Exciting news in the literary community came Wednesday when the National Book Foundation named its third executive director, Lisa Lucas.
There have only been two executive directors since the foundation started in 1986, Neil Baldwin and Harold Augenbraum who announced his departure last year. The foundation, which hosts the National Book Awards event (though NBA’s have been issued since 1950) has been making efforts to be more inclusive even adding members outside of publishing to the board to ensure that they weren’t in a “publishing industry echo chamber.” Ms. Lucas, who was previously the publisher at Guernica Magazine, says that she’s an avid reader and great fundraiser, but says it’s about “building readers.”
The practice of building readers is the practice of building a better world.