National Book Foundation to present lifetime achievement award to W. Paul Coates

[Troy]

Paul Coates and Troy Johnson

 

I consider Paul a friend, so I'm pleased to share this news 

 

Press Release

 

New York, NY (September 4, 2024) – The National Book Foundation, presenter of the National Book Awards, today announced W. Paul Coates, publisher, community activist, and founder of Black Classic Press and BCP Digital Printing as the recipient of the 2024 Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community, which will be presented at the 75^th National Book Awards Ceremony & Benefit Dinner on Wednesday, November 20. Since 1978, Black Classic Press (BCP) has published remarkable, and often out of print, works by and about people of the Black diaspora. A lifelong advocate for celebrating the life of Black writers and bolstering their literary legacies, Coates will be presented with the Literarian Award by author and National Book Award Winner Ta-Nehisi Coates [Paul's son].

 

“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,” said David Steinberger, Chair of the Board of Directors of the National Book Foundation. “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’s tremendous contributions to the American literary community at the 75^th National Book Awards Ceremony.”

 

Born in West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1946, Coates enlisted in the US Army and served in Vietnam from 1965 to 1967. Upon his return, Coates moved to Baltimore, Maryland 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. After leading the local 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 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, J. A. Rogers, Bobby Seale, Carter Woodson, and W. E. B. Du Bois, among many other notable works.

 

“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 within the borders of the United States and around the globe,” said Ruth Dickey, Executive Director of the National Book Foundation. “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.”

 

Coates earned his bachelor’s degree in Community Development and Education from the Homestead-Montebello Center of Antioch University, now known as Sojourner-Douglass College, in Baltimore, Maryland, and his master’s in Library Science from Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta, Georgia. From 1980–1991, Coates served as the African American Studies manuscript and reference librarian at Howard University’s Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, where he oversaw the curation of out-of-print Black literature. A former member of the Black Panther Party, Coates was instrumental in the establishment of the Black Panther Archives at Howard University. He returned to Sojourner-Douglass College as an adjunct instructor of African American Studies, and co-edited Black Bibliophiles and Collectors: Preservers of Black History alongside Elinor Des Verney Sinnette. In 2018, he was the inaugural recipient of the Dorothy Porter Wesley Award from the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, and in 2020 he was presented with the Lord Nose Award by the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses. Coates is a founding member and chair of the National Association of Black Book Publishers, and was a member of the National Book Foundation’s Board of Directors from 1997-2005.

 

Coates is the 20^th recipient of the National Book Foundation’s Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community, which is given to an individual or organization for a lifetime of achievement in expanding the audience for books and reading. Past recipients include Dr. 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 judges, and other writers and literary professionals from around the country. Final selections are made by the National Book Foundation’s Board of Directors. Recipients of the Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community receive $10,000 and a solid brass medal.

 

The 75^th National Book Awards will be held on Wednesday, November 20, 2024 at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City. The in-person Ceremony & Benefit Dinner, which will be broadcast live for readers everywhere, will include the presentation of the Foundation’s two lifetime achievement awards and the 2024 National Book Award Winners in the categories of Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Translated Literature, and Young People’s Literature. For more information about the 75^th National Book Awards Ceremony & Benefit Dinner and to register for the broadcast, please visit http://nationalbook.org/awards.

 

About W. Paul Coates:

W. Paul Coates is the founder of Black Classic Press and BCP Digital Printing. Black Classic Press, established in 1978, specializes in republishing obscure and significant works by and about people of African descent. BCP Digital Printing was founded in 1995 as a parallel entity of the Press, producing books and documents on demand, and placing Black Classic Press on the forefront of 21^st-century print and publishing technology.

 

As a former African American Studies Manuscript and Reference Librarian at Howard University's Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, Mr. Coates was responsible for the collection and acquisition of African American books and related materials, including the selection and purchase of rare and non-rare items. A former member of the Black Panther Party, he led the effort to establish the Black Panther Archives at Howard.

 

Mr. Coates is a graduate of Clark Atlanta University's School of Library and Information Studies and Sojourner-Douglass College (SDC), from which he received an honorary PhD in 2015. He is an active Black bibliophile and collector of cultural artifacts and maintains an extensive collection of Global African Cookbooks. Mr. Coates is co-editor of Black Bibliophiles and Collectors: Preservers of Black History. He was a founding member and chair of the National Association of Black Book Publishers. In addition, he served as an adjunct instructor of African American Studies at SDC. He formerly owned and operated The Black Book from 1972–1978, a Baltimore-based bookstore. His experience with the purchase, sale, and collection of books by and about Blacks is a love affair that has continued over six decades.

 

About Ta-Nehisi Coates:

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, which won the National Book Award in 2015. He is the recipient of a National Magazine Award and a MacArthur Fellowship. He is currently the Sterling Brown Endowed Chair at Howard University in the English department.

 

 

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The mission of the National Book Foundation, presenter of the National Book Awards, is to celebrate the best literature published in the United States, expand its audience, and ensure that books have a prominent place in our culture. The Foundation approaches this work from four programmatic angles: Awards & Honors recognize exceptional authors, advocates, literature, and literary programs; Education & Access initiatives foster a lifelong passion for books in young and adult readers; Public Programs bring acclaimed authors to communities nationwide to engage in conversations about books and showcase the power of literature as a tool for understanding our world; and Service to the Literary Field, provides support to the national literary ecosystem. Information on all of the Foundation’s programs can be found online at nationalbook.org.

The National Book Awards, established in 1950, is one of the nation's most prestigious literary prizes and has a stellar record of identifying and rewarding quality writing. Many previous Winners of the National Book Awards are now firmly established in the canon of American literature, including Elizabeth Acevedo, Robert A. Caro, Ralph Ellison, Louise Erdrich, Nikky Finney, Ibram X. Kendi, Adrienne Rich, Arthur Sze, Maurice Sendak, and Jesmyn Ward.

[Troy]

Read coverage at the Washinton Post