TA-NEHISI COATES

Viola Davis’ latest honor is not for her acting, but for her writing.

The poet, activist and educator Sonia Sanchez is this year’s winner of the Edward MacDowell Medal, a lifetime achievement honor started in 1960 and previously given to Robert Frost, Toni Morrison and Stephen Sondheim among others.

Oprah Winfrey’s new book club pick is a bestseller by a Harvard-trained sociologist sometimes referred to as Winfrey’s life coach.

In 2021, few in the publishing industry worried that no one cared about books anymore.

Two high-profile faculty appointments this week could be a fundraising and enrollment bonanza for Howard University, one of the nation’s most prestigious Black colleges. As a rule, Black colleges also haven't had the fundraising ability of other universities. The cumulative endowment for all historical Black colleges through 2019 was a little more than $3.9 billion. That aid package will send roughly $2.6 billion to historically Black colleges, although the U.S. Department of Education has not yet announced how it will allocate the money. Student debt is a significant drag on graduates of historically Black colleges, and administrators say it hurts enrollment.

Two high-profile faculty appointments this week could be a fundraising and enrollment bonanza for Howard University, one of the nation’s most prestigious Black colleges. As a rule, Black colleges also haven't had the fundraising ability of other universities. The cumulative endowment for all historical Black colleges through 2019 was a little more than $3.9 billion. That aid package will send roughly $2.6 billion to historically Black colleges, although the U.S. Department of Education has not yet announced how it will allocate the money. Student debt is a significant drag on graduates of historically Black colleges, and administrators say it hurts enrollment.

One of the nation's most prestigious historically Black colleges got a major publicity boost recently when it announced two high-profile faculty hires.

At historically black colleges and universities, Hannah-Jones' decision is being celebrated as an important step toward redefining which schools should be considered among the most prestigious.

With the surprise twin hiring of two of the country’s most prominent writers on race, Howard University in Washington, D.

On Tuesday, Howard University made two high-profile hires, welcoming journalists Ta-Nehisi Coates and Nikole Hannah-Jones to its faculty.

Journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones is using major philanthropic donors to build her future as a tenured professor at Howard University, just as other major donors sought to stymie the Pulitzer Prize-winning Black investigative reporter at the University of North Carolina.

APTOPIX Tenure Dispute Slavery Project Nikole Hannah-Jones is interviewed at her home in the Brooklyn borough of New York, Tuesday, July 6, 2021. Hannah-Jones says she will not teach at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill following an extended fight over tenure. Nikole Hannah-Jones will instead accept a chaired professorship at Howard University, a historically Black school in Washington, D.C. Numerous professors and alumni voiced frustration, and Black students and faculty questioned during protests whether the predominantly white university values them. Hannah-Jones’ tenure application was submitted to UNC's trustees last year, but it was halted after a board member who vets the appointments raised questions about her nonacademic background.

Tenure Dispute Slavery Project FILE - In this May 21, 2016, file photo, Nikole Hannah-Jones attends the 75th annual Peabody Awards Ceremony at Cipriani Wall Street in New York. The investigative journalist says she will not teach at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill following an extended fight over tenure. Numerous professors and alumni voiced frustration, and Black students and faculty questioned during protests whether the school values them. Then last week, amid mounting pressure, the trustee board finally took up her submission and voted to offer her tenure. Hussman, whose name adorns the UNC journalism school after he pledged a $25 million donation, didn't immediately reply to a message seeking comment.

The news is a blow to UNC, which has had its reputation damaged by its trustees reluctance to grant tenure to Hannah-Jones. Howard also announced writer Ta-Nehisi Coates will join its faculty.

Nikole Hannah-Jones declines UNC tenure offer, takes Howard University job

Investigative journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones says she will not teach at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill following an extended fight over tenure.

Oprah Winfrey’s next book club pick is a debut novel set in Georgia at the end of the Civil War.

Works that reshape ideas about masculinity for fathers and their children: Your weekly guide to the best in books

The acclaimed writer's five-year run of writing the comic came to an end this week.

Prominent historians, actors, political activists and NBA players defend the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist in an open letter published in The Root and sent to UNC leaders.

Oprah Winfrey announced Tuesday that she has selected Robinsons acclaimed quartet of Gilead narratives for her next book club selection. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)NEW YORK – Besides working on her newsmaking interview with Meghan and Prince Harry, Oprah Winfrey has been busy with the novels of Marilynne Robinson. Winfrey announced Tuesday that she has selected Robinson's acclaimed quartet of “Gilead” narratives for her next book club selection. I am looking forward to going on this journey with our Book Club community over the coming months," Winfrey said in a statement. Apple customers wishing to learn more about why Winfrey chose Robinson's books can now do so by asking Siri “What’s Oprah reading?” and hearing a recording of Winfrey.

