Stephen Colbert has been given an anti-censorship award from the Before Columbus Foundation, a recognition announced Wednesday as the group named the recipients of the 47th annual American Book Awards. Colbert shares the prize with Mitchell Kaplan, the founder of Books & Books in Coral Gables, Florida.
The timing gives the award its edge. CBS ended Colbert's program in May after an 11-year run, saying the decision was made for economic reasons, but Colbert and others have questioned that explanation. The honor places him alongside other winners this year, including Morgan Entrekin and Roger Malina for editor and publisher recognition, Karen Tei Yamashita for lifetime achievement, and literary releases such as Nicholas Boggs' Baldwin, John Fugelsang's Separation of Church and Hate and Adela Najarro's Variations in Blue.
The Before Columbus Foundation, which was established by Ishmael Reed, says its American Book Awards were created to recognize outstanding literary achievement from across the full range of America's diverse literary community. The foundation also says the winners run from well-known and established writers to under-recognized authors and first works, with no quotas for diversity because, as it puts it, the list reflects that mix naturally. That framing makes Colbert's selection fit the award's broader purpose even as the reason CBS gave for ending The Late Show remains disputed.
Colbert's late-night run was defined in part by his feud with Donald Trump, and that history gives the anti-censorship label added weight now that the show is gone. What remains unanswered is the simplest part of the story: whether CBS's economic explanation was the full reason for ending a program that had become one of his most visible platforms.
