National Medal for Literature

Literary award

The National Medal for Literature was a literary award recognizing an individual for distinguished and continuing contributions to American letters. First presented to Thornton Wilder by Lady Bird Johnson at a White House ceremony in 1965,[1] the award consisted of a cash prize of $15,000 and a bronze medal.[2]

The National Medal for Literature was established by the National Book Committee, a nonprofit society; other sponsors included the National Institute of Arts and Letters (1975–77), and the New York Public Library (1978, 1984).[3] The National Medal for Literature was typically presented as part of the National Book Awards, renamed the American Book Awards during the 1980s.[4]

The medal was not presented for 1974–75, nor 1982–83.[3] After a brief hiatus, the prize was effectively replaced in 1988 with the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, awarded by the National Book Foundation.

Medalists

  • Thornton Wilder (1965)
  • Edmund Wilson (1966)
  • W.H. Auden (1967)
  • Marianne Moore (1968)
  • Conrad Aiken (1969)
  • Robert Penn Warren (1970)
  • E. B. White (1971)
  • Lewis Mumford (1972)
  • Vladimir Nabokov (1973)
  • Allen Tate (1976)
  • Robert Lowell (1977)
  • Archibald MacLeish (1978)
  • Eudora Welty (1979)
  • Kenneth Burke (1980)
  • John Cheever (1981)
  • Mary McCarthy (1984)

See also

References

  1. ^ McDowell, Edwin. "American Book Awards are given for 22 works" New York Times May 1, 1981.
  2. ^ "Mary McCarthy Wins Medal for Literature" New York Times April 10, 1984.
  3. ^ a b National Medal for Literature in The Oxford Companion to American Literature
  4. ^ Fehrman, Craig. "Guilty Parties" New York Times Book Review October 30, 2011.
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