W. Paul Coates is the winner of the National Book Foundation’s 2024 Literarian Award, given annually to “an individual or organization for a lifetime of achievement in expanding the audience for books and reading.”
Coates founded the George Jackson Prison Movement, which provided incarcerated people with Afrocentric books. In 1978, he founded the publisher Black Classic Press, which specializes in “obscure and significant works by and about people of African descent.” Authors who have been published by Black Classic Press include Walter Mosley, Amiri Baraka, Bobby Seale, and W. E. B. Du Bois.
Coates is the father of Ta-Nehisi Coates, the author of books including Between the World and Me and The Water Dancer. The younger Coates will present his father with the award at the National Book Awards Ceremony in November.
Ruth Dickey, the foundation’s executive director, said in a statement, “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. 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.”
The Literarian Award was established in 2005. Previous winners have included broadcaster Terry Gross, poets Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Maya Angelou, and librarian Nancy Pearl.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
