Richard Ford Wins Library of Congress American Fiction Prize

Richard Ford
(photo: Greta Rybus)

Richard Ford has won the 2019 Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction, which honors an American literary writer "whose body of work is distinguished not only for its mastery of the art but also for its originality of thought and imagination. The award seeks to commend strong, unique, enduring voices that--throughout long, consistently accomplished careers--have told us something new about the American experience."

Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden selected Ford as this year's winner based on nominations from more than 60 distinguished literary figures, including former winners of the prize, acclaimed authors and literary critics from around the world. The prize ceremony will take place August 31, during the National Book Festival at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C.

"He has been called our Babe Ruth of novelists, and there is good reason why,” said Hayden. "He is quintessentially American, profoundly humane, meticulous in his craft, daring on the field, and he hits it consistently out of the park. We are proud to confer the Library's lifetime award for fiction on this luminous storyteller--one of the most eloquent writers of his generation--Richard Ford."

Ford commented: "The good fortune of being given this prize--even apart from its private encouragement--is to be allowed to participate in what I've always taken to be the Library's great achievement: to encourage literacy, to advocate for the primacy of the literary arts and to draw closer to the needs of readers. The Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction makes me feel--accurately or not--what most novelists would like to feel, which is useful to our country's conversation with the world."

Ford has published seven novels, including The Sportswriter, Independence Day (winner in 1995 of the PEN/Faulkner Award and Pulitzer Prize for Fiction), Wildlife and Canada; three short story collections as well as a bestselling novella collection (Let Me Be Frank with You); and a memoir, Between Them: Remembering My Parents. Among his many honors are the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Fiction, the Siegfried Lenz Prize, the Premio la Lettura, the Princess of Asturias Award for Literature, the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Award for fiction and the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in the Short Story.

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