2023 Mass Book Awards Celebrate at the State House
The buzz was palpable in the Great Hall of the Massachusetts State House as hundreds of authors, legislators, librarians, bookstore owners, book judges, publishers and representatives of Commonwealth cultural organizations gathered on October 24th to celebrate the 2023 Massachusetts Book Awards.
In her debut as host of the awards ceremony, Courtney Andree, Mass Center for the Book’s new Executive Director, welcomed the audience with an acknowledgment of the current challenges facing the book community. She noted recent shakeups in publishing houses, the post-pandemic hangover felt by the retail sector, and the growing movement of book bans and challenges, but commended all for staying the course.
Courtney Andree praised Massachusetts authors for “continuing to write and publish works that help us learn and grow, and better navigate a world that is beautiful, but so often broken.”
On behalf of his legislative colleagues, Senator Jacob Oliveira (Hampden, Hampshire and Worcester) welcomed the guests to the State House. As Vice Chair of the Joint Committee on Tourism, Arts and Cultural Development, Oliveira underscored the importance of the literary community in the Commonwealth’s culture and economy. To an enthusiastic response, he shared details of legislation he has proposed with Representative Aaron Saunders (7th Hampden) that would protect our public libraries as centers for free thoughts.
Senator Oliveira emphasized that book challenges in Massachusetts ranked fourth in the nation during the past year.
Six Award Winners and seven Honorees were recognized at the ceremony, along with more than twenty longlisted (“Must Read”) authors of the 2023 cycle.
In accepting the Award in Fiction, Uzma Aslam Khan acknowledged the talent of her colleagues in the Fiction category, and thanked the judges for their open-mindedness and appreciation of the language in The Miraculous True Story of Nomi Ali, a novel that took 27 years to write. Ibram X. Kendi, the Nonfiction Award winner for How to Raise an Antiracist, expressed gratitude that “the judges recognized the research, vulnerability, and love of children and justice” that he poured into this book.
Poetry Award Winner Sara Deniz Akant explained that Hyperphantasia grew from a pandemic project of sharing a poem a day with writing friends, eliciting a creative collection of more immediate, worried, and performative work, while Marc Vincenz expressed delight in becoming the first recipient in a new category: the Massachusetts Book Award in Translated Literature. He was recognized for An Audible Blue, his translation of selected work by Swiss poet Klaus Merz.
The Award Winners in the youth categories saw the return of two Massachusetts authors to the podium. After receiving Honors in the Middle Grade/Young Adult category in 2022, Malinda Lo won the Award in the category for A Scatter of Light. In her remarks, Lo admitted that this coming-of-age story of a queer Asian-American girl had a rocky road to publication; her first draft was completed ten years ago and was rejected by 23 editors. And despite the reception and success of her books, she has seen them banned 50 times in 16 states. Noting that she refuses to allow these actions to shame her, she urged Massachusetts legislators to support the legislation proposed by Senator Oliveira and Representative Saunders and “show that Massachusetts stands for intellectual and artistic freedom.”
Award Winners Malinda Lo and Rajani LaRocca connect at the reception.
Rajani LaRocca was an Award Winner for the second year in a row; I’ll Go and Come Back is another book that reflects her own family and their story of immigration from India. She expressed appreciation for this recognition; as a children’s author, she is committed to writing books where more children can recognize their faces and experiences in the story.
After recognizing the 2023 Must Read authors in attendance, Andree concluded the ceremony and a celebratory reception began, allowing an easy opportunity for authors and readers to mix for conversation, photo opportunities, and lattes.
