Today we know that these three writers are gifts to the english language. This morning, the first author that i will be introducing nonother than dave barry. Lets give him a round of applause before he comes out. [applause] we all know that you cannot do justice to his talents and there he is. [applause] you just cant do justice by reading has lengthy biography or saying that his new work, insane city, his first adult novel in more than a decade. He is an individual for over 25 years have appeared in 25 newspapers, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and its pretty cool. Like every other kid in the 305, i grew up relishing reading him and today we are hearing from a hometown favorite in dave barry. In our next author is roy blount. Come on out and lets give him a round of applause. [applause] a master of language and the humorist to boot. He has authored 22 books in a wide range from robert ely to the Pittsburgh Steelers if you are an npr nerd, and you may also know him as a regular panelist
There he found an exclusive campus he. It he resented it as an undergraduate and came to resent it as a professor there. He then became president of the college. And it was at this time he decided now i have the ability to change what this college is. Wilsons predecessor in the presidency of princeton was a man who used to brag he ran the finest country club in america. [laughter] he did. There was no question about it. It was an enclave for the sons of the very, very rich. Wilson tried to tear that down. It was in doing that, he began writing about what he was doing and speaking about what he was doing. This is how the most immediate oric rise in American History occurred. People began to look at wilson, who used the princeton campus as a great metaphor for america. He believed Higher Education should be the great catapult for people. Anybody from any class in a country that has no classes but in such a country, anybody who is educate and works hard should be able to leapfrog. It shou
The life substance of the companion world in cyberspace. Mind and invasive expedition in the name of commerce or government surveillance. For the use of corporations, and Excited Police departments, you can call it quantify indication. It in the out of we called it reification. Kind of dehumanizing and so it turns out that the story for all of this, oddly enough, is the eviction story from the bronze age telling of the consequences coming from eating of the fruit of the tree of knowledge. So like all world, it comes with the heaven and the hell. What does u this mean for all of us in this room . We writers and our publishers . We dont want to give up the presumably inconvenient thing we do. Something as old as paginated written narrative. We dont want to lose heart in frank norris, the author of naturalistic works of fiction in the 60s. Norris despaired of the Western Union telegram. Ten words and stop. The twitter of today. He feared it was the end of literary discourse. People could
Im talking with David Steinberger about a companion book to knowing your value which is my second book which is great for women. Were looking for a knowing your value millennial edition. So hopefully, ill be back next year. Ladies and gentlemen, mika bear zip sky. Good evening. Hows everyone tonight . The beautiful. Im Mika Brzezinski, cohost of morning joe, and im deeply honored to be here tonight. Im also very excited to say this to you uninterrupted. Welcome to the 64th National Book awards. I got through it. Its the oscars of the book world, or as Fran Leibowitz once called them, the oscars without money. But well take em. [laughter] so i have a very close connection to this evenings awards. Just last month we had the honor of having David Steinberger, the chairman of the National Book foundation, on our show, on morning joe, to announce the National Book foundation finalists. As a threetime author myself, i know firsthand what an incredible undertaking it is to write a book and th
My definition of a historical novel one that makes literary history. Its quite contemporary. And i always operate under the admonition of the poet who said, make anu. Thats what i try to do. Are you exoited to be here tonight . Its fun. Its great fun. Have you attended this dinner before. Yes. I have won a National Book award. For which book . World fair. It was about 25 years ago. Anyway. Some people may not know after you you are named after edgar allen poe. I think its probably true. My father liked him. Thank you for spending a few minutes on booktv. My pleasure. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] nice to meet you. 3 [inaudible conversations] nice to meet you. I spent an hour with bryan in washington. Yes, on q a. We are covering you down in miami this coming weekend. Youll be live on booktv this weekend. But youre one of the finalist in the nonfiction category. Is this a first time you have been nominated . Yes, it is. Its exciting. Its tremendous. Its an honor. T