Mr. Boyden's triumph prompted the now-obligatory standing ovation by the invitation-only black-tie crowd of 500. Earlier in the evening, they'd dined on slow-roasted beef tenderloin and mustard seed spatzle, with bitter-chocolate mousse for dessert. The founder of the feast was Toronto businessman Jack Rabinovitch, who started the prize in 1994 to honour his late wife, journalist Doris Giller, then in 2005 brought Scotiabank aboard as corporate sponsor.

Among Mr. Rabinovitch's guests last night were former Ontario premiers William Davis and David Peterson, broadcaster Moses Znaimer, former Toronto mayor David Crombie, dancer Rex Harrington, lawyer Clayton Ruby, Indigo Books and Music head Heather Reisman, super-agent Michael Levine and, of course, the three Giller jurors. They read 95 books submitted by more than 35 publishers and released between Oct. 12, 2007, and Sept. 30 this year. A long list of 15 titles was announced in early September.

Boyd was the winner of the $1,000 Lampert award for his book "Making Bones Walk" (Luna Publications), which the judges said was "rich with innovative language and Boyd's very original way of looking at the world."

The Lampert award recognizes the best first book of poetry published by a Canadian in the preceding year. Lampert was an arts administrator who organized authors' tours and took an interest in the work of new writers.

Simpson won the $1,000 Lowther award for "Quick" (McClelland & Stewart). The judges said her poems have "extraordinary range, intelligence and empathy."

"Life is full of surprises, isn't it?" said Blaser as he took the podium. "Vive la poesie. Long live poetry."

The prize was founded in 2000, and is awarded to two books of poetry - including translations - published in English the previous year. The two other finalists on the Canadian shortlist were David W. McFadden for Why Are You So Sad? Selected Poems of David W. McFadden; Erin Moure and Robert Majzels for translating Nicole Brossard's Notebook of Roses and Civilization. The three other finalists on the International shortlist were Elaine Equi for Ripple Effect: New and Selected Poems; David Harsent for Selected Poems 1969-2005; Clayton Eshleman, translator of The Complete Poetry of Cesar Vallejo.

This year's jury was comprised of Vanouver writer George Bowering, New York-by-way-of-London writer James Lasdun, and Mexican poet Pura Lopez Colome. The judges read over 500 books from 31 countries before deciding the finalists.

• Cover Art: New Socks by Bob Shea
• Illustration: Bow Wow Bugs a Bug by Mark Newgarden and Megan Montague Cash
• Story: Five Little Gefiltes by Dave Horowitz
• Best Weird-Ass Picture Book: Cowboy and Octopus by Jon Scieszka, illustrated by Lane Smith

Gary Snyder, a poet known for his verse about nature and spirituality and a former member of the beat movement along with Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac, has won the $100,000 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, awarded annually by the Chicago-based Poetry Foundation. "Gary Snyder is in essence a contemporary devotional poet, though he is not devoted to any one god or way of being so much as to Being itself," Christian Wiman, chair of the selection committee, said in a statement Tuesday.

"His poetry is a testament to the sacredness of the natural world and our relation to it, and a prophecy of what we stand to lose if we forget that relation." Snyder, who turns 78 in May, has published such collections as "Regarding Wave," "No Nature" and "Turtle Island," winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1975.

Dylan, the most acclaimed and influential songwriter of the past half century, who more than anyone brought rock from the streets to the lecture hall, received an honorary Pulitzer Prize on Monday, cited for his "profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power."

It was the first time Pulitzer judges, who have long favoured classical music, and, more recently, jazz, awarded an art form once dismissed as barbaric, even subversive. "I am in disbelief," Dylan fan and fellow Pulitzer winner Junot Diaz said of Dylan's award. Diaz's "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao," a tragic, but humorous story of desire, politics and violence among Dominicans at home and in the United States, won the fiction prize. Diaz, 39, worked for more than a decade on his first novel - "I spent most of the time on dead-ends and doubts," he told The Associated Press on Monday - and at one point included a section about Dylan.

