National Book Award Winners Announced at Gala

Upon accepting the 2004 National Book Award for Fiction for her “The News of Paraguay” (HarperCollinsPublishers), Lilly Tuck said, “I’ve never been to Paraguay, nor do I intend to go.” The book, about the Irish mistress of a Paraguayan dictator, was an unexpected nominee and a surprise winner.“Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age,” by Kevin Boyle (Henry Holt) won the National Book Award for Nonfiction, despite stiff competition from David Hackett Fischer’s “Washington’s Crossing” (Oxford University Press) – and less stiff competition from the best-selling “The 9/11 Report” (W.W. Norton). “Arc of Justice” recounts the story of one man’s struggle in Detroit with racial prejudice in the 1920s.“The system of racial segregation is still largely in place, even in this city,” Mr. Boyle said, as he received the prize.His daughter, 11-year-old Abby Boyle, read a passage from the adolescent classic “Are You There God, It’s Me, Margaret?” to introduce Judy Blume. Ms. Blume was awarded the 2004 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. The honor came with a $10,000 purse.“Door in the Mountain: New and Collected Poems, 1965-2003” by Jean Valentine (Wesleyan University Press), received the Poetry Award. Pete Hautman won the award in Young People’s Literature for “Godless” (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers).At the 2004 National Book Awards gala at the Marriott Marquis last night, it was another case of activist judges reaping rewards for books overlooked by literary institutions. The fiction awards have been hotly debated since the finalists – five virtually unknown writers, all women from New York – were announced last month. Staff members of The New Yorker boycotted this year’s awards in apparent protest. Each winner received a $10,000 award along with a bronze statue.“I don’t classify states as red or blue, but as literary and non-literary,” said the incoming executive director of the National Book Foundation, Harold Augenbaum, as he introduced National Public Radio’s Garrison Keillor, who hosted the event.

National Book Award Winners Announced at Gala

National Book Award Winners Announced at Gala

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