Television and radio host Faith Salie hosted the 63rd annual National Book Awards. The National Book Foundation presented The Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters to author Elmore Leonard and The Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community to Arthur Sulzberger, Jr. chairman, CEO, and publisher of the New York Times. Finalists in the non-fiction category were Anne Applebaum, Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1945-1956, Katherine Boo, Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity, Robert Caro, The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Domingo Martinez, The Boy Kings of Texas: A Memoir, and Anthony Shadid, House of Stone: A Memoir of Home, Family, and a Lost Middle East. Prior to the awards ceremony, several of the evening’s participants gave interviews, including the non-fiction finalists. The event took place at Cipriani in New York City.