2000 National Book Award Winners

The winners of the 2000 National Book Awards were announced November 15th, at a black-tie ceremony hosted by Steve Martin in New York City. In addition to awards presented in the fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and young people's categories, the Directors of the National Book Foundation presented a medal for "Distinguished Contribution to American Letters" to Ray Bradbury, who in his acceptance speech described writing his classic novel Fahrenheit 451 during a nine-day span in the basement of the UCLA library!

Following are a list of the winners and finalists for each category.

Fiction:
In America by Susan Sontag Winner!
The Feast of Love by Charles Baxter A Book Sense 76 Pick!
The Diagnosis by Alan Lightman A Book Sense 76 Pick!
Blonde by Joyce Carol Oates A Book Sense 76 Pick!
Blue Angel by Francine Prose A Book Sense 76 Pick!

Nonfiction:
In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick Winner!
From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life, 1500 to the Present by Jacques Barzun
The Collaborator: The Trial and Execution of Robert Brasillach by Alice Kaplan
W.E.B. DuBois: The Fight for Equality and the American Century, 1919-1963 by David Levering Lewis
Darkness in El Dorado: How Scientists and Journalists Devastated the Amazon by Patrick Tierney

Poetry:
Blessing the Boats: New and Selected Poems 1988-2000 by Lucille Clifton Winner!
Tell Me by Kim Addonizio
A New Selected Poems by Galway Kinnell
New Addresses: Poems by Kenneth Koch
The Other Lover by Bruce Smith

Young People's Literature:
Homeless Bird by Gloria Whelan Winner!
Forgotten Fire by Adam Bagdasarian
The Book of the Lion by Michael Cadnum
Many Stones by Carolyn Coman
Hurry Freedom! by Jerry Stanley