Meet the 2023 Library Lions
Each year, The New York Public Library honors several distinguished individuals for outstanding achievements in their respective fields of arts, culture, letters, and scholarship by naming them Library Lions. This year the Library is pleased to announce the 2023 Library Lions: beloved culinary entrepreneur and writer Ina Garten, renowned author and humanitarian Khaled Hosseini, acclaimed choreographer Bill T. Jones, esteemed biographer and historian David Nasaw, and the legendary film director Steven Spielberg.
Previous honorees include Laurie Anderson, Margaret Atwood, President Nelson Mandela, Steve Martin, Martin Scorsese, Zadie Smith, Gloria Steinem, Darren Walker, Oprah Winfrey, and many more.
Photo: Quentin Bacon
Ina Garten
In 1978, Ina Garten left her job as a budget analyst in the White House to pursue her dream of operating a specialty food store in the Hamptons. For 20 years, she ran the landmark Barefoot Contessa specialty food store and in 1999, published her first cookbook, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, one of the bestselling cookbooks of that year. She has since published thirteen cookbooks—all New York Times bestsellers—including her latest, Go-To Dinners. Ina is also working on a memoir, to be released in fall 2024. Ina has hosted her Emmy and James Beard Award winning FoodNetwork show, Barefoot Contessa, since 2002 and recently launched a new interview focused series, Be My Guest, on Food Network and discovery+. She lives in East Hampton, New York with her husband, Jeffrey.
Photo: Haris Hosseini
Khaled Hosseini
Khaled Hosseini was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, in 1965. In 1980, after the Soviet invasion of his birthplace, Khaled and his family were granted political asylum in the U.S. Khaled studied medicine and practiced as a physician in California until 2004, after which he dedicated himself to writing. He is the author of The Kite Runner, A Thousand Splendid Suns, and other books. He has served as a Goodwill Ambassador for UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, since 2006. In 2008, he launched The Khaled Hosseini Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, which provides humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan. He lives in CA.
Photo: Maria Baranova, Courtesy New York Live Arts
Bill T. Jones
Bill T. Jones was the Associate Artist of the 2020 Holland Festival and recipient of the 2014 Doris Duke Performing Artist Award; the 2013 National Medal of Arts; the 2010 Kennedy Center Honors; a 2010 Tony Award for Best Choreography of the critically acclaimed FELA!; a 2007 Tony Award, 2007 Obie Award, and 2006 Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation CALLAWAY Award for his choreography for Spring Awakening; the 2010 Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award; the 2007 USA Eileen Harris Norton Fellowship; the 2006 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Choreography for The Seven; the 2005 Wexner Prize; the 2005 Samuel H. Scripps American Dance Festival Award for Lifetime Achievement; the 2005 Harlem Renaissance Award; the 2003 Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize; and the 1994 MacArthur “Genius” Award. In 2010, Mr. Jones was recognized as Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government, and in 2000, The Dance Heritage Coalition named Mr. Jones “An Irreplaceable Dance Treasure.” Mr. Jones choreographed and performed worldwide with his late partner, Arnie Zane, before forming the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company in 1982. He has created more than 140 works for his company. Mr. Jones is the Artistic Director of New York Live Arts, an organization that strives to create a robust framework in support of the nation’s dance and movement-based artists through new approaches to producing, presenting and educating.
Photo: Alex Irklievski
David Nasaw
David Nasaw is the Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. Professor of History Emeritus at the CUNY Graduate Center and a past president of the Society of American Historians. His most recent book, The Last Million: Europe’s Displaced Persons from World War to Cold War, was named a best book of the year by National Public Radio and History Today. He is also the author of The Patriarch: The Remarkable Life and Turbulent Times of Joseph P. Kennedy, a New York Times “Ten Best Books of the Year” and a Pulitzer Prize Finalist in Biography. His bestseller Andrew Carnegie was a Pulitzer Prize Finalist and the winner of the New-York Historical Society’s American History Book Prize. The Chief: The Life of William Randolph Hearst was the recipient of the Bancroft Prize for History and the basis for a 2022 PBS “American Experience” documentary.
Photo: Amblin
Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg is one of the world's most successful and influential filmmakers, and is currently chairman of Amblin Partners, a corporate descendent of DreamWorks, SKG, which he co-founded in 1994. Among a host of career accolades, he is a three-time Academy Award® winner, a Kennedy Center Honoree, a recipient of the Irving G. Thalberg Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015 from President Barack Obama.