ISABEL WILKERSON

This image released by Viking shows "After the Last Border: Two Families and the Story of Refuge in America" by Jessica Goudeau, winner of the Lukas Book Prize, a $10,000 honor for a socially or politically themed work. (Viking via AP)NEW YORK – Books about slavery, immigration and drug treatment are among this year's winners of awards presented by the J. Anthony Lukas Project. Jessica Goudeau's “After the Last Border: Two Families and the Story of Refuge in America” won the Lukas Book Prize, a $10,000 honor for a socially or politically themed work which demonstrates “literary grace, commitment to serious research, and original reporting.”The Mark Lynton History Prize, also worth $10,000, was given to William G. Thomas III for “A Question of Freedom: The Families Who Challenged Slavery from the Nation’s Founding to the Civil War.”On Wednesday, the Lukas project also announced two work-in-progress awards, each with a $25,000 cash prize to help with the book's completion: Emily Dufton, for “Addiction, Inc.: How the Corporate Takeover of America’s Treatment Industry Created a Profitable Epidemic” and Casey Parks, for “Diary Of a Misfit." AdThe Lukas project, based at Columbia University, is named for the late investigative reporter and author. The awards were established in 1998 and have previously been given to Robert Caro, Isabel Wilkerson and Jill Lepore among others.

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.

The book looks at American history and the treatment of Blacks and finds what she calls an enduring, unseen and unmentioned caste system. Wilkersons book and an acclaimed biography of Malcolm X are among this years nominees for awards presented by the J. Anthony Lukas Prize Project. Winners of the Lukas Book Prize and Lynton history prize receive $10,000 each. The project awards two works in progress, each worth $25,000. Ad“The Dead are Arising,” which won the National Book Award last fall, is a finalist for the Lynton prize.

LOS ANGELES – Mark Cuban, Anthony Anderson and Skylar Diggins-Smith will take part in a series of panel discussions on YouTube that are focused on racial justice. Common and Keke Palmer return as hosts of the forum, which will include sports figures, entertainers and activists. Diggins-Smith will appear on panel with reporter Jemele Hill and activist Harry Edwards about athletes’ impact on today’s political movement. “It is so important that we keep a dialogue about racial justice going beyond any particular moment,” Palmer said. “I want to encourage my peers to continue to have thoughtful and powerful conversations that will lead us to change.

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.

NEW YORK Elena Ferrante, James McBride and Isabel Wilkerson are among the nominees for the Kirkus Prize, a $50,000 honor for the best fiction, nonfiction and children's books. The nominees, six each in the three categories, were chosen by panels of writers, critics, booksellers and librarians. Other nominees were Tola Rotimi's Black Sunday," Juliana Delgado Lopera's Fiebre Tropical," Douglas Stuart's Shuggie Bain" and Raven Leilani's Luster." Wilkerson is a nonfiction finalist for another Winfrey pick, her study of racism in the U.S., Caste." In young people's literature, nominees include a children's version of Ibram X, Kendi's award-winning study of race, Stamped from the Beginning," co-authored with Jason Reynolds.

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.