Monday, December 1 --  Celebration of the Art of Fiction. Prominent members of New York's literary and publishing worlds will come together for the Annual Benefit and Awards Dinner of the Mercantile Library Center for Fiction, the only non-profit literary organization in the United States devoted entirely to fiction.  The 4th Maxwell E. Perkins Award will be presented by Jonathan Franzen to Farrar, Strauss & Giroux president Jonathan Galassi. The 2008 John Sargent Sr. First Novel Award will be presented by last year’s winner, Junot Díaz, to one of seven finalists attending the dinner. Benefit location: The New York Racquet and Tennis Club, 370 Park Avenue. Cocktails and auction at 6:30 p.m. Dinner and award presentations at 7:30 p.m.  Tickets from $500, tables at $5000, $7500, $10,000 and $25,000. Contact: Esther McGowan at (212) 755-6710 or by email at esther@mercantilelibrary.org.