LeVar Burton to replace Drew Barrymore as host of National Book Awards

Actor LeVar Burton is set to host this year’s National Book Awards, replacing Drew Barrymore.

The Change: Drew Barrymore was originally supposed to host this year’s National Book Awards, but Drew was replaced after announcing her intention to return to her talk show amidst the Writers Guild of America’s strike.
* The National Book Foundation rescinded their invitation to Barrymore, citing the importance of keeping the focus on celebrating writers and books.

The Host: LeVar Burton is a renowned actor, reading advocator and host known for his notable roles and involvement in promoting literature.
* Burton has a history in the television industry with roles in “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and the PBS show “Reading Rainbow”.
* He also portrayed Kunta Kinte in Alex Haley’s “Roots” miniseries and currently hosts the podcast “LeVar Burton Reads”, where he shares and discusses short fiction by various authors.
* Burton is not a stranger to the awards, having already hosted it in 2019.

What’s Next: The National Book Awards is scheduled to announce the winners of this year’s competition on November 15.
* The finalists for the awards have already been announced earlier this month.

View original article on NPR

This summary was created by an AI system. The use of this summary is subject to our Terms of Service.

Contact us about this post

Posted

in

by

Tags:

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *