American Academy of Arts and Letters
Thirteen writers received awards in literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Fiction writer Lydia Millet of Tucson received the $25,000 Award of Merit, given in alternating years to a writer or artist; this year the award was given to a short story writer. Fiction writer Sally Rooney of Dublin, Ireland, received the $20,000 E. M. Forster Award, given annually to a young writer from the United Kingdom or Ireland for a stay in the United States; Paul Muldoon and Colm Tóibín judged. Poet D. A. Powell of San Francisco received the $20,000 John Updike Award, given biennially to a writer whose work has “demonstrated consistent excellence.” Poet and prose writer John Keene of Newark, New Jersey, received the $20,000 Harold D. Vursell Memorial Award, given annually to a writer whose work “merits recognition for the quality of its prose style.” Poet Aracelis Girmay of New York City won the $10,000 Addison M. Metcalf Award, given biennially to a “young writer of great promise.” Tommy Orange of Angels Camp, California, won the $10,000 Rosenthal Family Foundation Award for his novel, There There (Knopf). The annual award is given to a “young writer of considerable literary talent” who has published a book during the previous year. Arts and Letters Awards in Literature were given to poets Marilyn Chin of San Diego and Eileen Myles of Marfa, Texas, and New York City; fiction writer John McManus of Norfolk, Virginia; fiction and nonfiction writer Siri Hustvedt of New York City; nonfiction writer Chris Hedges of Princeton, New Jersey; and translator and nonfiction writer Robert Alter of Berkeley, California. They each received $10,000. The annual awards are given to poets, fiction writers, nonfiction writers, and translators to “honor exceptional accomplishment” in literature. Jane Delury of Baltimore received the $5,000 Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction for her novel, The Balcony (Little, Brown). The annual award honors a debut book of fiction published in the previous year. The awards are given by members of the Academy; this year’s selection committee members were Henri Cole, John Guare, Amy Hempel, Jayne Anne Phillips, and Joy Williams. There is no application process. American Academy of Arts and Letters, 633 West 155th Street, New York, NY 10032. (212) 368-5900.
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