In 2011, Fall for the Book joins Busboys and Poets, a restaurant, bookstore, fair trade market and gathering place based in Washington, DC, to inaugurate the annual Busboys and Poets Award, the festival’s first prize dedicated to poetry.
Through its name, the award not only recognizes the work of the poet chosen to receive it but also pays tribute to Langston Hughes, who worked as a busboy at the Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, D.C., during the 1920s before he gained recognition as a poet.
The award is presented after a reading by the recipient as a highlight of the annual Fall for the Book Festival. The recipient receives a monetary award as well as the Busboys and Poets plaque.
Claudia Rankine will accept the inaugural Busboys and Poets Award on Thursday, September 22, at 7:30 p.m., in Harris Theater on George Mason University’s Fairfax, VA campus.
Rankine is the author of four collections of poetry, including the award-winning Nothing in Nature is Private, The End of the Alphabet and Plot. Her latest book, Don't Let Me Be Lonely: An American Lyric, blends poetry, essays, and images to explore the condition of fragmented selfhood in contemporary America.