National Book Award Dinner Photo Montage

Decided to cross post this from rgz as it was a bit of work! Enjoy!

I just wanted to share the beauty and joy of the National Book Awards Dinner. So here are a few photos of the magical night!

Dia and I were all gussied up. That's a bird in my hair!

The venue was gorgeous! Flower petals all over the table.

Cipriani's on Wall Street was beautiful!

In attendance were Andy Borowitz, Gore Vidal, Joanne Woodward, and Dick Cavett. Let alone greats in the publishing industry.

We thanked rgz friends and judges Coe Booth and Nancy Werlin. These ladies, along with Kathi Appelt, Carolyn Coman, and Gene Luen Yang, had worked so hard choosing the finalists!

At our table were the charming daughters of Philip Hoose, Young People's Literature winner for Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice. Here he is kissing his daughter right after the announcement. :~)

Also at our table was Poetry Winner Keith Waldrop for Transcendental Studies: A Trilogy. That's the award before him!

Needless to say, we were cheering for Laini Taylor and Rita Williams-Grarcia! Arthur Levine even dyed his goatee pink to match Laini!

What a night to remember! Thank you National Book Foundation! Congrats to all the finalists and award winners!

Celebrating in Seattle!

I'm celebrating! It's such an honor that the National Book Foundation chose to award rgz in their first ever Innovations in Reading Grant.

Here was the criteria for their site:

The Foundation's first year of offering the Innovations in Reading Prize (IRP) saw 150 applications from 30 states. Applications fell into the following categories:

Education & Community Outreach
Tools & Technology
Schools & School Libraries
Public & University Libraries
Literary Magazines & Publishers
Book Clubs, Reading Series & Performance
Individuals

A selection process was created based on the following criteria: level of innovation, impact and need, with innovation always carrying the most weight. Impact and need came into play only in cases where two programs were judged to be equally innovative. “Innovation” was not limited to meaning only technologically innovative. In some cases, innovation meant identifying a need in the community and developing a program to address that need in a simple and effective way. In all cases, selections were made to reward programs that create and sustain a life long love of reading.

	The three active co-founders from left to right: Justina Chen Headley, Dia Calhoun, Lorie Ann Grover.

The whole story is here. And we hit Publishers Weekly this morning, too! I'm off to a meeting now with the divas: Justina, Dia, Holly Cupala, and Melissa Walker. If you hear a squee from the Northwest, it's us!