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FOR RELEASE
OCTOBER 12, 2005
CONTACT:
Camille McDuffie
Goldberg McDuffie Communications
(212)446-5106
cmcduffie@goldbergmcduffie.com
JUDGES SELECT
FINALISTS
FOR 2005 NATIONAL BOOK AWARDS
Winners
to be Announced on November 16 at Benefit
Ceremony Hosted by Garrison Keillor
Norman
Mailer and Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Will Receive Lifetime Achievement Awards
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John
Grisham |
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John
Grisham |
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John
Grisham |
Oxford, Mississippi
(October 12, 2005) -- The 20 Finalists for the
2005 National Book Awards, announced today, include
a few of America’s most well known and pre-eminent
authors and represent extraordinary writing from
the last year.
Two previous National
Book Award winners, E.L. Doctorow and John Ashbery,
are among the Finalists. Several of this year’s
Finalists have been nominees in the past, including
Joan Didion, W.S. Merwin, Frank Bidart, Adele
Griffin and Walter Dean Myers. Three authors
are nominated for their first books.
In the nonfiction category,
the five nominated books cover a range of topics,
from slavery and the genius of Jean-Jacques
Rousseau to ecology, overwhelming grief and
the heroic efforts by civilians to save the
lives of those trapped in the Twin Towers on
9/11.
The announcement was
made today by bestselling author John
Grisham at Rowan Oak, the home of William
Faulkner in Oxford, Mississippi. The winner
in each of the four categories – Fiction,
Nonfiction, Poetry, and Young People’s
Literature – will be announced
at the National Book Awards Benefit Dinner and
Ceremony in Manhattan on November 16. The dinner
will be hosted by Garrison Keillor.
Each winner receives $10,000 plus a bronze statue;
each Finalist receives a bronze medal and a
$1,000 cash award.
The Finalists were
selected by four distinguished panels of Judges
who were given the charge of selecting what
they deem to be the best books of the year.
Their decisions are made independent of and
without interference by the National Book Foundation
and their deliberations are strictly confidential.
To be eligible for a 2005 National Book Award,
a book must have been published in the United
States between December 1, 2004 and November
30, 2005 and must have been written by a United
States citizen. This year the Judges chose from
a record 1,195 entries submitted by publishers.
“I commend our
judges on their brilliant selections,”
said Harold Augenbraum, executive director of
the National Book Foundation. “Their selections
reflect an astonishing range of subject matter,
styles and voices. After months of intensive
reading and discussion, our judges have truly
arrived at the best books of the year.”
Also on the evening
of November 16, the Board of Directors of the
National Book Foundation will bestow its 2005
Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American
Letters upon Norman Mailer,
and the first Literarian Award for Outstanding
Service to the American Literary Community to
Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Toni
Morrison and Jessica Hagedorn, respectively,
will present those awards.
Click
here for the list of the 2005 National Book
Award Finalists in Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry
and Young People’s Literature. For
additional information call Camille McDuffie
at Goldberg McDuffie Communications at (212)446-5106.
Readings, discussions
and special events will take place during “National
Book Awards Week.” For details, visit
the Foundation’s website or call (212)446-5106.
The Judges for the 2005
National Book Awards:
Fiction panel:
Andre
Dubus III (chair), Rikki Ducornet, Cristina
Garcia, Tom LeClair, and Anna Quindlen.
Nonfiction
panel: Brenda
Wineapple (chair), Mark Bowden, Dennis
Covington, Tony Horwitz, Gregory Wolfe.
Poetry panel:
Carl
Phillips (chair), John Balaban, Carol
Frost, Lawson Fusao Inada, and Julie Kane.
Young People’s
Literature panel:
Liz Rosenberg (chair), Mari Evans, Claudia
Mills, Jim Murphy, and Rita Williams-Garcia.
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