NEW YORK, MARCH 15, 2024 – The American Academy of Arts and Letters announces the eighteen recipients of its 2024 Awards in Literature, totaling $305,000, to honor both established and emerging writers. The 300 members of Arts and Letters nominate candidates for awards, and a rotating committee of writers selects the winners. This year, the literature awards committee members were Mona Simpson (chair), Henri Cole, Elizabeth Kolbert, Caryl Phillips, and Yiyun Li. Amy Hempel and Joy Williams adjudicated the Sue Kaufman Prize and Rosenthal Family Foundation Award.
Given biennially since 2018, the Christopher Lightfoot Walker Award of $100,000 recognizes a writer who has made a significant contribution to American literature. This year, the award goes to Darryl Pinckney.
Each year, the awards committee selects eight writers in any genre to receive Arts and Letters Awards of $10,000 each to honor and encourage creative work. The 2024 recipients are: Luis Alfaro, Lan Samantha Chang, Ama Codjoe, Boris Dralyuk, Elisa Gonzalez, David George Haskell, Michelle Huneven, and Elizabeth McCracken.
The Katherine Anne Porter Award of $20,000, which is for a prose writer whose achievements and dedication to the literary profession have been demonstrated, goes to Gayl Jones. The Harold D. Vursell Memorial Award for exceptional prose style goes to Andrew Holleran.
Two Thornton Wilder Prizes for Translation of $10,000 each will be awarded to Charlotte Mandell and Michael F. Moore.
The Morton Dauwen Zabel Award of $10,000, for a critic of progressive, original, and experimental tendencies, goes to Jennifer Homans.
Arts and Letters will also recognize four young writers for outstanding achievements. Funded by the royalties of E. M. Forster’s Maurice, which were bequeathed to Arts and Letters by member Charles Isherwood, the E.M. Forster Award is given to writers from the United Kingdom or Ireland for a stay in the U.S. This year, two E.M. Forster Awards of $20,000 each will go to Cal Flyn and Chetna Maroo. The Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction of $5,000 goes to Taylor Koekkoek for Thrillville, USA. The Rosenthal Family Foundation Award of $10,000 for an exceptional novel published in the preceding year goes to Maya Binyam for Hangman.
The literature awards will be presented alongside the architecture, art, and music awards at Arts and Letters’s annual Ceremonial in May.
A list of the 2024 literature award recipients follows.
The American Academy of Arts and Letters is an honor society of artists, architects, composers, and writers who foster and sustain interest in the arts. Its 300 members distribute over $1.2 million in awards annually; fund concerts and new works of musical theater; purchase and commission contemporary art for donation to museums across the country; and present exhibitions, talks, and events for the public at our historic buildings in the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City.
To learn more about the American Academy of Arts and Letters, please visit artsandletters.org
Media Inquiries
Ashley Fedor
(212) 368-5900
afedor@artsandletters.org
Darryl Pinckney
Luis Alfaro, Lan Samantha Chang, Ama Codjoe, Boris Dralyuk, Elisa Gonzalez, David George Haskell, Michelle Huneven, Elizabeth McCracken
Cal Flyn, Chetna Maroo
Taylor Koekkoek for Thrillville, USA
Gayl Jones
Maya Binyam for Hangman
Andrew Holleran
Charlotte Mandell, Michael F. Moore
Jennifer Homans
For prior news announcements please write to info@artsandletters.org.