Meet Lisa Lucas, new executive director of the National Book Foundation

Congratulations to Lisa Lucas, who was named last month as the new executive director of the National Book Foundation. We’ve enjoyed reading several recently published interviews with Ms. Lucas, such as this one with Claire Kirch at Publishers Weekly and this one with Lauren Cerand from PEN America. But in particular, we enjoyed this quote from her interview with Ms. Kirch:

Young people know what writers, filmmakers, painters, dancers, and musicians do, but they aren’t thinking about becoming publicists or editors or dramaturgs or non-profit arts administrators. I hope that my being here helps to encourage some of them to think about doing this kind of work.

Ms. Lucas, who previously worked nearby at Chicago’s iconic Steppenwolf Theater, has spoken about bringing a fresh take to the National Book Awards, and the publishing world, that incorporates presses outside the “New York bubble” and looks for diverse stories and perspectives. That sounds good to us, and we wish the best of luck to Ms. Lucas in her new role.

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