2009 National Book Award Nominees Announced

Biographies about tycoons Henry Ford and Cornelius Vanderbilt are among the finalists of the 2009 National Book Award announced on Wednesday. Also nominated are two books regarding Charles Darwin.

Surprisingly, five books out of the 20 chosen were published by small university presses. One such book is Bonnie Jo Campbell's story collection, "American Salvage," a paperback original released by Wayne State University Press, the publisher's first National Book Award nomination.

"We're very pleasantly surprised," said Wayne State Press director Jane Hoehner. "I don't think awards should just go to the big guns. There needs to be a combination, a willingness to look around and find talent."

Other fiction nominees include Colum McCann's "Let the Great World Spin," Daniyal Mueenuddin's book of stories "In Other Rooms, Other Wonders" and Jayne Anne Phillips' "Lark & Termite."

T.J. Stiles' "The First Tycoon" about the life of Cornelius Vanderbilt, and Greg Grandin's "Fordlandia," about Henry Ford's futile attempt to set up a colony in the Brazilian Amazon, are nonfiction nominees, along with Sean B. Carroll's "Remarkable Creatures" and Adrienne Mayor's "The Poison King."

Poetry nominees include Ann Lauterbach's "Or to Begin Again," Rae Armantrout's "Versed" and Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon's "Open Interval."

Young people's literature finalists include Phillip Hoose's "Claudette Colvin," David Small's graphic work "Stitches" and Laini Taylor's "Lips Touch."

Winners, each receiving $10,000 and a bronze statue, will be announced at the National Book Award's 60th anniversary gala dinner in New York on Nov. 18.