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THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF ARTS AND LETTERS
ANNOUNCES NEWLY ELECTED MEMBERS AND AWARD WINNERS

New York, NY, April 15, 2008 - The American Academy of Arts and Letters will hold its annual induction and award ceremony on Wednesday, May 21, 2008. Ezra Laderman, president of the Academy, will conduct the presentation of more than fifty awards in architecture, art, literature, and music (see complete list of award winners below). On behalf of the Academy, President Laderman stated, ''In its charge to identify those who have reached the highest level of artistic achievement, the Academy enthusiastically welcomes its new members.'' Secretary of the Academy, Richard Howard, will induct eight members into the 250-person organization: artists John Baldessari and Ursula von Rydingsvard; writers Kwame Anthony Appiah, Robert A. Caro, Stephen Greenblatt, Paul Muldoon, Calvin Trillin, and Joy Williams. Academician Wallace Shawn will deliver the Blashfield Foundation Address, titled The Unobtrusives. An exhibition of art, architecture, books, and manuscripts by new members and recipients of awards will be on view at the Academy's galleries from May 22 to June 15, 2008.

Newly Elected Members in Art


John Baldessari
Born in 1931.
Lives in California.

Ursula von Rydingsvard
Born in 1942.
Lives in New York.

Newly Elected Members in Literature


Kwame Anthony Appiah
Born in 1954.
Lives in New York and
New Jersey.

Robert A. Caro
Born in 1935.
Lives in New York.

Stephen Greenblatt
Born in 1943.
Lives in Massachusetts.

Paul Muldoon
Born in 1951.
Lives in New Jersey.

Calvin Trillin
Born in 1935.
Lives in New York.

Joy Williams
Born in 1944.
Lives in Arizona.

Newly Elected Members of the Academy

Art
John Baldessari
Ursula von Rydingsvard

Literature
Kwame Anthony Appiah
Robert A. Caro
Stephen Greenblatt
Paul Muldoon
Calvin Trillin
Joy Williams

Honorary Members

American Honorary Member
Yo-Yo Ma

Foreign Honorary Members
Louis Andriessen
Glenn Murcutt
Salman Rushdie

Award Recipients

Gold Medal for Architecture
given for an entire body of work
Richard Meier

Gold Medal for History
given for an entire body of work
Edmund S. Morgan

Award for Distinguished Service to the Arts
given for notable service to the arts
Judith Jamison

Award of Merit Medal for Sculpture
and $10,000 given to an outstanding sculptor
Charles Long

Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize in Architecture
$5000 given for a significant contribution to architecture as an art
Peter Zumthor

Charles Ives Opera Prize
$50,000 to the composer of a recently produced opera
Stephen Hartke

Awards in Architecture

Academy Awards in Architecture
$7500 given in recognition of work characterized by a strong personal direction
Neil Denari
Jim Jennings

$7500 given to acknowledge Americans who explore architecture through any medium of expression
James Carpenter
Kenneth Frampton

Awards in Art

Academy Awards in Art
$7500 to honor and encourage creative work
Llyn Foulkes, Eric Holzman, Judith Linhares
Gordon Moore, Susan Smith

Jimmy Ernst Award in Art
$5000 to an artist whose lifetime contribution to his or her vision has been consistent and dedicated
Mark Greenwold

Willard L. Metcalf Award in Art
$10,000 to honor a young artist of great promise
Anna Conway

Rosenthal Family Foundation Award for Painting
$5000 to a young painter of distinction
Marc Trujillo

Awards in Music

Academy Awards in Music
$7500 given to honor and encourage creative work
Virko Baley, Donal Fox
Pablo Ortiz, Anna Weesner

Walter Hinrichsen Award in Music
given for the publication of a work by a composer in mid-career
James Mobberley

Charles Ives Fellowships in Music
$15,000 given to young composers of extraordinary gifts
Kati Agócs
Kay Rhie

Charles Ives Scholarships in Music
$7500 given to composition students of great promise
Timothy Andres, Jacob Bancks
Ted Hearne, Andrew McPherson
John Christian Orfe, Kate Soper

Goddard Lieberson Fellowships in Music
$15,000 given to young composers of extraordinary gifts
James Matheson
Stephen Andrew Taylor

Richard Rodgers Awards in Musical Theater
given to provide financial support for stage readings
Alive at Ten by Kirsten A. Guenther and Ryan Scott Oliver
Kingdom by Aaron Jafferis and Ian Williams
See Rock City & Other Destinations by Brad Alexander and Adam Mathias

Awards in Literature

Academy Awards in Literature
$7500 given to honor and encourage creative work
Dan Chiasson, Brian Doyle, Rikki Ducornet
Will Eno, Edith Grossman, Fanny Howe
Richard Nelson, Mona Simpson

Michael Braude Award for Light Verse
$5000 given for light verse
Christopher Reid

Benjamin H. Danks Award in Literature
$20,000 to encourage a talented young writer
A. E. Stallings

E. M. Forster Award in Literature
$20,000 given to a young writer from the United Kingdom or Ireland for a stay in the United States
John Lanchester

Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction
$5000 given for the best published first novel or collection of stories of 2007
Frances Hwang, Transparency: Stories

Katherine Anne Porter Award in Literature
$20,000 to a prose writer for achievement and dedication
John Edgar Wideman

Arthur Rense Poetry Prize
$20,000 to an exceptional poet
Hayden Carruth

Rome Fellowships in Literature
given to young writers of exceptional promise for a year's residence at the American Academy in Rome
Brad Kessler
Dana Spiotta

Rosenthal Family Foundation Award for Literature
$5000 to a young writer for a work of fiction published in 2007
Richard Lange, Dead Boys: Stories

Mildred and Harold Strauss Livings
$50,000 a year for 5 years to two writers to devote their time exclusively to writing
William T. Vollmann
Madison Smartt Bell

Harold D. Vursell Memorial Award in Literature
$10,000 for a recent book in recognition of the quality of its prose
Maxine Swann, Flower Children

Morton Dauwen Zabel Award in Literature
$10,000 to a writer of progressive, original, and experimental tendencies
Ben Marcus

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