2003 National Book Awards
FICTION
Winner:
Shirley Hazzard, The Great Fire
> Read Her Acceptance Speech
> Read award presentation by Antonya Nelson
> Appreciations on Best of National Book Awards Fiction Blog
Finalists:
T.C Boyle – Drop City
- “Contenders” Fiction Finalists Exhibition Page >Edward P. Jones – The Known World
- “Contenders” Fiction Finalists Exhibition Page >Scott Spencer – A Ship Made of Paper
- “Contenders” Fiction Finalists Exhibition Page >Marianne Wiggins – Evidence of Things Unseen: A Novel
- “Contenders” Fiction Finalists Exhibition Page >
Fiction Judges:
Antonya Nelson (Panel Chair), Peter Cameron, Alice Elliott Dark, Jay Parini, Jean Thompson
NONFICTION
Winner:
Carlos Eire, Waiting for Snow in Havana: Confessions of a Cuban Boy
> Read Speech
> Read award presentation by Jonathan Kirsch
Finalists:
Anne Applebaum – Gulag: A History
George Howe Colt – The Big House: A Century in the Life of an American Summer Home
John D'Emilio – Lost Prophet: The Life and Times of Bayard Rustin
Erik Larson – The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America
Nonfiction Judges:
Jonathan Kirsch (Panel Chair), Catherine Clinton, Wendy Gimbel, Lawrence Jackson, Terry Teachout
POETRY
Winner:
C.K. Williams, The Singing
> Read Speech
> Read award presentation by Bruce Weigl
> NBA Poetry Blog Essay and Archival Material for Williams
Finalists:
Carol Muske-Dukes – Sparrow: Poems
Charles Simic – The Voice at 3:00 AM: Selected Late and New Poems
Louis Simpson – The Owner of the House: New Collected Poems 1940-2001
Kevin Young – Jelly Roll: A Blues
Poetry Judges:
Bruce Weigl (Panel Chair), David Baker, Kate Daniels, Kwame Dawes, Jane Hirshfield
YOUNG PEOPLE'S LITERATURE
Winner:
Polly Horvath, The Canning Season
> Read Speech
> Read award presentation by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
Finalists:
Paul Fleischman – Breakout
Jim Murphy – An American Plague: The Time and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793
Richard Peck – The River Between Us
Jacqueline Woodson – Locomotion
Young People's Literature Judges:
Susan Campbell Bartoletti (Panel Chair), Lulu Delacre, Jean Craighead George, Barbara Harrison, Margaret Tice