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William Dean Howells Medal

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The William Dean Howells Medal is awarded by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Established in 1925 and named for William Dean Howells, it is given once every five years, generally in recognition of the most distinguished American novel published during that period, although some awards have been made to novelists for their general body of work. The recipient of the award is chosen, by a committee drawn from the membership of the Academy, from among those candidates nominated by a member of the Academy.

Past winners

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Year Author Book
1925 Mary E. Wilkins Freeman
1930 Willa Cather Death Comes for the Archbishop
1935 Pearl S. Buck The Good Earth
1940 Ellen Glasgow
1945 Booth Tarkington
1950 William Faulkner
1955 Eudora Welty The Ponder Heart
1960 James Gould Cozzens By Love Possessed
1965 John Cheever The Wapshot Scandal
1970 William Styron The Confessions of Nat Turner
1975 Thomas Pynchon (declined) Gravity's Rainbow
1980 William Maxwell So Long, See You Tomorrow
1985 No award
1990 E. L. Doctorow Billy Bathgate
1995 John Updike Rabbit at Rest
2000 Don DeLillo Underworld
2005 Shirley Hazzard The Great Fire
2010 Peter Matthiessen Shadow Country
2015 William H. Gass Middle C
2020 Richard Powers The Overstory
[edit]
  • "The William Dean Howells Medal". www.artsandletters.org. American Academy of Arts and Letters. Retrieved 2015-05-08.
  • "Margaret Atwood named honorary member of arts academy". www.bnd.com. Belleville News-Democrat. 2015-05-06. Retrieved 2015-05-08.