Roxane Gay to Receive National Book Foundation’s 2025 Literarian Award

Sep 03, 2025

Roxane Gay will receive the 2025 Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community from the National Book Foundation at the 76th National Book Awards on November 19. The award will be presented by National Book Award winner Jacqueline Woodson. 

“As a writer, professor, editor, and cultural critic, Roxane Gay has intentionally and artfully carved out spaces to create opportunities for writers, readers, and emerging publishing professionals of all backgrounds in the literary world, and we will continue to reap the benefits of her achievements for generations,” said David Steinberger, board chair of the National Book Foundation, in a statement. 

Gay is an author, editor of an eponymous imprint at Grove Atlantic, curator of the Audacious Book Club, a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times, and host of the podcast The Roxane Gay Agenda. Since 2022 she has been the Gloria Steinem Endowed Chair in Media, Culture, and Feminist Studies at Rutgers University-New Brunswick. 

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