Arts and Letters

NEW YORK, MARCH 19, 2026 – The American Academy of Arts and Letters announces the 18 recipients of its 2026 Awards in Literature, which honor both established and emerging writers. The 300 members of Arts and Letters nominate candidates for awards, and a rotating committee of writers selects the winners. This year, the literature award committee members were Mona Simpson (chair), Henri Cole, Adam Gopnik, and Yiyun Li. Amy Hempel and Joy Williams adjudicated the Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction and the Rosenthal Family Foundation Award for Literature.

The Christopher Lightfoot Walker Award of $100,000 for a writer who has made a significant contribution to American literature is awarded this year to Joan Silber.

Each year, the award committee selects eight writers in any genre to receive Arts and Letters Awards of $10,000 each to honor and encourage creative work. The 2026 recipients are Caleb Crain, Jane Hirshfield, Ladee Hubbard, Katha Pollitt, Sarah Ruhl, Saïd Sayrafiezadeh, Madeleine Thien, and Alec Wilkinson.

The triennial Arthur Rense Poetry Prize of $20,000 for an exceptional poet goes to Frederick Seidel. The Katherine Anne Porter Award of $20,000, for a writer whose achievements and dedication to the literary profession have been demonstrated, goes to James Lasdun. The Harold D. Vursell Memorial Award of $20,000 for exceptional prose style goes to Jean Strouse. The Thornton Wilder Prize for Translation of $20,000 goes to Ann Goldstein. The $10,000 Morton Dauwen Zabel Award, given this year for a poet of progressive, original, and experimental tendencies, goes to Ishion Hutchinson.

Arts and Letters will also recognize four young writers for outstanding achievements. The Benjamin H. Danks Award of $20,000 for an exceptional young writer will go to poet Weijia Pan. The E. M. Forster Award of $20,000, given to a writer from the United Kingdom or Ireland, will go to Sophie Ratcliffe. The Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction of $5,000 goes to C. Mallon for Dogs. The Rosenthal Family Foundation Award for Literature of $10,000, for an exceptional novel published in the preceding year, goes to Ethan Rutherford for North Sun: Or, the Voyage of the Whaleship Esther.

The literature awards will be presented alongside the architecture, art, and music awards at Arts and Letters’s annual Ceremonial in May.

A full list of 2026 literature award recipients follows.

Founded in 1898, the American Academy of Arts and Letters represents the highest standards of artistic achievement in this country, and our community of members are among the leading contemporary architects, visual artists, writers, and composers. Arts and Letters honors creative accomplishment through the election of members, the conferment of awards, and presenting public exhibitions and interdisciplinary programs at our historic buildings in the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City.

Media Inquiries
Ashley Fedor
(212) 368-5900
afedor@artsandletters.org

2026 Literature Award Recipients List

Arts and Letters Awards
Caleb Crain
Jane Hirshfield
Ladee Hubbard
Katha Pollitt
Sarah Ruhl
Saïd Sayrafiezadeh
Madeleine Thien
Alec Wilkinson

Benjamin H. Danks Award
Weijia Pan

E. M. Forster Award
Sophie Ratcliffe

Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction
C. Mallon for Dogs

Katherine Anne Porter Award
James Lasdun

Arthur Rense Poetry Prize
Frederick Seidel

Rosenthal Family Foundation Award for Literature
Ethan Rutherford for North Sun: Or, the Voyage of the Whaleship Esther

Harold D. Vursell Memorial Award
Jean Strouse

Christopher Lightfoot Walker Award
Joan Silber

Thornton Wilder Prize for Translation
Ann Goldstein

Morton Dauwen Zabel Award
Ishion Hutchinson