Lannan Literary Awards

The Lannan Literary Awards are a series of awards and literary fellowships given out in various fields by the Lannan Foundation. Established in 1989, the awards are meant "to honor both established and emerging writers whose work is of exceptional quality", according to the foundation.[1] The foundation's awards are lucrative relative to most awards in literature: the 2006 awards for poetry, fiction and nonfiction each came with $150,000 making them some of the richest literary prizes in the world.

The awards reflect the philosophy governing the Lannan Foundation, a family foundation that describes itself as "dedicated to cultural freedom, diversity and creativity through projects which support exceptional contemporary artists and writers, as well as inspired Native activists in rural indigenous communities."[2]

Awards have gone both to acclaimed and varied literary figures such as David Foster Wallace, William Gaddis, Lydia Davis, William H. Gass, Steve Erickson and W.S. Merwin, and also to those known as much for their public intellectual activities as for their literary talents, such as Barbara Ehrenreich and Edward Said. The foundation also gives out a "Cultural Freedom Prize" for the stated purpose of recognizing "people whose extraordinary and courageous work celebrates the human right to freedom of imagination, inquiry, and expression."[3] Prize winners include Robert Fisk, Eduardo Galeano, Claudia Andujar, Mahmoud Darwish, Arundhati Roy, Helen Caldicott and Cornel West.

The foundation does not accept applications for awards or fellowships. Candidates are suggested anonymously "by a network of writers, literary scholars, publishers, and editors", with the foundation's literary committee making the final determination.[1]

Lannan Literary Award for Poetry

Lannan Literary Award for Fiction

Lannan Literary Award for Nonfiction

Lannan Literary Award for An Especially Notable Book

  • 2008: Democracy Incorporated: Managed Democracy and the Specter of Inverted Totalitarianism, by Sheldon Wolin
  • 2008: Living with Darwin: Evolution, Design, and the Future of Faith, by Philip Kitcher
  • 2008: Black Mass: Apocalyptic Religion and the Death of Utopia, by John N. Gray
  • 2005: The New American Militarism: How Americans are Seduced by War, by Andrew J. Bacevich

Lannan Literary Fellowship

Lannan Lifetime Achievement Award

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lannan Foundation Web site, Web page titled "Literary Awards and Fellowships", accessed November 8, 2006.
  2. ↑ Lannan Foundation Web site, Web page titled "Welcome to Lannan Online", accessed November 8, 2006
  3. ↑ Lannan Foundation Web site, Web page titled "Cultural Freedom Prize", accessed November 8, 2006

External links