Adventure Pass Changes in 2025

Due to software issues affecting all libraries using the service, the Des Moines Public Library’s Iowa Adventure Pass program will no longer be available in 2025. Any reservation already made for 2025 will be honored, but we encourage anyone with a current reservation to print those passes immediately. Customers can make new reservations for passes that must be used by December 31, 2024. We hope to reintroduce the service at a later time, and we apologize for the inconvenience. 

'The Friend,' 'The New Negro: The Life of Alain Locke' Among 2018 National Book Award Winners

National Book Award

The 69th National Book Award winners were announced last night at a ceremony in New York City. The show was hosted by comedian and author Nick Offerman of Parks and Recreation fame, and five books were nominated in each category. This included the Translated Literature category, returning to the ceremony for the first time since 1983. The winners were:

The Poet X

Young People’s Literature
Elizabeth Acevedo, The Poet X

The Emissary

Translated Literature
Yoko Tawada, The Emissary
Translated by Margaret Mitsutani

Indecency

Poetry
Justin Phillip Reed, Indecency

The-New-Negro

Nonfiction
Jeffrey C. Stewart, The New Negro: The Life of Alain Locke

The-Friend

Fiction
Sigrid Nunez, The Friend

Chilean author Isabel Allende was awarded with the National Book Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. Allende’s first book, La casa de los espíritus (The House of the Spirits), was published in 1982. She's had more than 20 books published, and her stories have been translated into more than 30 languages, including English. Allende became a United States citizen in 1993, and she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2014. She currently lives in California.

A full list of the nominees can be found on the National Book Award's website.

Published on November 15, 2018
Last Modified November 23, 2024