Prepared with a pre-written speech, an overwhelmed Mott dedicated the prize to “the mad kids.
The 72nd National Book Awards, one of the country’s most prestigious literary prizes, was hosted by comedian, actress and New York Times bestselling writer Phoebe Robinson.
“Molly, I remember your face when we were having coffee and meeting for the first time and you asked about my projects and I said that I wanted to write a book about an old bag, because your face lit up,” she said.
In poetry, Martín Espada won for his collection “Floaters,” which celebrates rebels and dreamers and condemns the poor governmental response to Hurricane Maria in 2017 in Puerto Rico, his father’s home country.
Sally Rooney, Anthony Doerr, Maggie Nelson, Richard Powers, Jonathan Franzen — the list goes on.
The award in the category of translated literature went to Elisa Shua Dusapin for “Winter in Sokcho,” translated from French by Aneesa Abbas Higgins.
“This is incredible for me,” said a dumbfounded Shua Dusapin before finishing her speech in French.
“This year, schools across the country are facing significant right wing pressure to remove books about people of color, LGBTQ people, and especially transgender people from classrooms and libraries,” she said.
“For our community, your recognition tonight is significant, expecially this year, post pandemic, having weathered the twitter of absurdity, corruption and mendacity.