National Book Foundation director: 'diversity isn't just about race'

Lisa Lucas is the first woman and African American to lead one of America’s key literary institutions, with a mandate to get more people to read – and write

Lisa Lucas began her new job as the third executive director of the National Book Foundation, which presents the National Book Awards, just this Monday. The Guardian caught up with Lucas. We talked about the 36-year-old’s transition to the Foundation from her previous position as publisher of the small but well-respected literary journal Guernica and, before that, with the Tribeca film festival, and about what her hopes are in her new role. Lucas has just become the first African American and first woman to hold her position with the 67-year-old organization.

A lot of us in the writing world know Guernica, and you were publisher there, but this new job must be different in some ways. How do you see the transition?

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