Established in 1950, the National Book Award is an American literary prize given to writers by writers and administered by the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization.

More information about The National Book Awards can be found at http://www.nationalbook.org/.

2009 Winners

Fiction
LET THE GREAT WORLD SPIN by Colum McCann (Random House)

Nonfiction
THE FIRST TYCOON: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vandervilt by T. J. Stiles (Knopf)

Young People's Literature
CLAUDETTE COLVIN: Twice Towards Justice b Phillip Hoose (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

Poetry
TRANSCENDENTAL STUDIES: A Trilogy by Keith Waldrop (University of California)

Distinguished Contribution to American Letters
Gore Vidal

The Literarian Award
Dave Eggers

The Best of the National Book Awards Fiction
THE COMPLETE STORIES by Flannery O'Connor (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

2009 Finalists

Fiction
AMERICAN SALVAGE by Bonnie Jo Campbell (Wayne State University Press)
LET THE GREAT WORLD SPIN by Colum McCann (Random House)
IN OTHER ROOMS, OTHER WONDERS by Daniyal Mueenuddin (W. W. Norton &
Co.)
LARK AND TERMITE by Jayne Anne Phillips (Alfred A. Knopf)
FAR NORTH by Marcel Theroux (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

Nonfiction
FOLLOWING THE WATER: A Hydromancer's Notebook by David M. Carroll (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
REMARKABLE CREATURES: Epic Adventures in the Search for the Origins of Species by Sean B. Carroll (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
THE RISE AND FALL OF HENRY'S FORGOTTEN JUNGLE by Greg Grandin (Metropolitan Books/Henry Holt)
THE POISON KING: The Life and Legend of Mithradates, Rome's Deadliest Enemy by Adrienne Mayor (Princeton University Press)
THE FIRST TYCOON: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt by T. J. Stiles (Alfred A. Knopf)

Young People's Literature
CHARLES AND EMMA: The Darwins’ Leap of Faith by Deborah Heiligman (Henry Holt)
CLAUDETTE COLVIN: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip Hoose (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
STITCHES by David Small (W. W. Norton & Co.)
LIPS TOUCH: Three Times by Laini Taylor (Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic)
JUMPED by Rita Williams-Garcia (HarperTeen/HarperCollins)

Poetry
VERSED by Rae Armantrout (Wesleyan University Press)
OR TO BEGIN AGAIN by Ann Lauterbach (Viking Penguin)
SPEAK LOW by Carl Phillips (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
OPEN INTERVAL by Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon (University of Pittsburgh Press)
TRANSCENDENTAL STUDIES: A Trilogy by Keith Waldrop (University of California Press)