"Bob Dylan was a problem for me," Diaz, who has also published a story collection, "Drown," said with a laugh. "I had one part that was 40 pages long, the entire chapter was organized around Bob Dylan's lyrics over a two year-period (1967-69). By the end of it, I wanted to throttle my like of Bob Dylan."

The first Quills event took place in October 2005 to celebrate the best in book publishing while promoting the cause of literacy in the U.S. Former Variety publisher Gerry Byrne chaired the Quills Literacy Foundation, which was overseen by an Advisory board made up of 40 members of the publishing and media community.

"To help create a program to celebrate the written word was a privilege," says Byrne. "Thank you to all my colleagues at Reed, NBC and throughout the book publishing world for their support." Acting as Partner, NBC televised the annual black tie awards ceremony on the owned and operated stations and affiliates. As part of the dissolution of the Quills, the remaining Foundation funds will be distributed to First Book and to Literacy Partners.

"The Quill Awards have truly helped us advance the cause of literacy for the hardest to reach children in our country, helping to give them the skills and resources they need for a hopeful and successful future," said Kyle Zimmer, First Book President. "First Book is tremendously grateful to the Quills Literacy Foundation; their legacy will live on through their generous contribution as we continue to provide beautiful, new books to the children who need them the most."

"On behalf of Reed Business Information, we wish to thank our publishing colleagues, including the publishing houses, booksellers, librarians and our sponsors for their support of the Quill Awards program," said William McGorry, Quills Director.

Like You'd Understand, Anyway, Shepard's third short story collection, encompasses eleven narratives, each set in a different time and place, including: the Soviet Union in the aftermath of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, an outpost in Britannia in the late Roman empire, a Nazi expedition in Tibet, high-school-football-mad contemporary Texas, an 1840 expedition to the center of Australia, ancient Greece at the battle of Marathon, and Paris during the reign of terror that followed the French Revolution. Previous collections have featured similarly diverse settings and characters, meticulously researched and convincingly portrayed.

Janice N. Harrington's "Even the Hollow My Body Made Is Gone," a debut collection, received the $10,000 Kate Tufts Discovery Award.

Administered by Claremont Graduate University, based in Claremont, Calif., the awards were established in the early 1990s by Kate Tufts in honor of her late husband, poet Kingsley Tufts. Previous winners include Alan Shapiro, Carl Phillips and Michael Ryan.

"Saul Friedlander gave a voice to the grievances and cries of those human beings who were turned to dust _ he gave them memory and a name," the German Book Trade association said in awarding Friedlander its 2007 peace prize. "The acknowledgment of human dignity forms the basis for peace among mankind, and Saul Friedlander returned to the murdered millions the dignity of which they had been robbed," it said.

Friedlander, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, was awarded the $35,500 peace prize on the final day of the annual book fair in a ceremony at Frankfurt's St. Paul's Church. Among Friedlander's best-known works is his two-volume collection "The Third Reich and the Jews." "Friedlander is one of the last historiographers to have witnessed and experienced the Holocaust _ a genocide that was announced early on, planned openly and carried out with machinelike precision," the association said. "Friedlander rejects the distanced approach often associated with the writing of history: He creates a space for incomprehensibility _ the only possible reaction to such an unfathomable crime."

"I've never gotten a financial award like that in my life," Eggers said Tuesday, calling from an airport in Los Angeles before catching a flight home to San Francisco. Eggers is one of six Americans to receive this year's awards, presented in five categories by the foundation. His category is Arts and Humanities. "Dave Eggers is not only an accomplished and versatile man of letters but the protagonist of a real-life story of generosity and inspiration," said Teresa Heinz in a written statement.

The author of the best-selling memoir "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius" (2000), Eggers found out about a month ago that he'd won the award, which honors the late Sen. John Heinz (R-Penn.). Heinz's widow, Teresa, called to tell him he'd won, which he said was "surreal." Not for a moment, though, did he give even a passing thought to spending the money on himself. The 826 laboratories, which help inner-city youth with writing skills, are now nationwide. The seventh, in Boston, opens this fall and until now, only had $12,000 in start-up funds.

