The National Book Award
The National Book Awards has announced the winners on Nov. 17 2004, are among the most anticipated commendations of the year for publishers. Lily Tuck for her novel "The News from Paraguay" is this year's winner. She has a long history of writing about women at a loss in foreign lands. Children's author Judy Blume received an honorary medal, the second straight year the prize went to someone as notable for popular success as literary greatness. Sales of her books exceed 75 million and her work is loved by young people, and eyed by censors, for its frank narratives about families, religion and sexuality.
The National Books Awards are modeled after the Academy Awards, with the book world putting on its evening wear and gathering to hear live who wins in four competitive categories -- fiction, nonfiction (given Wednesday to Kevin Boyle's "Arc of Justice"), poetry (Jean Valentine's "Door in the Mountain") and young people's literature (Pete Hautman's "Godless").
The National Book Award name 20 finalists named in four categories. The list of fiction finalists consisted of five female authors, all living in New York City, and included two first-time novelists, Sarah Shun-lien Bynum, for "Madeleine Is Sleeping" (Harcourt), and Christine Schutt, for "Florida" (TriQuarterly Books / Northwestern University Press). The fiction finalists also include two books of related short stories. "Our Kind" (Scribner), by Kate Walbert, tales of a group of women who came of age in the 1950´s now facing life after husbands and children have left home; and "Ideas of Heaven" (W. W. Norton), by Joan Silber, stories set in the past and present, in France, Italy, New York and China, where a minor element in one becomes a major theme in the next. Also a finalist is "The News From Paraguay" (HarperCollins), by Lily Tuck, a historical epic set in 19th-century South America. This is the first time the fiction short list has not included any men.
Non-Fiction
Among the other nonfiction finalists this year is "Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare", an account of Shakespeare´s life in Elizabethan England by Stephen Greenblatt. The book is one of three finalists for W. W. Norton, one of the few large publishing houses that are not part of a larger media company.
Also on the short list are "Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights and Murder in the Jazz Age", by Kevin Boyle (Henry Holt); "Washington´s Crossing" by David Hackett Fischer (Oxford University Press), an analysis of a pivotal moment of the American Revolution; and "Life on the Outside: The Prison Odyssey of Elaine Bartlett" by Jennifer Gonnerman (Farrar, Straus & Giroux).
John Leonard, a literary critic who has served on judging panels like the one that chose the finalists here, said the authors who are often ignored are "the people who have already paid their dues."
"Maybe this is not the best Philip Roth," he said of "The Plot Against America" (Houghton Mifflin), "but my gosh, isn´t it one of the five?" On the other hand, Mr. Leonard admitted that he had not read all of the finalists and said that he, like many critics of the list, tends to favor what he has read. "So good for them," he said of the fiction panel, whose chairman was Rick Moody and which also included Linda Hogan, Randall Kenan, Stewart O´Nan and Susan Straight.
Poetry
Among the poetry finalists is Donald Justice, for "Collected Poems" (Alfred A. Knopf). A three-time finalist and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1979, Mr. Justice died this year at 78. The other finalists in poetry include "Shoah Train" (Etruscan Press), by William Heyen; "The Rest of Love" (Farrar, Straus & Giroux), by Carl Phillips; "Goest" (Alice James Books), by Cole Swensen; and "Door in the Mountain" (Wesleyan University Press), by Jean Valentine.
Young People´s Literature
In the category of young people´s literature, the five finalists included three books published by Simon & Schuster and two by Megan Tinley Books, an imprint of Little, Brown. The finalists are "Honey, Baby, Sweetheart" (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers), by Deb Caletti; "Godless" (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers) by Pete Hautman; "Harlem Stomp!: A Cultural History of the Harlem Renaissance" (Megan Tingley Books / Little, Brown), by Laban Carrick Hill; "The Legend of Buddy Bush" (Margaret K. McElderry Books / Simon & Schuster Children´s Publishing), by Shelia P. Moses; and "Luna: A Novel" (Megan Tingley Books / Little, Brown), by Julie Anne Peters.
The Newbery Award
 This is awarded by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association. The Newbery Medal was named for eighteenth-century British bookseller John Newbery. The award has been given annually since 1922. It is given to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.
