Ben McFall, the Strand, and NBF director Lisa Lucas

McFall trying to get work done as I snap his photo and talk

One the highlights with my visits to the Strand Bookstore in New York is catching up with my friend Ben McFall. He's the legendary 'oracle' of the fiction section at the bookstore.

We usually talk travel, national events, various thises and thats, and of course book news. We were talking this time, for instance, about the appointment of Lisa Lucas as the executive director of the National Book Foundation (NBF). Any discussion of the Foundation and now Lucas's appointment certainly caught my attention, especially since I've bee tracking NBF award-winning African American poets.

• African American finalists: National Book Award for Poetry, 1990-2015
• Robin Coste Lewis, Black poets & the National Book Award

I look forward to following the projects that Lucas will expand on and create at the Foundation. Mr. McFall was definitely excited about her appointment as well as the fact that an executive director of the NBF visits the Strand. It's a positive sign, we were noting, that beyond her prominent position, Lucas is just like us: a reader who enjoys good bookstores.      

Related:
• Bookstores and special collections