The National Book Foundation has named W. Paul Coates, the founder and publisher of Black Classics Press and BCP Digital Printing, as the recipient of 2024 Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community. Coates will be presented with the award at the 75th National Book Awards ceremony, to be held in New York City on November 20, by his son, National Book Award–winning author Ta-Nehisi Coates.
“Over the course of his career, W. Paul Coates has recovered and discovered countless essential works of Black literature, and readers everywhere have reaped the benefits of his passion and care for the written word,” said David Steinberger, chair of the board of directors of the National Book Foundation, in a statement. “Since the 1970s, Coates has modeled what it means to be a community-focused independent publisher and tireless advocate for Black diasporic writers and books."
Coates began his literary career in 1972 when, after leading a local chapter of the Black Panther Party in Baltimore, Md., for several years, he established the George Jackson Prison Movement, a prison literacy program to provide incarcerated readers access to progressive Afrocentric literature. The program soon led to the opening of The Black Book bookstore in Coates’s basement, which evolved into the Baltimore-based Black Classic Press, founded in 1978, and later inspired the development of its sister company, BCP Digital Printing, launched in 1995.
In a 2018 interview with PW, Coates described Black Classic Press as a mission-driven publishing venture focused on preserving “the collective story of African-American people," adding that he is "happy to be a part of the legacy of Black publishing."
As founder and publisher of Black Classic Press, Coates has published original works by such authors as Yosef Ben-Jochannan, John Henrik Clarke, John G. Jackson, Walter Mosley, and many others, in addition to reissuing titles by Amiri Baraka, Edward Blyden, Amy Jacques Garvey, Larry Neal, J. A. Rogers, Bobby Seale, Carter Woodson, and W.E.B. Du Bois.
From 1980-1991, Coates served as the African American Studies manuscript and reference librarian at Howard University’s Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, where he oversaw the curation of out-of-print Black literature. He was also a member of the NBF board of directors from 1997-2005 and is a founding member and chair of the National Association of Black Book Publishers. In 2020, Coates was presented with the Lord Nose Award by the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses, and earlier this year he received the Publisher Award for Distinguished Service to the Literary Community from the Authors Guild.