(AP Photo)NEW YORK – One of the country's oldest cultural instititutions, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, is undergoing some of its biggest changes in more than a century. AdHarjo, the first Native American to be appointed U.S. poet laureate, said she looked forward to having an influence on future academy choices. “There are so many incredible Native visual artists,” she told the AP, while also citing such authors as N. Scott Momaday and Leslie Marmon Silko. But the academy will still call itself an academy, while working to make itself more accessible to artists and to the general public. Besides choosing members, the academy also gives dozens of prizes and grants each year, totalling more than $1 million.

FILE - Author Ta-Nehisi Coates speaks during the Celebration of the Life of Toni Morrison in New York on Nov. 21, 2019. Coates, the acclaimed essayist and novelist who expanded the world of Wakanda in Marvel comics, will write the script for a new Superman film from Warner Bros. The studio announced Friday that Coates will pen the screenplay for an upcoming Superman film thats early in development. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)NEW YORK – Ta-Nehisi Coates, the acclaimed essayist and novelist who expanded the world of Wakanda for Marvel comics, will write the script for a new “Superman” film from Warner Bros. The studio announced Friday that Coates will pen the screenplay for an upcoming “Superman” film that's early in development.

Author Ta-Nehisi Coates on memoir "The Beautiful Struggle," fallout after Capitol siege New York Times bestselling author Ta-Nehisi Coates joins "CBS This Morning" to discuss his memoir "The Beautiful Struggle," adapted for young readers and shares the influence his mother had on his life. Plus, he talks about his reaction to the U.S. capitol siege and where America goes from here.

NEW YORK – A decade after publishing his memoir “Decoded,” Jay-Z is forming a more lasting partnership with the book industry. Roc Nation, the entertainment company founded by the rapper, is starting an imprint with Random House called Roc Lit 101. In a joint announcement Tuesday, Random House and Roc Nation promised “books at the dynamic intersection of entertainment and genre-defying literature." Future releases will include a book by Meek Mill on “criminal justice and survival,” memoirs by rappers Yo Gotti and Fat Joe and fantasy fiction from rapper Lil Uzi Vert, along with everything from cookbooks to children's stories. Roc Lit 101 will be led by Chris Jackson, the publisher and editor-in-chief of the Random House imprint One World and a recent recipient of a lifetime achievement award from the Center for Fiction; and Jana Fleishman, executive vice president of Roc Nation.

NEW YORK – Author James McBride and editor Chris Jackson were among those honored Thursday night by the Center for Fiction. Jackson, whose authors range from Ta-Nehisi Coates to Bryan Stevenson, was given the Medal for Editorial Excellence Award. Jackson runs the One World imprint of Penguin Random House. The Center for Fiction awarded its First Novel Prize to Raven Leilani for “Luster,” the story of a young Black woman's affair with a married, middle-aged white man. Finalists included this year's Booker Prize winner, Douglas Stuart's “Shuggie Bain.”

NEW YORK – With Election Day approaching and the pandemic ongoing, Oprah Winfrey is setting aside her usual book club recommendations and instead citing seven personal favorites, ranging from James Baldwin's landmark essays in “The Fire Next Time” to Mary Oliver's poetry collection “Devotions.”Winfrey is calling her choices “The Books That Help Me Through," works she values for “their ability to comfort, inspire, and enlighten.”"It’s a mix of fiction, poetry, non-fiction and spirituality, books I know and trust and revisit time and again,” she said in a statement Monday. Winfrey had planned a new choice every two months; her previous selection, Isabel Wilkerson's “Caste,” was announced in early August. Winfrey spokesperson Chelsea Hettrick said the seven books announced Monday would serve as “a bridge between selections,” and that no firm timeline had been set for future choices. “This year has brought such unprecedented change overall. We will re-evaluate in the coming weeks the selection plan and timing for the remainder of 2020,” she said.