The John Newbery Medal Past Winners:
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2004: The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread by Kate DiCamillo (Candlewick Press)
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2002: A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park(Clarion Books / Houghton Mifflin)
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1999: Holes by Louis Sachar (Frances Foster)
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1992: Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (Atheneum)
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1970: Sounder by William H. Armstrong (Harper)
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1935: Dobry by Monica Shannon (Viking)
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1934: Invincible Louisa: The Story of the Author of Little Women by Cornelia Meigs (Little, Brown)
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The Newbery Medal was named for eighteenth-century British bookseller John Newbery. It is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.
Website: ala.org
Orange 2004 Price for Fiction
The winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction receives about $60,000, which is anonymously endowed and a limited edition bronze figurine called the 'Bessie' - right. (also anonymously endowed). Created by the artist Grizel Niven, the 7.5 inch figure of a standing woman is cast in bronze once a year and presented to the winning author, along with her cheque, at the Award Ceremony.
Brick Lane by Monica Ali (Doubleday), First novel, author Bangladeshi/British.
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood (Bloomsbury), Eleventh novel, author Canadian.
The Sari Shop by Rupa Bajwa (Viking), First novel, author Indian.
Kith & Kin by Stevie Davies (Weidenfeld & Nicolson), Ninth novel, author British.
State of Happiness by Stella Duffy (Virago), Eighth novel, author British/New Zealander
The Flood by Maggie Gee (Saqi Books), Ninth novel, author British.
The Electric Michelangelo:: by Sarah Hall (Faber and Faber), Second novel, author British.
The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard (Virago), Fourth novel, author Australian/American.
Notes on a Scandal by Zoë Heller (Viking) Second novel, author British.
The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri (Flamingo) First novel, author British/American.
A Visit from Voltaire by Dinah Lee Küng (Peter Halban Publishers) Second novel, author American.
Small Island by Andrea Levy (Review) Fourth novel, author British.
Gilgamesh by Joan London (Atlantic Books) First novel, author Australian.
The Internationals by Sarah May (Chatto & Windus) Third novel, author British.
Love by Toni Morrison (Chatto & Windus) Ninth novel, author American.
Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Fourth Estate) First novel, author Nigerian.
The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (Jonathan Cape) First novel, author American.
Ice Road by Gillian Slovo (Little, Brown) Tenth novel, author South African.
The Colour by Rose Tremain (Chatto & Windus) Eleventh novel, author British.
The Amateur Marriage by Anne Tyler (Chatto & Windus) Sixteenth novel, author American.
The founders of the prize were concerned that many of the biggest literary prizes often appeared to over look wonderful writing by women. And, since prizes are so instrumental in telling potential readers about writers, we did think that many novels by women were possibly not being brought to the attention of male and female readers who'd appreciate them.
In January 1992, a group of men and women involved in publishing - journalists, reviewers, agents, publishers, librarians, booksellers - met to decide if there was any way to widen the net and to try to introduce a prize that would be less traditional and that would put readers at the centre.
Carnegie Children's Award
The Carnegie Medal is awarded annually to the writer of an outstanding book for children by children's librarians.
Year Title, Winning Author, Publisher
2002 Ruby Holler, Sharon Creech, Bloomsbury Children's Books
2001 The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents, Terry Pratchett, Doubleday
2000 The Other Side of Truth, Beverley Naidoo, Puffin
1999 Postcards from No Man's Land - Chambers, Aidan
1998 Skellig - Almond David
1997 Riverboy - Bowler, Tim
1996 Junk Burgess - Burgess, Melvin
1995 His Dark Materials:Northern Lights - Pullman, Philip
1994 Whispers in the Graveyard - Breslin, Theresa
1993 Stone Cold - Swindells, Robert
1992 Flour Babies - Fine, Anne
1991 Dear Nobody - Doherty, Berline
1990 Wolf - Cross, Gillian
1989 Goggle-eyes - Fine, Anne