Winning the award is "validation for the work we're doing at 826," Eggers said simply. And, he added, "It's a relief." Eggers said he's been feeling guilty for the last few years because he was unable to personally give money to the 826 Valencia projects. "It's been eating away at me for a couple of years. It's embarrassing. I felt like a father who can't feed his kids."

The honors were announced Monday by the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization that presents the National Book Awards, now in their 58th year. "Both women are fearless in their questioning and their insights on the page and on the air have informed our understanding of America and of America's writers for decades," foundation executive director Harold Augenbraum said in a statement.

Kudos were presented to the composers and songwriters of the top box office film music and the most performed television music of 2006. Film nods went to Jon Brion, Erran Baron Cohen, Chris Cornell, Ramin Djawadi, Paul Westerberg, Michael Giacchino, Rupert Gregson-Williams, Andrea Guerra, Mark Isham, Henry Mancini, Randy Newman, Douglas Pipes, John Powell, Howard Shore, Alan Silvestri and Hans Zimmer.

TV gongs went to J.J. Abrams, Giacchino, John Adair, Paul Bessenbacher, Lee Aronsohn, Grant Geissman, Sean Callery, Jeff Cardoni, Adam Cohen, Steve Franks, John Robert Wood, Lisa Coleman, Wendy Melvoin, Catherine Dennis, Julian Gingell, Barry Stone, Rob Duncan, Marc Fantini, Steffan Fantini, Scott Gordon, Elizabeth Fraser, Matthew Gerrard, Robbie Nevil, Alex Greenwald, Jason Schwartzman, Matthew Hawkins, Maurice "M.O." Jackson, Neil Martin, Reinhold Heil, Johnny Klimek, John Keane, Russ Landau, David Vanacore, Michael Levine, Franz Vonlichten, Helmut Vonlichten, Richard Markmann, Daniel Pinnella, Daniel McGrath, Josh Phillips, Blake Neely, Newman, David Porter and Mark T. Williams.

Drawing honors for most performed TV themes were Joel Beckerman, Michael Karp, Russ Landau, Branford Marsalis and Vanacore. Most performed underscore nods went to Callery, Landau, David Nichtern, Mark Snow and David Vana.

Marissa Jaret Winokur performed "Good Morning, Baltimore" from the musical "Hairspray" to honor Shaiman. He accompanied her on piano and then performed "Fifty Checks," from his new musical, "Catch Me if You Can."

"To my mind, Saul Bellow and William Faulkner form the backbone of 20th-century American literature," Roth said in a statement given to The Associated Press. "The initial selection of Philip Roth sets a very high standard and bodes well for the establishment of this prize as one of the pre-eminent awards of American literature," historian and recent PEN American president Ron Chernow said in a statement issued by the U.S. center for the international writers organization.

The Bellow prize, to be officially announced Monday, was conceived during Chernow's time as PEN president, a one-year term that ended in March. He declined to seek re-election, citing personal reasons, and has been succeeded by author Francine Prose. The 74-year-old Roth, known for such novels as "Portnoy's Complaint" and "American Pastoral," has won the Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle prize. He recently became the first three-time winner of the PEN/Faulkner prize, chosen for "Everyman," a novel about illness and mortality inspired in part by the death of Bellow, in April 2005.

*****

"I make this claim not only because of my admiration for its astonishing literary properties but because it has had the widest influence of any book from that period on any number of excellent novelists, not only in America but throughout the English-speaking world. How could I be anything but thrilled to receive an award bearing Saul Bellow's name?"

The National Book Foundation, presenter of the National Book Awards, will bestow its 2006 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters on Adrienne Rich in recognition of her incomparable influence and achievement as a poet and essayist. For more than fifty years, her eloquent and visionary writings have shaped the world of poetry as well as feminist and political thought. She won the National Book Award in 1974. Poet Mark Doty will present the Medal at the 57th National Book Awards Ceremony and Benefit Dinner in New York City on Wednesday, November 15. The evening will be hosted by writer and humorist Fran Lebowitz.

