Finalists for book award

Biographies about tycoons Henry Ford and Cornelius Vanderbilt are among the finalists announced yesterday for the National Book Award, along with two books relating to Charles Darwin. The nonfiction nominees are Sean B. Carroll’s “Remarkable Creatures: Epic Adventures in the Search for the Origin of Species,’’ T.J. Stiles’s “The First Tycoon,’’ Greg Grandin’s “Fordlandia,’’ David M. Carroll’s “Following the Water,’’ and Adrienne Mayor’s “The Poison King.’’ The fiction nominees are Marcel Theroux’s “Far North,’’ Colum McCann’s “Let the Great World Spin,’’ Daniyal Mueenuddin’s “In Other Rooms, Other Wonders,’’ Jayne Anne Phillips’s “Lark & Termite,’’ and Bonnie Jo Campbell’s “American Salvage.’’ The young people’s literature finalists are Deborah Seligman’s “Charles and Emma: The Darwins’ Leap of Faith,’’ Phillip Hoose’s “Claudette Colvin,’’ David Small’s “Stitches,’’ Laini Taylor’s “Lips Touch,’’ and Rita Williams-Garcia’s “Jumped.’’ The poetry nominees are Rae Armantrout’s “Versed,’’ Ann Lauterbach’s “Or to Begin Again,’’ Carl Phillips’ “Speak Low,’’ Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon’s “Open Interval,’’ and Keith Waldrop’s “Transcendental Studies: A Trilogy.’’ The winners will be announced Nov. 18. (AP)