/7:20 EST) and will start with the previously reported pre-announced awards: Dick Robinson, CEO of Scholastic will be accepting the Literarian Award for Scholastic’s contribution to the national literary community, which will be given by Bill Clinton; Annie Proulx is receiving the lifetime achievement award, which will be presented by Anne Hathaway.
Here are the nominees, in case anyone needs a refresher, and, as always, we will be rooting for everyone Black.