The Neustadt International Prize for Literature is a biennial award for literature sponsored by the University of Oklahoma and its international literary publication, World Literature Today. It is widely considered to be the most prestigious international literary prize after the Nobel Prize in Literature.[1] Like the Nobel, it is awarded not for any one work, but for an entire body of work.
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The Neustadt International Prize for Literature was established as the Books Abroad International Prize for Literature in 1969 by Ivar Ivask, editor of Books Abroad. It was subsequently renamed the Books Abroad/Neustadt Prize, and the award assumed its present name in 1976. It is the first international literary award of this scope to originate in the United States and is one of the very few international prizes for which poets, novelists, and playwrights are equally eligible.[2]
The Prize itself presently consists of a silver eagle feather, a certificate and $50,000 USD. The endowment from Walter and Doris Neustadt of Ardmore, Oklahoma ensures the award in perpetuity.[3]
The charter of the Neustadt Prize stipulates that the award be given in recognition of outstanding achievement in poetry, fiction, or drama and that it be conferred solely on the basis of literary merit. Any living author writing in any language is eligible, provided only that at least a representative portion of his or her work is available in English, the language used during the jury deliberations. The prize may serve to crown a lifetime's achievement or to direct attention to an important body of work that is still developing. The prize is not open to application.[4]
Candidates are selected by a jury of at least seven members. Selection is not limited by geographic area, language or genre.
The Neustadt International Prize for Literature is the only international literary award of this scope to originate in the United States. It is also one of few international prizes for which poets, novelists and playwrights alike are equally eligible.
| Year | Name | Country | Language(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | Giuseppe Ungaretti | Italy | Italian |
| 1972 | Gabriel García Márquez | Colombia | Spanish |
| 1974 | Francis Ponge | France | French |
| 1976 | Elizabeth Bishop | United States | English |
| 1978 | Czesław Miłosz | Poland | Polish |
| 1980 | Josef Škvorecký | Czechoslovakia/ Canada | Czech |
| 1982 | Octavio Paz | Mexico | Spanish |
| 1984 | Paavo Haavikko | Finland | Finnish |
| 1986 | Max Frisch | Switzerland | German |
| 1988 | Raja Rao | India/ United States | English |
| 1990 | Tomas Tranströmer | Sweden | Swedish |
| 1992 | João Cabral de Melo Neto | Brazil | Portuguese |
| 1994 | Edward Kamau Brathwaite | Barbados | English |
| 1996 | Assia Djebar | Algeria | French |
| 1998 | Nuruddin Farah | Somalia | English |
| 2000 | David Malouf | Australia | English |
| 2002 | Álvaro Mutis | Colombia | Spanish |
| 2004 | Adam Zagajewski | Poland | Polish |
| 2006 | Claribel Alegría | Nicaragua/ El Salvador | Spanish |
| 2008 | Patricia Grace | New Zealand | English |
| 2010 | Duo Duo | China | Chinese |
| 2012 | Rohinton Mistry | India/ Canada | English |