National Book Foundation
The mission of the National Book Foundation and the National Book Awards is to celebrate the best of American literature, to expand its audience, and to enhance the value of good writing in America. The awards were first given on March 16, 1950 to writers, by writers to honor the year’s best work in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.
In 1980, various publishers who sponsored the event sought to broaden further the audience for American literature by honoring an even wider range of American writers. As a result, the 30-year-old National Book Awards was discontinued and The American Book Awards (TABA) established. TABA gave a total of 28 prizes in 16 separate categories. Then, it soon became obvious that too many categories diffused the Awards’ original intended impact. By 1984, the Board reduced the number of awards categories to three and, in 1987, reestablished the National Book Awards. Since 1996, independent panels of five writers have chosen the National Book Award Winners in four categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, and Young People’s Literature.
This year, 193 publishers submitted 1,129 books for the 2009 National Book Awards. The results were announced on 18 November, 2009.
The winners are as follows:
- Fiction: Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann
- Non-fiction: The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt by T. J. Stiles
- Poetry: Transcendental Studies: A Trilogy by Keith Waldrop
- Young People’s Literature: Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Philip Hoose
- 9781400063734
- 9780375415425
- 9780520258785
9780374313227
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