2002 National Book Awards Ceremony

A medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters was bestowed on novelist Philip Roth. The master of ceremonies was comedian, actor, and writer Steve Martin. The chair of each genre panel presented the award to each winner. Julia Glass received the Fiction award for Three Junes. published by Pantheon Books. Ruth Stone received the Poetry award for In the Next Galaxy, published by Copper Canyon Press. Nancy Farmer received the Young People’s Literature award for The House of the Scorpion, published by Antheneum Books for Young Readers Robert A. Caro received the Nonfiction prize for Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson, published by Knopf. The National Book Awards are sponsored by a consortium of book publishing groups to recognize American writers in the genres of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and young people’s literature. close