Maxine Hong Kingston, Darryl Pinckney and the late bell hooks were among the authors honored this year by the Before Columbus Foundation, a nonprofit co-founded by Ishmael Reed that celebrates multicultural literature.

The National Book Foundation announced Friday that Karen Tei Yamashita has been awarded its medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, a $10,000 honor previously given to Toni Morrison, Robert Caro and Isabel Allende among others.