Book TV covers established and upcoming nonfiction authors, mainly in the subject areas of history, biography and public affairs.

[3] While C-SPAN does not usually cover narrative fiction due to its nonfiction mission, it may occasionally be featured, as when Robert MacNeil and Jim Lehrer appeared in 1999 to talk about their novels.

[8] A monthly series on Book TV is In Depth, a two-hour one-on-one interview covering an author's entire body of work.

As Lamb related in a 2003 interview, "It used to drive me absolutely crazy when an author would appear on a talk show and come and go before I even had a chance to determine if I wanted to read the book.

The award, named for the first published African-American female writer, is given for literary work and advocacy that "transcends boundaries, race and perception".