The National Book Foundation (NBF), which has for 70 years bestowed the prestigious National Book Awards, is launching a new “Science + Literature” program that aims to identify and honor outstanding books that deepen readers’ understanding of science and technology, that celebrates and contributes to the diversity of voices in scientific writing, and that uses literature as a catalyst to create discourse and understanding through public programming. Each year, a diverse, independent five-person selection committee of well-known authors, scientists, and thinkers will select three outstanding books with scientific or technological themes or characters, published in the last three years. Winning authors will receive a cash prize of $10,000 and be celebrated at an annual awards event. NBF will also host three public events per year, or one per winning author.

This grant underwrites an annual fellowship at the Leon Levy Center for Biography (the Center) at the City University of New York (CUNY) to support an author writing a biography of a scientist, engineer, inventor, or mathematician. The Center is the only academic institution in the country devoted to promoting the practice of biography. Founded in 2007, its mission is to foster excellence in biographical writing and to encourage the academy to understand biography as a scholarly and rigorous discipline. Fellows receive a one-time award of $72,000, a graduate research assistant, dedicated office space, and access to both the Center’s fellow biographers and CUNY’s science faculty as advisors. Additional grant funds support outreach to publicize the fellowship with relevant audiences. The current fellows are: Dr. Laura J. Snyder, writing a biography of neurologist Oliver Sacks; Miriam Horn, writing a biography of biologist and conservationist George Schaller; and Patchen Barss, writing a biography of mathematician and cosmologist Roger Penrose.