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Penguin Group USA would like to congratulate Viking's, Ann Lauterbach, author of Or to Begin Again, a 2009 National Book Award Finalist in the Poetry division.

via www.nationalbook.org:

New York, NY (October 14, 2009) -The 20 Finalists for the 2009 National Book Awards were announced today, representing a diverse group of authors of varied background, writing style, setting, and theme. Judges recognized both well-known and lesser-known writers, including one debut fiction writer, three previous National Book Award Finalists, and only the second graphic novel chosen as a Finalist in the Awards' history.

Giving the Fiction list an international flavor, Finalists include Daniyal Mueenuddin, who splits his time between the United States and Pakistan, the Irish-born writer Colum McCann, and Marcel Theroux, who was born in Uganda, lives in London, and is the son of 1981 and 1983 National Book Award Finalist Paul Theroux. This is the third nomination for poet Carl Phillips, a Finalist in 1998 and 2004, the second for poet Keith Waldrop, a Finalist in 1969, and the second for Young People's Literature author Phillip Hoose, a Finalist in 2001. The nonfiction list includes biographies of Cornelius Vanderbilt and Mithradates and two books on the natural environment. For its Young People's Literature list, the judges broke with fiction's recent dominance by selecting two nonfiction books, the autobiographical graphic novel Stitches, and two works of fiction.

The Winner in each category - Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry and Young People's Literature - will be announced at the 60th National Book Awards Benefit Dinner and Ceremony at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City on Wednesday, November 18. Satirist, comedian, and actor Andy Borowitz will emcee the event. Each Winner will receive $10,000 and a bronze statue; each Finalist will receive a bronze medal and $1,000. The dinner and ceremony are chaired this year by Hyatt Bass, Morgan Entrekin, Lynn Nesbit, and Shelley Wanger. Gore Vidal will receive the National Book Foundation's Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, to be presented by actress Joanne Woodward. The Foundation's Literarian Award for Outstanding Contribution to the American Literary Community will go to Dave Eggers, to be presented by novelist Samantha Hunt.

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 the National Book Foundation, which organizes the Awards program, and their deliberations are strictly confidential. To be eligible for a 2009 National Book Award, a book must have been published in the United States between December 1, 2008 and November 30, 2009 and must have been written by a United States citizen.

"It's an intriguing year of National Book Award Finalists, a good mix of well-known and lesser known writers," said Harold Augenbraum, the National Book Foundation's executive director.

This year the Foundation will also celebrate its six-decade history of honoring great books by highlighting the 77 Fiction books that received the National Book Award from 1950 to 2008. The Best of the National Book Awards Fiction included a daily blog page on each one of the 77 Winning books in Fiction and the opportunity for the public to vote online for their favorite National Book Award Winning-Fiction book from a short-list that including Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow (1974).

The invitation-only gala awards ceremony marks the culminating event of National Book Awards Week, which includes: 5 Under 35, the Foundation's celebration of emerging fiction writers selected by four National Book Award Finalists and one National Book Award Winner, which will take place at powerHouse Arena in DUMBO, Brooklyn on the evening of November 16; The National Book Awards Teen Press Conference, which will feature all five Young People's Literature Finalists on the morning of November 17 at The Celeste Bartos Forum of The New York Public; the five winners of the Foundation's first Innovations in Reading Prize, who have flown in from all over the country (as far away as Hawai'i) and who will gather for a luncheon at The Ford Foundation in the afternoon on November 17; and the National Book Award Finalists Reading at The New School on the evening of November 17.