CONTACT: Ellen Ryder
Communications
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JUDGES
SELECT FINALISTS
FOR 2003 NATIONAL BOOK AWARDS
Winners to
be Announced at November 19th Benefit Ceremony
Hosted by Novelist Walter Mosley
_________________
NEW YORK (8:30 AM EST, October 15, 2003) -
Twenty books by American authors were named Finalists
for the 2003 National Book Award today. Novelist Walter
Mosley, who will serve as Master of Ceremonies at
the Award Ceremony and Benefit Dinner next month, made
the announcement on behalf of the National Book Foundation
from the steps of The New York Public Library.
As a group, the Finalists have all received critical
acclaim for these and other books they have published
in their literary careers. Nine of the authors are previous
National Book Award Finalists, and one is the son of a
1979 Finalist in the same category, Young People's Literature.
[See notes.]
A strong sense of place also characterizes the work of
this year's Finalists, with settings that include the
Russian Gulag, Havana in the pre-revolutionary 1950s,
the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, a century of summers on
Cape Cod, a Sonoma Valley commune, Philadelphia during
the 1793 yellow fever epidemic, and a Los Angeles traffic
jam.
Four of the books - two novels, one biography, and a
historical novel for young people - explore complex issues
of race in America.
At the 54th
annual National Book Awards Ceremony and Benefit Dinner
on Wednesday, November 19, at 6:30 p.m. at the New York
Marriott Marquis Hotel in midtown Manhattan, the Finalists
will be honored and judges will announce the Winners in
each of the four categories. The evening will benefit
the Awards' institutional sponsor, the National Book Foundation,
celebrating its 15th anniversary. The Foundation presents
educational outreach programs throughout the year for
readers and writers across the country.
Also that evening, the Board of Directors of the Foundation
will confer its 2003
Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters
upon Stephen
King, who will deliver an address to an audience
of more than 1,000 authors, editors, publishers, friends,
and supporters of books and book publishing.
Commenting upon the list of Finalists, Foundation Executive
Director Neil
Baldwin said, "We were thrilled to receive
a record number of entries for the National Book Awards
competition this year: 1,030 titles from 198 publishers
and imprints. From this huge group of titles, these twenty
special selections underscore our belief that National
Book Award Finalists have been - and always will be -
as varied as a mirror held up to American culture.
"Their only common denominator is astonishing literary
quality."
Mr. Baldwin will step down from his position as Executive
Director on December 31, after presiding over fifteen
National Book Award ceremonies since the Foundation was
created in the spring of 1989.
EVENTS in New York City the week
of the National Book Awards Ceremony:
Monday, November 17, from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The Young People's Literature Finalists will participate
in a "Meet the Author" panel discussion and
question-and-answer session with local middle and high
school students.
Donnell Library Center, 20 West 53rd Street, New York
City
Tuesday, November 18, from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.
The twenty Finalists in Young People's Literature, Fiction,
Nonfiction, and Poetry will participate in "Meet
the Author" readings and book signings at four Barnes
& Noble stores in New York City.
Free and open to the public. More information will
be made available on this Web site.
Tuesday, November 18, 7 p.m.
All twenty Finalists will read selections from their work
at the highly anticipated "Finalists Reading,"
co-sponsored by the National Book Foundation and The New
School University Writing Program.
The New School's Tishman Auditorium, 66 West 12th Street,
New York City. Admission is $5. Tickets can be purchased
in advance through The New School box office (212) 229-5488.
NOTES on the 2003 National
Book Awards:
