Phoebe Robinson will host the 2021 National Book Awards.
Today, the National Book Foundation announced the host of its 72nd National Book Awards: Phoebe Robinson, standup comedian, actress, author, and founder of Tiny Reparations Books.
Among other accomplishments, Robinson is the New York Times-bestselling author of You Can’t Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain and Everything’s Trash, But It’s Okay. Her third book of essays, Please Don’t Sit on My Bed in Your Outside Clothes, was the first title from her imprint, Tiny Reparations Books, which amplifies diverse voices. “Phoebe Robinson is a fierce champion for readers and readers and writers, and we’re thrilled to have her host the National Book Awards Ceremony this year,” said Ruth Dickey, Executive Director of the National Book Foundation.
Robinson will emcee the National Book Awards on November 17th, where the winners of the National Book Award in Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Translated Literature, and Young People’s Literature will be announced. Two lifetime achievement awards will also be presented at the ceremony: Karen Tei Yamashita will receive the National Book Foundation’s Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, presented by Viet Thanh Nguyen, and Nancy Pearl will receive the Foundation’s Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Library Community, presented by Ron Charles.
