Dan Santat’s A First Time for Everything (First Second) has acquired a National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, changing into solely the second graphic novel to ever obtain the esteemed title. He acquired a bronze sculpture, $10,000 and his graphic novel comes away with a shiny gold medal printed on the duvet.
At the 74th annual National Book Awards ceremony which occurred in New York City, November 15, Dan Santat stated:
“Thank you so much for this lovely award. I would like to congratulate my four fellow finalists who I have had the lovely honour of sharing this amazing experience with – as well as with the amazing longlist of authors who are also named. I would like to thank everyone at the National Book Award committee and especially this year’s judges for selecting such a diverse range of books: from young adult to middle grade and picture books and graphic novels which demonstrate that a variety of stories can be worthy of such high praise.”
The judging panel for the 2023 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature included Associate Professor on the School of Information Sciences on the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Sarah Park Dahlen; writer and former faculty librarian Kyle Lukoff; writer and comics author Justin A. Reynolds; writer and former newspaper editor Sabaa Tahir; with Center for the Study of Multicultural Children’s Literature govt director Claudette S. McLinn serving as chair.
A First Time For Everything is Santat’s second graphic novel outing following his debut with 2011’s Sidekicks (Graphix). It is a middle-grade graphic memoir recounting Santat’s troublesome teenage years and the category journey to Europe which modified his life. It was printed by First Second in April 2023. Outside of graphic novels, Santat has constructed up a major portfolio for his work in kids’s illustrated fiction, receiving the 2015 Caldecott award for The Adventures of Beekle: An Unimaginary Friend (Little, Brown).
Prior to Santat’s win, the one different graphic novel to obtain the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature was the concluding ebook of John Lewis, Nate Powell, and Andrew Aydin’s critically lauded March trilogy, in 2016.
The 2023 Young People’s Literature class had a strong mixture of finalists – and Santat’s profitable ebook was a co-finalist with one other graphic novel: Huda Fahmy’s Huda F Cares (Dial Books). Alongside them had been two novels – Kenneth M. Cadow’s Gather (Candlewick Pres) and Katherine Marsh’s The Lost Year: A Survival Story of the Ukrainian Famine (Roaring Brook Press) – and an image ebook, Vashti Harrison’s Big (Little, Brown).
Graphic novels are beginning to turn out to be a daily function as Young Peoples Literature finalists within the National Book Awards – Tommie Smith, Derrick Barnes and Dawud Anyabwile’s Victory. Stand! Raising My Fist For Justice (2022) and Shing Yin Khor’s The Legend of Auntie Po (2021) all positioned however finally didn’t win the gold.
The National Book Awards are an annual prize coordinated by the National Book Foundation devoted to recognising the work of US authors. Finalists obtain a silver medallion on the duvet of their ebook and a $1000 prize; winners obtain a gold medallion for the ebook, with the writer taking away a bronze statue and $10,000.
The awards are at the moment composed of 5 classes – Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Translated Literature, and Young People’s Literature. Graphic novels have but to absolutely crack the opposite classes however they’re beginning to make common appearances within the latter class. The National Book Award for Young People’s Literature class (in its up to date incarnation) has been in existence since 1996, prior to that there have been Children’s Book and Children’s Literature awards run by organisations prior to the National Book Foundation.
Dan Santat’s award speech in full:
“Thank you a lot for this pretty award. I would really like to congratulate my 4 fellow finalists who I’ve had the beautiful honour of sharing this superb expertise with – in addition to with the superb longlist of authors who’re additionally named. I would really like to thank everybody on the National Book Award committee and particularly this 12 months’s judges for choosing such a various vary of books: from younger grownup to center grade and movie books and graphic novels which reveal that a wide range of tales might be worthy of such excessive reward.
“I would really like to thank my editor Connie Hsu who has been my arbiter of literary tastes for nearly 10 years. While many authors generally have proof-readers and associates who learn their work, Connie has been my sole confidante, who research my tough concept of a narrative like a big ball of clay and helps me mould it right into a refined murals that I can proudly share for all of the world to see. One Caldecott medal and one National Book Award: not unhealthy Connie.
“I’d like to thank my agent Jodi Reamer for her capacity to skilfully assist handle my profession for nearly 15 years. She has been a steadfast supporter of my concepts and [the] ambitions of this once-young, insecure artist, and helped me navigate the course in direction of a beautiful profession that I’ve at present. More importantly, I worth your friendship and the shut bond we have now as associates.
“I’d like to thank my pretty spouse Leah, who endures the sometimes-chaotic months and years of a author who can turn out to be so passionate in his ambitions that he would devour his personal soul to craft a murals. It just isn’t simple being the soulmate of a person who’s keen to die for his work. You’re usually requested to pull double obligation as a guardian for days and generally weeks whereas I’m on ebook excursions and faculty visits – when you skilfully navigate your individual ambitions as a scientist within the difficult subject of biology. You permit me the liberty to chase my ambitions and goals however remind me that the world just isn’t price dwelling should you don’t often pause for a second to calm down.
“I’d like to thank everybody at Macmillan Publishing, most notably Kirk Benshoff for his meticulous eye as an artwork director; Morgan Rath [publicity manager], Molly Ellis [VP/executive director of publicity], Jen Besser [senior VP and publishing director], Jon Yaged [CEO Macmillan Publishers US] and plenty of others far too many to identify who helped get A First Time for Everything out into the world.
“Last however not least I’d like to thank my mom – who I believe is watching proper now – who noticed her younger, insecure little one endure the struggles of rising up by way of the tumultuous years of adolescence, and gently pushed them out the door to present his younger harmless thoughts that – regardless of the awkward and terrible experiences we are able to generally expertise in life – the world is immense and that inside that huge world there’s additionally nice kindness and love.
“Thank you very much.”
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