LOS ANGELES – Oprah Winfrey will have an in-depth conversation with famed author Isabel Wilkerson as part of the next episode of her “Oprah’s Book Club.”Winfrey’s episode will focus on Wilkerson’s book “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents,” which will air free on Apple TV+ on Friday. The detailed discussion will explore context of the book that delves into Wilkerson’s exploration of race and hierarchy in the U.S. In the episode, Winfrey will also ask the reason behind writing “Caste” for Wilkerson, who won a Pulitzer Prize for her book “The Warmth of Other Suns.”In August, Winfrey picked Wilkerson’s “Caste” for her book club. Winfrey will dig deeper to discuss themes of the book in a two-part episode on Apple TV+ on Oct. 9. “Caste” continues Winfrey’s book club partnership with Apple that began last fall.

And on Tuesday, Winfrey announced she had chosen Isabel Wilkerson's exploration of race and hierarchy in the U.S., Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, as her latest book club pick. Wilkerson's book, Winfrey said in a telephone interview, could change the way we see each other, how we see our humanity and the structure of our world." Caste continues Winfrey's book club partnership with Apple that began last fall and includes such previous picks as Ta-Nehisi Coates' novel The Water Dancer and the nonfiction Hidden Valley Road, by Robert Kolker. Winfrey said many details in Caste were revelatory for her, such as the Nazis' admiration for the Jim Crow system. She read Caste a few months ago, before bound, printed copies were available.

Author Ta-Nehisi Coates speaks during the Celebration of the Life of Toni Morrison, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2019, in New York. A stage production of Ta-Nehisi Coates' "Between the World and Me," his prize winning book about racism and police violence against Blacks, is being adapted by HBO for a special this fall. HBO announced Thursday that the program will feature readings from Coates' book and will be directed by Apollo Theater Executive Producer Kamila Forbes. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)NEW YORK A stage production of Ta-Nehisi Coates' "Between the World and Me," his prize winning book about racism and police violence, is being adapted by HBO for a special this fall. Ive been working with Kamilah for almost as long as Ive been a writer, Coates said in a statement.

___Constand knew Cosby from her job at Temple University, where Cosby was a booster, alumnus and longtime trustee twice her age. (She thought she was taking a homeopathic supplement; Cosby later said it was Benadryl, while acknowledging he once gave a 19-year-old Quaaludes before sex.) A decade later, Black comedian Hannibal Buress took Cosby to task for his scolding. You rape women, Bill Cosby, so turn the crazy down a couple notches," he said onstage in 2014. She also believes that racial bias exists in the criminal justice system.

This cover image released by Riverhead Books shows "Deacon King Kong," a novel by James McBride. Oprah Winfrey has chosen McBrides Deacon King Kong for her book club. (Riverhead Books via AP)NEW YORK Oprah Winfrey has chosen James McBride's Deacon King Kong for her book club. But it also pays tribute to community and to McBride's own childhood in a Brooklyn project. Then she said she liked Deacon King Kong' and had been a fan of my previous work.

NEW YORK As nationwide protests against racism and police violence continue, readers are seeking out books old and new on race and criminal justice. Robin Diangelo's White Fragility," Michelle Alexander's "The New Jim Crow" and Bryan Stevenson's Just Mercy were among the works high on the bestseller lists Tuesday of Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com. Popular books also included James Baldwin's classic The Fire Next Time, published more than 50 years ago, and a board book for children from National Book Award winner Ibram X. Kendi, Antiracist Baby, that comes out next week. Ta-Nehisi Coates' Between the World and Me, winner of the National Book Award in 2015, is an open letter to the author's son that centers on the murder of an old friend by police. Angie Thomas' The Hate U Give is a popular young adult novel, adapted into a feature film of the same name, about a young girl who sees her best friend killed at the hands of police.

"Confederate," which would have depicted an alternate universe in which the Confederacy successfully seceded from the Union, is likely dead in the water at HBO now that showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have signed a $200 million deal with Netflix. "Confederate" was initially expected to launch in 2018 or 2019, after Benioff and Weiss were done with "Game of Thrones." However, the project was shelved and this new deal between Benioff, Weiss and Netflix likely wipes it off the books completely. Benioff and Weiss have been in high demand after their success with "Game of Thrones."

Open: This is Face the Nation, November 30 The latest on the reaction to protests in Ferguson, Missouri and a look at the incoming Congress with Benjamin Crump, Dr. James Peterson, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Senators-elect Thom Tillis, R-North Carolina, and Gary Peters, D-Michigan, Chicago Archbishop Blase Cupich, and others.

November 30: Crump, Peterson, and Cupich The latest on the reaction to protests in Ferguson, Missouri and a look at the incoming Congress with Benjamin Crump, Dr. James Peterson, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Senators-elect Thom Tillis, R-North Carolina, and Gary Peters, D-Michigan, Chicago Archbishop Blase Cupich, and others.