Also that evening, the National Book Foundation will award Robert Silvers and, posthumously, Barbara Epstein, co-founders of The New York Review of Books, with The Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community. This award recognizes the important contributions they have made – through The New York Review – to the serious discussion of books for more than forty years. David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker, will present the Award.

In making the announcements, Harold Augenbraum, executive director of the Foundation, said, "Adrienne Rich, Robert Silvers, and Barbara Epstein have been major forces in the literary world for decades, mavericks and visionaries who have held all of us who love books and writing to the highest possible standard. They remind us that books have the power to enrich our world. Our Board of Directors is honored that they will accept these awards."

This is the second year that the National Book Foundation has presented the Literarian Award, which was established to recognize individuals whose life’s work has enhanced the literary world as a whole (Lawrence Ferlinghetti was the 2005 recipient). "With The New York Review of Books, Robert Silvers and Barbara Epstein raised book reviewing to an art and made the discussion of books a lively, provocative and intellectual activity," said Augenbraum. "From Mary McCarthy and Edmund Wilson to Gore Vidal and Joan Didion, The New York Review of Books has consistently employed the liveliest minds in America to think about, write about, and debate books and the issues they raise." Robert Silvers will accept the award on behalf of himself and Epstein, who died earlier this year.

The fellowships, often referred to as "the genius awards," recognize people in a broad range of disciplines who show exceptional creativity and the potential for continued innovative work.

Each award provides $500,000 over five years and comes with no stipulations, allowing each fellow to use the money as he or she sees fit. No one may apply for the MacArthur Fellowships. Each year the foundation chooses several hundred people from diverse fields who serve anonymously as nominators. A 12-member selection committee then recommends final candidates to the foundation's Board of Directors.

David Carroll, 64, author and illustrator, Warner, N.H. He has written several books on the ecology of New England's deciduous hardwood forests and wetland habitats, providing detailed descriptions of creatures that live in swamps, bogs, and other areas threatened by human development.

Adrian LeBlanc, 42, narrative journalist, New York. She specializes in "immersion reporting," spending 10 years with a family in the Bronx before she wrote Random Family: Love, Drugs, Trouble and Coming of Age in the Bronx, which was published in 2003.

David Macaulay, 59, author and illustrator, Norwich, Vt. His illustrated books on architecture, engineering, and other disciplines "demystify the workings and origins of objects as mundane as a stapler and as monumental as a cathedral."

Sarah Ruhl, 32, playwright, New York. Her works include "Passion Play: A Cycle," in which she traces the politics of religion from the Elizabethan Age to modern times, and "Orlando," an adaptation of the novel by Virginia Woolf.

George Saunders, 47, professor of creative writing, Syracuse University, N.Y. His short-story collections combine seemingly discordant elements, including satire, surrealism, and colloquial language.

The Quill Awards pair a populist sensibility with Hollywood-style glitz and have become the first literary prizes to reflect the tastes of the group that matters most in publishing-readers. The Quills, an initiative launched with the support of Reed Business Information, is designed to be an industry qualified "consumers choice" awards program for books, honoring the current titles readers deem most entertaining and enlightening.

The Quills celebrates the best books of the year in nineteen popular categories, ranging from romance to biography to graphic novels. The Quill Awards were established to:

Celebrate excellence in writing and publishing

Recognize and praise the creators of important books and great literature

Interest more consumers in acquiring books and reading

Act as a bellwether for literacy initiatives

NOVEL

Camouflage, Joe Haldeman (Analog; Ace Books)

NOVELLA

Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link (Magic for Beginners Small Beer Press; F&SF Sep 2005)

NOVELETTE

The Faery Handbag by Kelly Link (The Faery Reel Viking; ed. Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling)

SHORT STORY

"I Live With You", Carol Emshwiller (F&SF Mar 2005)

SCRIPT

Serenity by Joss Whedon

ANDRE NORTON AWARD

Valiant: A Modern Tale of Faerie by Holly Black (Simon & Schuster)