W. Paul Coates, former librarian at Howard University, has received the National Book Foundation’s 2024 Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community. The annual award recognizes an individual or organization for their lifetime achievement in expanding the audience for books and reading.
From 1980 to 1991, Coates served as the African American studies manuscript and reference librarian in the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at Howard University. In this role, he helped to establish Howard’s Black Panther Archives collection. He also worked for his alma mater, Sojourner-Douglass College in Baltimore, Maryland, where he taught as an adjunct instructor of African American studies. During this time, he co-edited Black Bibliophiles and Collectors: Preservers of Black History (Howard University Press, 1990).
Throughout his career, Coates was dedicated to advancing Black literature in the United States. He is the founder of Black Classic Press and BCP Digital Printing, both of which have published and reissued works from several prominent Black authors. He current serves as a founding member and chair of the National Association of Black Book Publishers.
Coates earned his bachelor’s degree in community development and education from Sojourner-Douglass College. He received his master’s degree in library science from Clark Atlanta University, who awarded him an honorary doctorate in 2015.
