National Book Awards Go to Powers, Egan, Mackey, and Anderson

Left to right: Richard Powers, Nathaniel Mackey, Timothy Egan, M.T. Anderson.

Richard Powers (The Echo Maker, FSG), Timothy Egan (The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl, Houghton Mifflin); Nathaniel Mackey (Splay Anthem, New Directions), and M.T. Anderson (The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Vol. 1: The Pox Party, Candlewick) were the recipients of the 57th National Book Awards at a ceremony last night in New York City. Also honored for their contributions to American Letters were poet Adrienne Rich and the co-founders of The New York Review of Books, Robert Silvers and the late Barbara Epstein.

Three of the four winning titles are also Book Sense Picks: Fiction winner The Echo Maker is a January 2007 Pick; Nonfiction winner The Worst Hard Time is a January 2006 Pick; and Young People's Literature winner The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Vol. 1 is on the Winter 2006/2007 Book Sense Children's list.

In his acceptance speech, Powers emphasized the importance of reading widely, and thanked readers, writers, and his publisher, FSG, for "keeping alive the rich strangeness of many books against the certainty of one." He also expressed his gratitude to FSG for giving him the "total freedom to write books that aren't always easy to market."

Following the ceremony, Powers told BTW that independent booksellers made possible the plurality and diversity of books. "It's the independents that offer the alternative to that one book that the market wants everybody to read," he said.

Noting that many survivors of the Dust Bowl are now in their 80s, Egan told the audience, "Abraham Lincoln said you can't escape history. But this history nearly escaped us." Egan added that it was "great to be a bridge" from those survivors to others "so that their stories live."

Winning the National Book Award for poetry was "especially resonant" for Mackey. "I'm pleased to be selected for an award for which William Carlos Williams was the first recipient," he said. "He was the first to initiate me to modern poetry."

Young People's Literature winner, Anderson noted that the premise of The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Vol. 1: The Pox Party, a YA book set in Revolutionary Boston and written in 18th-century language, was a gamble for his publisher, but he noted that the book's success was a "testament to what you can do by taking risks."

Each winner received a $10,000 prize and a bronze statue.

Presenting the second Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community, New Yorker editor David Remnick said of Silvers and Epstein, "No editors have proved themselves as deeply intelligent ... nurturing, hardworking, and humane."

Silvers thanked the foundation for the "unexpected and generous honor," noting that editors do not typically win such recognition. He also expressed sadness that Epstein could not be there with him.

Poet and memoirist Mark Doty introduced Adrienne Rich and presented her with the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. Doty said that her writings -- collections of essays and nearly 20 books of poetry -- had inspired readers to rise to her work and "awaken changed."

Rich told the quiet audience of hundreds of publishers, authors, and readers, "Poetry has the capacity in its own ways and by its own means to remind us what's forbidden to see -- a forgotten future." --Karen Schechner