GalleyCat contributor and eBookNewser editor Dianna Dilworth will be covering the National Book Awards tonight at Cipriani Wall Street. Follow her coverage live on our GalleyCat Twitter feed and on this blog. Below, we’ve linked to free samples of all the National Book Awards finalists.

At the ceremony three years ago, this GalleyCat editor interviewed Sex and the City author Candace Bushnell, NBA finalist Salvatore Scibona, NBA executive director Harold Augenbraum and literary blogger Edward Champion about the Great Recession (video embedded above). The stock market had just plunged 400 points and writers gathered for the awards a few blocks from the New York Stock Exchange.

This year, the city is still divided over Occupy Wall Street eviction and readers around the country wonder about the future Occupy Wall Street library. It should make for an interesting evening.

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Yesterday the New York Public Library announced the five finalists for the 2010 Young Lions Fiction Award, a $10,000 prize awarded each annually to a writer under 35-years-old. In the video embedded above, GalleyCat caught up with last year’s prize winner, Salvatore Scibona.

After the jump, you can watch our interview with 2009 finalist Rivka Galchen. The five finalists for 2010 are:

Jedediah Berry for The Manual of Detection (The Penguin Press)
Katie Kitamura for The Longshot (Free Press)
Philipp Meyer for American Rust (Spiegel and Grau)
C.E. Morgan for All the Living (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Wells Tower for Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

Here’s more about the award: “Established in 2001, this annual award recognizes the work of young authors and celebrates their accomplishments publicly, making a difference in their lives as they continue to build their careers. The Young Lions Fiction Award was spearheaded by Young Lions Committee members Ethan Hawke, Jennifer Rudolph Walsh, Rick Moody, and Hannah McFarland.”

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Last night, ten authors received a $50,000 check from the Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation, part of the 25th annual Whiting Writers’ Awards. Since 1985, the philanthropic foundation has given emerging creative writers these grants. Previous winners have included: “Denis Johnson, Michael Cunningham, Alice McDermott, and Colson Whitehead. The complete list of winners follows after the jump.

GalleyCat was there, shooting video interviews with the winners and finding out more about Atwood’s recent foray into the world of Twitter. “It’s been quite a lot of fun. I can send out desperate tweets and 15 people will answer my question,” she explained after the ceremony. Twitter hadn’t corrupted her writing style, she concluded: “It’s a descendant of the telegram. Telegrams required succinctness because they charged by the word. It’s a message.”

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Ceridwen Dovey for “Blood Kin” (Viking, 2008), chosen by Rachel Kushner.
C. E. Morgan for “All the Living” (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2009), chosen by Christine Schutt.
Lydia Peelle for “Reasons for and Advantages of Breathing” (HarperCollins, 2009), chosen by Salvatore Scibona.
Karen Russell for “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves” (Vintage, 2006), chosen by Don Chaon.
Josh Weil for “The New Valley” (Grove Press, 2009), chosen by Lily Tuck.

The ’5 Under 35′ celebration will take place on November 16 at PowerHouse Arena in the DUMBO section of Brooklyn. Here’s more about the party: “That evening, each author will be introduced by the writer who selected them and will read a brief excerpt from their work to an audience of their peers: young writers, editors, publishers, agents, journalists and bloggers. This year’s emcee is musician, novelist and publisher Richard Hell, founder of the seminal punk band Richard Hell & the Voidoids. The evening’s DJ will be novelist, essayist, and MacArthur fellow Jonathan Lethem.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.