1988 A Pack of Lies - McCaughrean, Geraldine
1987 The Ghost Drum - Price, Susan
1986 Granny was a Buffer Girl - Doherty, Berlie
1985 Storm - Crossley Holland, Kevin
1984 The Changeover - Mahy, Margaret
1983 Handles - Mark, Jan
1982 The Haunting - Mahy, Margaret
1981 The Scarecrow - Westall, Robert
1980 City of gold - Dickinson, Peter
1979 Tulku - Dickinson, Peter
1978 The Exeter Blitz - Rees, David
1977 The Turbulent Term of Tyke Tiler - Kemp, Gene
1976 Thunder and Lightnings - Mark, Jan
1975 The machine gunners - Westall, Robert
1974 The stronghold - Hunter, Mollie
1973 The Ghost of Thomas Kempe - Lively, Penelope
1972 Watership down - Adams, Richard
1971 Josh - Southall, Ivan
1970 The God Beneath the Sea - Garfield, Leon
1969 The Edge of the Cloud - Peyton, Kathleen
1968 The Moon in the Cloud - Harris, Rosemary
1967 The Owl Service - Garner, Alan
1965 The Grange at High Force - Turner, Phil
1964 Nordy Bank - Porter, Sheena
1963 The Time of Trial - Burton, Hester
1962 The Twelve and the Genii - Clarke, Pauline
1961 A Stranger at Green Knowe - Boston, L M
1960 The Making of Man - Cornwall, I W
1959 The Lantern Bearers - Sutcliffe, Rosemary
1958 Tom's Midnight Garden - Pearce, Phillipa
1957 A Grass Rope - Mayne, M
1956 The Last Battle - Lewis, C S
1955 The Little Bookroom - Farjeon, Elenor
1954 Knight Crusader - Welch, Ronald
1953 A Valley Grows Up - Osmond, Edward
1952 The Borrowers - Morton, Mary
1951 The Woolpack - Harnett, Cynthia
1950 The Lark on the Wing - Foulds, Elfrida Vipont
1949 The Story of Your Home - Allen, Agnes
1948 Sea Change - Armstrong, R
1947 Collected Stories for Children - De La Mare, Walter
1946 The Little White Horse - Goudge, Elizabeth
1944 The Wind on the Moon
1942 The Little Grey Men - Watkins Pitchford, D J
1941 We couldn't leave Dinah - Treadgold, M
1940 Visitors from London - Barne, Kitty
1939 Radium Woman - Doorly, Eleanor
1938 The Circus is Coming - Streanfeild, Noel
1937 The Family From One End Street - Garnett, Eve
1936 Pigeon Post - Ransome, Arthur - It was first medal that was awarded .
 The Carnegie Medal was established by The Library Association in 1936, in memory of the great Scottish-born philanthropist, Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919). Carnegie was a self-made industrialist who made his fortune in steel in the USA. His experience of using a library as a child led him to resolve that "if ever wealth came to me that it should be used to establish free libraries." Carnegie set up more than 2800 libraries across the English speaking world and, by the time of his death, over half the library authorities in Great Britain had Carnegie libraries.
The medal is now awarded by CILIP: the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, which is a new organisation formed by the Unification of the Institute of Information Scientists and The Library Association on 1 April 2002.
Website : carnegiegreenaway.org.uk
The Man Booker Prize
The Man Booker Prize represents the very best of contemporary fiction. One of the world´s most famous literary prizes, it continues to be the ultimate accolade for every fiction writer.
It has the power to transform the fortunes of authors, and even publishers. The 2002 winner, The Life of Pi by Yann Martel, reached number one in the bestseller lists, and remained in the lists for several months afterwards. The book´s independent publisher, Canongate, was voted Publisher of the Year partly on the strength of winning the prize. "I feel ecstatic. I feel exhilarated... I am absolutely delighted, this is a writer´s dream to win such a prestigious prize." Yann Martel, 2002 winner.
The Man Booker Prize is sponsored by the Man Group.
About Man Group
Man Group plc is a leading global provider of alternative investment products and solutions as well as one of the world´s largest futures brokers. The Group employs over 1,900 people in 15 countries, with key centres in London, Pfäffikon (Switzerland), Chicago, New York, Paris, Singapore and Sydney. The Man Group was established over 200 years ago as a broking business founded by James Man and was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1994.
Website: bookerprize.co.uk
Nobel Prize
Since 1901, the Nobel Prize has been awarded annually as per Alfred Nobel´s last will and testament. Nobel prize category are literature, physics, chemistry, peace, economics, or physiology & medicine.
Alfred Nobel (1833 - 1896) - Born in Stockholm, Sweden. He invented dynamite. Signed his final will and testament in Paris establishing the Nobel Prizes (November 27 1895). Alfred Nobel died on December 10 1896 of a brain hemorrhage at his home in San Remo, Italy.
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