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The
2001 National Book Awardswere held on November
14, 2001
at
the New York Marriot Marquis in New York
City. For the third year in a row, Steve
Martin presided as Master of Ceremonies
for the evening.
Photo credit: Sandy Wavrick.
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FICTION
JUDGES
Panel Chair:
Colin Harrison
Bill Henderson
Angela Davis-Gardner
Mary Morris Susan
Richards Shreve
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NONFICTION
JUDGES
Panel Chair:
Terry Tempest Williams
Andre Aciman
Alex Kotlowitz
Richard Rodriguez
Christine Stansell |
POETRY
JUDGES
Panel Chair:
Stanley Plumly
Rafael Campo
Toi Derricotte
Marie Howe
Tom Sleigh |
YOUNG
PEOPLE'S LITERATURE JUDGES
Panel Chair:
Beth Kephart
Kay Cassell
Ellen Howard
Lisa Clayton Robinson
Jane Resh Thomas |
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Invitation for
the 52nd annual National Book
Awards. |
National Book
Awards Program cover. |
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FICTION
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Judges' Citation for "The Corrections"
Jonathan Franzen's novel is a contemporary rarity:
fiction that reaches high and low and far, and
succeeds wildly - all within the confines of a
family drama: mom, dad, and the kids getting together
for one last Christmas dinner. The Corrections
is laugh-out-loud hilarious and horribly sad.
It is compassionate and sentimental, a gloriously
big novel that confirms Franzen as one of the
most astute interpreters of the American mind
and spirit.
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Fiction winner Jonathan Franzen (center) receiving
congratulations on his win. Photo credit: Sandy
Wavrick. |
FICTION
FINALISTs
Dan Chaon-Among the Missing
Jennifer Egan-Look At Me
Louis Erdrich-The Last Report On the
Miracles at Little No Horse
Susan Straight-Highwire Moon |
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NONFICTION
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Judges' Citation for "The Noonday Demon:
An Atlas of Depression"
Practical, lyrical, and expository, The Noonday
Demon provides a detailed and comprehensive
cartography of the desolate landscape of depression.
It is, as the subtitle tells us, an atlas, and like
all compendia of maps and strange, unknown countries,
it elucidates and renders knowable what otherwise
might seem alien and frightening. In the process,
this wise and learned book provides information
and succor to those who have suffered from the disease
and to thise whose lives have been touched by it.
Retaining the stringency of an acutely democratic
attitude - never falling into sentiment - The
Noonday Demon forces us to recognize the paradoxical
movements of the human spirit.
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Nonfiction
winner Andrew Solomon (right) and guest in the
post-ceremony reception. Photo credit: Sandy Wavrick. |
NONFICTION
FINALISTS
Marie Arana-American Chica: Two Worlds,
One Childhood
Nina Bernstein-The Lost Children of Wilder:
The Epic Struggle to Change Foster Care
David James Duncan-My Story As Told By
Water
Jan T. Gross-Neighbors: The Destruction
of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne, Poland |
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POETRY
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Judges' Citation for "Poems Seven:
New and Complete Poetry"
For the last half-century, Alan Dugan's unique
and uncompromising poetry has spoken truth to lies
and clarity to confusion. With equal parts humor
and anger, wisdom and skepticism, he has rejected
our defenses and excuses, embracing what is right
and real in our culture and ourselves. The grace
of his art derives from his relentless focus and
interrogation of language. Dugan is American to
the core: tough-minded, big-hearted, and no-nonsense.
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Poetry winner Alan Dugan(left)
and 1998 Poetry winner Gerald
Stern. Photo credit: Sandy Wavrick. |
POETRY
FINALISTS
Agha Shahid Ali-Rooms Are Never Finished
Wanda Coleman-Mercurochrome
Cornelius Eady-Brutal Imagination
Gail Mazur-They Can't Take That Away From
Me |
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YOUNG
PEOPLE'S LITERATURE
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Judges'
Citation for "True Believer"
With the
fierce originality that characterizes the best books,
Virginia Euwer Wolff takes on life's hardest questions
in True Believer and then dares to answer
them. Love and religion, hope and sacrifice, community
and class are spoken to and through Wolff's audacious
narrator, fifteen-year-old LaVaughn. In a voice
that manages both authenticity and lyricism, and
with a fractured style that perfectly captures the
particulars of LaVaughn's sometimes bewildering
circumstances, Wolff has written a masterful and
fearless novel.
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Young People's Literature
winner, Virginia Euwer Wolff
(second from right) and guests. Photo credit: Sandy
Wavrick. |
YOUNG
PEOPLE'S LITERATURE FINALISTS
Kate DiCamillo-The Tiger Rising
Phillip Hoose-We Were There Too! Young
People In U.S. Historyl
An Na-A Step From Heaven
Marilyn Nelson-Carver: A Life in Poems
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DISTINGUISHED
CONTRIBUTION TO AMERICAN LETTERS
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| Mr.
Miller has consistently established himself as an
advocate for the 'common man,' drawing in audiences
with the rich social context of his settings, and
political and moral issues that plague his characters.
This is most evident in the acclaimed Death of
a Salesman (1949), winner of both the Drama
Critics Circle Award and the Pulitzer Prize. He
continued to address social and political issues
with The Crucible (1953), A View From
the Bridge (1955), and After the Fall
(1964). His most recent work includes Echoes
Down the Corridor: Collected Essays 1944-2000,
and On Politics and the Art of Acting. |
Arthur Miller (right), winner of the Medal for
Distinguished Contribution to American Letters,
with
emcee Steve Martin. Photo credit: Nancy Crampton.
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