The finalists for the National Book Award, honoring American writers, were announced last week. The complete list is as follows:

Fiction:
Peter Carey, "Parrot and Olivier in America"
Jaimy Gordon,"Lord of Misrule"
Nicole Krauss, "Great House"
Lionel Shriver, "So Much for That"
Karen Tei Yamashita, "I Hotel"

Nonfiction:
Barbara Demick, "Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea"
John W. Dower, >"Cultures of War: Pearl Harbor, Hiroshima, 9-11, Iraq"
Patti Smith, "Just Kids"
Justin Spring, "Secret Historian: The Life and Times of Samuel Steward"
Megan K. Stack, "Every Man in This Village Is a Liar: An Education in War"

Poetry:
Kathleen Graber, "The Eternal City"
Terrance Hayes, "Lighthead"
James Richardson, "By the Numbers"
C.D. Wright, "One with Others"
Monica Youn, "Ignatz"em>

Young People's Literature:
Paolo Bacigalupi, "Ship Breaker"
Kathryn Erskine, "Mockingbird"
Laura McNeal, "Dark Water"strong>
Walter Dean Myers, "Lockdown"
Rita Williams-Garcia, "One Crazy Summer"