A poetry work published by the University of Akron Press is a National Book Award winner. Lena Khalaf Tuffaha’s “Something About Living” weaves together Palestine’s history with themes of colonialism but also hope. At the award ceremony Wednesday in New York City, Tuffaha issued a call to stop the violence in the Middle East.
“I’m proud to stand here today and to accept this honor as a Palestinian-American on behalf of all the deeply beautiful Palestinians that this world has lost,” she said. “And in honor of all those miraculous ones who endure, waiting for us to wake up.”
It’s the second time in a decade that the University of Akron Press has been recognized: Leslie Harrison’s “The Book of Endings” was a poetry finalist in 2017. That nomination came two years after the university, grappling with budget issues, laid off 159 employees – including the entire University of Akron Press staff. Two weeks later, the school changed course and began rehiring and rebuilding the publisher as part of the university’s library.
In addition to Tuffaha, this year’s National Book Award winners are Shifa Saltagi Safadi's "Kareem Between" (Young People's Literature), "Taiwan Travelogue" by Lin King and Yáng Shuāng-zǐ (Translated Literature), "Soldiers and Kings: Survival and Hope in the World of Human Smuggling" by Jason De León (Nonfiction) and "James" by Percival Everett, who won an Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for 2021's "The Trees."
