The National Book Foundation has revealed the winner of this year’s Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community, given to “an individual for a lifetime of achievement in expanding the audience for books and reading.”
Perri Klass, the author, pediatrician, and national medical director of the nonprofit organization Reach Out and Read, will be honored with the award at the National Book Awards ceremony and benefit dinner on Nov. 18.
Klass was educated at Harvard Medical School and is currently a professor of journalism and pediatrics at New York University. Her books include Baby Doctor: A Pediatrician’s Training; A Good Time To Be Born: How Science and Public Health Gave Children a Future; and the novels The Mystery of Breathing and The Mercy Rule.
She has long been associated with Reach Out and Read, which seeks to “help families make reading a part of their routines, and to supply the books they need to get started.”
Ruth Dickey, executive director of the National Book Foundation, said in a statement, “As the child of two teachers, I have vivid memories of my parents reading aloud to me from a very early age—an act of love and care that set the stage for me to become a lifelong reader. Perri Klass’s advocacy has been instrumental in promoting book access and showing that reading together is vital to early childhood development. Medical professionals, caregivers, families, children, and communities across the country will benefit from Dr. Klass’s extraordinary career for decades to come.”
The Literarian Award was established in 2005. Past winners include Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Dave Eggers, Maya Angelou, and Roxane Gay.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
