See here for National Book Awards finalists announcement and bios of the Young People's and Nonfiction authors. Here are the Poetry and Fiction bios:

FINALISTS FOR THE 2002 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR POETRY

Harryette Mullen, Sleeping with the Dictionary (University of California Press)
Inspired by acrostics, anagrams, and puns; a "collaboration" with Roget's Thesaurus and the American Heritage Dictionary; and her own reflections on the politics of language, Harryette Mullen's alphabetically arranged poems stir new perspectives on the words we use.

Born in Florence, Alabama, and raised in Fort Worth, Texas, Harryette Mullen is Associate Professor of English and African American Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. Sleeping with the Dictionary is her fifth collection of poetry. She is also the author of Tree Tall Woman (1981), Trimmings (1991), S*PeRM**KT (1992), and Muse & Drudge (1995). A recipient of a Dobie-Paisano Fellowship from the Institute at the University of Rochester, and the Gertrude Stein Award for Innovative Poetry, she has taught in the Poets in the Schools Program in Texas, and serves on the faculty of Cave Canem, a workshop for African-American poets.

Sharon Olds, The Unswept Room (Alfred A. Knopf)
A new collection of poems from a distinguished poet, ranging from those erupting out of history and childhood, a new generation of children, the transformative power of marital love, and the shock when that love comes to an end.

Sharon Olds was born in San Francisco and educated at Stanford University and Columbia University, where she earned her PhD. Her books are Satan Says (1980), The Dead and the Living (1984), The Gold Cell (1991), The Wellspring (1995), The Father (1992), and Blood, Tin, Straw. (1999). Her poems appear frequently in The New Yorker and other magazines. She was the New York State Poet Laureate from 1998 to 2000. She teaches at New York University and the NYU Workshop Program at Goldwater Hospital for the severely physically disabled on Roosevelt Island.


Alberto Rios, The Smallest Muscle in the Human Body (Copper Canyon Press)
Set in a town that straddles the American/Mexican border, these poems are lyric adventures, crossing boundaries as they move between cultures, languages, and sensibilities. Drawing upon fable, parable, and family legend, Alberto Rios utilizes the imagination of childhood to reveal essential relationships.

Alberto Rios was born in Nogales, Arizona, on the Mexican border, in 1952. He studied at the University of Arizona, where he received a MFA in Creative Writing. His books include Capirotada: A Nogales Memoir (1999); The Curtain of Trees: Stories (1999); Pig Cookies and Other Stories (1995); Teodora Luna's Two Kisses: Poems (1990); The Lime Orchard Woman: Poems (1988); Five Indiscretions: A Book of Poems (1985); The Iguana Killer: Twelve Stories of the Heart (1984), and Whispering to Fool the Wind: Poems (1982). His poetry has been set to music in a cantata by James DeMars called "Toto's Say," and was also featured in the documentary Birthwrite: Growing Up Hispanic. Since 1982, he has taught at Arizona State University. He lives in Chandler, Arizona

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