After Justin Torres, who won in the fiction category for his novel Blackouts, accepted his award, the stage filled with more than a dozen other nominees from different categories. They stood behind Aaliyah Bilal, a finalist in the fiction category for her short story collection Temple Folk, as she read the statement. "On behalf of the finalists, we oppose the ongoing bombardment of Gaza and call for a humanitarian cease-fire to address the urgent humanitarian needs of Palestinian civilians, particularly children," Bilal said. "We oppose antisemitism and anti-Palestinian sentiment and Islamophobia equally, accepting the human dignity of all parties, knowing that further bloodshed does nothing to secure lasting peace in the region."
While the conflict in the Middle East was referenced repeatedly over the evening, most of the ceremony focused on literary issues, like the power of literature to broaden perspectives, and the dangers of censorship and the threat of growing book bans. The ceremony's host, LeVar Burton, an actor and literacy advocate who hosted the PBS series Reading Rainbow for more than 20 years, has been pushing back on book bans and restrictions around the country, which have been a growing concern for authors and publishers in recent years. There's a reason why books are under attack, Burton said at the beginning of the ceremony. It's because they're so powerful. Oprah Winfrey, special guest at the ceremony at Cipriani Wall Street, spoke ardently about the fact that many banned books captured the experiences of diverse cultures.
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