The American Academy of Arts and Letters announced the 17 writers who will receive its 2019 awards in literature, which will be presented in May at the academy's annual ceremonial in New York City. The prizes, totaling $220,000, honor both established and emerging writers of fiction, nonfiction, drama, and poetry. This year's winners are:
Award of Merit ($25,000 to an outstanding person representing the short story): Lydia Millet
Arts and Letters Awards in Literature ($10,000 each): Robert Alter, Marilyn Chin, Chris Hedges, Siri Hustvedt, Matthew Lopez, John McManus, Eileen Myles & Lauren Lee
Benjamin Hadley Danks Award ($20,000 to a young playwright): Heidi Schreck
E. M. Forster Award ($20,000 to a young writer from the U.K. or Ireland for a stay in the U.S.): Sally Rooney
Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction ($5,000 for a work of first fiction published in 2018): Jane Delury for The Balcony
Addison M. Metcalf Award ($10,000 to a young writer of great promise): Aracelis Girmay
Rosenthal Family Foundation Award ($10,000 to a young writer of considerable literary talent for a work published in 2018): Tommy Orange for There There
John Updike Award ($20,000 to a writer whose work has demonstrated consistent excellence): D.A. Powell
Harold D. Vursell Memorial Award ($20,000 to a writer whose work merits recognition for the quality of its prose style): John Keene
E. B. White Award ($10,000 to a writer for achievement in children's literature): Katherine Paterson