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

Judy Pfaff	Tod Williams	T. Coraghessan Boyle
Jorie Graham	Yusef Komunyakaa	Richard Price
Stephen Hartke	Frederic Rzewski	Augusta Read Thomas
Photo credits: T. Coraghessen Boyle ©Miles Boyle Stephen Hartke ©Robert Millard Judy Pfaff ©Dorothy Alexander Yusef Komunyakaa ©Nancy Crampton Richard Price ©Ralph Gibson

New York, April 14, 2009 – The American Academy of Arts and Letters will hold its annual induction and award ceremony on Wednesday, May 20, 2009.  J. D. McClatchy, 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 McClatchy stated, “The Academy is proud to welcome to its ranks these distinguished new members. It’s an eclectic group of exceptional individuals—each a pioneer of the imagination and an artist of resplendent gifts and achievements.” 

Secretary of the Academy, Rosanna Warren, will induct nine members into the 250-person organization: artist Judy Pfaff and architect Tod Williams; writers T. Coraghessan Boyle, Jorie Graham, Yusef Komunyakaa, and Richard Price; composers Stephen Hartke, Frederic Rzewski, and Augusta Read Thomas.

Academician Louise Glück will deliver the Blashfield Foundation Address, titled “American Originality.” 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 21 to June 14, 2009.

Newly Elected Members of the Academy

Writer T. Coraghessan Boyle was born in Peekskill, New York, in 1948. He was educated at the State University of New York at Potsdam and the University of Iowa.  He currently lives in California and is Professor of English at the University of Southern California.  His current works include The Women, Talk Talk, and Tooth and Claw.

Writer Jorie Graham was born in New York, New York, in 1950 and was educated at New York University, Columbia University, and the University of Iowa.  She lives in Massachusetts and is the Boylston Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory at Harvard University.  Her book of poems, The Dream of the Unified Field: Selected Poems 1974-1994 won the 1996 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. Her recent work includes Sea Change, and Overlord.

Composer Stephen Hartke was born in Orange, New Jersey, in 1952.  He was educated at Yale University, University of Pennsylvania, and the University of California at Santa Barbara.  He is the Distinguished Professor of Theory and Composition at the Thornton School of Music of the University of Southern California.  He has received commissions from the New York Philharmonic, the Los Angles Chamber Orchestra, and the National Symphony Orchestra.

Writer Yusef Komunyakaa was born in Bogalusa, Louisiana, in 1947 and was educated at the University of Colorado, Colorado State University, and the University of California, Irvine. He lives in New York and is the Distinguished Senior Poet and Professor in Graduate Writing at New York University.  His collection Neon Vernacular:  New and Selected Poems won the 1994 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry.  His recent work includes Taboo: The Wishbone Trilogy, Part I and Pleasure Dome: New and Collected Poems.

Artist Judy Pfaff was born in London, England, in 1946. She was educated at Wayne State University, Southern Illinois University, Washington University, and Yale University.  She resides in New York and is the co-chair of the Art Department at Bard College.  She is represented by Ameringer Yohe Fine Art in New York. Her work has been exhibited in many museums including the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Butler Institute of American Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Cleveland, and the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art at SUNY New Paltz.

Writer Richard Price was born in New York, New York, in 1949 and was educated at Cornell University College of Industrial and Labor Relations and Columbia University.  He has taught at Columbia University, Yale University, and New York University.  He currently lives in New York.  His screenplays include Clockers, Sea of Love, and The Color of Money.  His recent fiction includes Lush Life, Samaritan, and Freedomland.

Composer Frederic Rzewski was born in Westfield, Massachusetts, in 1938 and was educated at Harvard College and Princeton University.  He has taught composition at universities around the world, and has been Professor of Composition at the Conservatoire Royal de Musique in Liege, Belgium, since 1977.  His principal works include Nanosonatas and Cadenza con o senza Beethoven.

Composer Augusta Read Thomas was born in Glen Cove, New York, in 1964. She was educated at Northwestern University, Yale University, and the Royal Academy of Music. She currently resides in Chicago. She has taught at the Eastman School of Music and Northwestern University School of Music.  Her orchestral work includes AbsoluteOcean, Astral Canticle, and Helios Choros.

Architect Tod Williams was born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1943.  He was educated at Princeton University and Cambridge University.  He taught at Cooper Union and began his own architecture practice in 1974.  His principal works include the expansion of the Phoenix Art Museum; Skirkanich Hall, Bioengineering Department, University of Pennsylvania; and the Mattin Art Center at Johns Hopkins University.  His current work includes the Reva and David Logan Center for Creative and Performing Arts, University of Chicago.

Honorary Members

Award Recipients

Gold Medal for Poetry
given for an entire body of work
Mark Strand

Award for Distinguished Service to the Arts
given for notable service to the arts
Suzanne Farrell

Award of Merit Medal for the Novel
and $10,000 given to an outstanding sculptor
Denis Johnson

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

Awards in Architecture

$7500 given to acknowledge an American who explores architecture through any medium of expression
Jeffrey Kipnis

Awards in Art

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

John Koch Award in Art
$10,000 to honor a young painter of figurative work
Elisa Jensen

Rosenthal Family Foundation Award for Art
$5000 to a young painter of distinction
Hilary Harkness

Awards in Literature

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
Paul Farley

Awards in Literature (cont.)

Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction
$5000 given for the best published first novel or collection of stories of 2008
Charles Bock, Beautiful Children

Addison M. Metcalf Award in Literature
$10,000 to a young writer of great promise
Ron Currie, Jr.

Rome Fellowships in Literature
given to young writers of exceptional promise for a year's residence at the American Academy in Rome
Peter Campion
Eliza Griswold

Rosenthal Family Foundation Award for Literature
$5000 to a young writer for a work of fiction published in 2008
Chris Adrian, A Better Angel

Harold D. Vursell Memorial Award in Literature
$10,000 for a recent book in recognition of the quality of its prose
Sharon Cameron, Impersonality: Seven Essays

Thorton Wilder Translation Prize
$20,000 to a practitioner, scholar, or patron who has made a significant contribution to the art of literary translation
Gregory Rabassa

Awards in Music

Benjamin H. Danks Award in Music
$20,000 to encourage a talented young composer of ensemble works
Sean Shepherd

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

Charles Ives Fellowships in Music
$15,000 given to young composers of extraordinary gifts
Yu-Hui Chang
Ray Lustig

Charles Ives Scholarships in Music
$5000 given to composition students of great promise
Matthew Barnson, Ryan Gallagher,
Michael Gilbertson, David M. Gordon,
Andrew Norman, Carolyn O'Brien

Goddard Lieberson Fellowships in Music
$15,000 given to young composers of extraordinary gifts
Laura Elise Schwendinger
Kurt Stallmann

Richard Rodgers Awards in Musical Theater
given to provide financial support for stage readings
Cheer Wars by Karlan Judd and Gordon Leary
Rosa Parks by Scott Ethier and Jeff Hughes