Here are a just some of the recent nominees for 2011 National Book Awards.

Dr. Manning Marable:

http://aalbc.com/aut...ing_marable.htm

Nikky Finney:

http://aalbc.com/aut...kky_finney.html

Yusef Komunyakaa:

http://aalbc.com/authors/yusef.html

Jesmyn Ward:

http://aalbc.com/aut...esmyn_ward.html

Carl Phillips:

http://aalbc.com/aut...l_phillips.html

Watch a live webcast of the National Book Awards tonight http://aalbc.it/nationalbookawards2011

Jesmyn Ward, Salvage the Bones and Nikky Finney, Head Off & Split win national Book awards!

http://aalbc.it/nikkyspeech

"Black people were the only people in the United States ever explicitly, forbidden, to become literate."

If you don't do anything else today, listen Nikky Finney, 2011 National Book Awards acceptance speech.

One industry icon said it best, "I was moved and speechless by Finny's acceptance speech... the woman spoke the truth with such grace and elegance....She done herself, and all of us Damn proud!