THE CENTER FOR THE LITERARY ARTS IN NEW YORK STATE
New York State Author and New York State Poet Awards
 The New York State
Edith Wharton Citation of Merit
State Author
Award
Alison Lurie
|
 The New York State
Walt Whitman Citation of Merit
State Poet
Award
Marie Howe |
By special mandate in 1985 the Writers Institute was designated by the New York
State Legislature to award both the Edith Wharton Citation of Merit for
fiction writers (State Author) and the Walt Whitman
Citation of Merit for poets (State Poet) every two
years. Upon the recommendation of two advisory panels of distinguished authors
convened under the aegis of the Institute, the Governor awards each Citation
to "an author whose achievements make him or her deserving of such recognition." Each
Citation carries an honorarium of ten thousand dollars, and the State Author/State
Poet "shall promote and encourage fiction/poetry within the State and shall
give two public readings within the State each year."
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The State Author award is named for Edith Wharton (1862-1937), who is
recognized as one of the great novelists in the history of American
literature. Born in New York City into wealth and social status, she
nevertheless exposed, in her darkly elegant fiction and novels, the
hypocrisies and pressures of New York City society of the time, particularly
examining the role and condition of women. Her prose is, in the phrase
she herself used to describe successful short fiction, "a shaft driven
straight into the heart of experience."
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The State Poet award is named for Walt Whitman (1819-1892), the renowned
poet born in Huntington, Long Island, whose collection Leaves
of Grass heralded a new age of formal innovation in poetry
with its absence of rhyme and meter and its abundance of oratorical
rhythms and extended litanies. As the self-styled "poet of democracy" and
the shaggy, poetic spokesman of young America, Whitman became the leading
poet of liberal political movements in 19th century Europe. Whitman
continues to exert a powerful influence on succeeding generations of
poets both here and abroad.
Edith Wharton Citation of Merit for Fiction Writing - Alison Lurie
Walt Whitman Citation of Merit for Poets - Marie Howe
State Author/State Poet Award Ceremony Photo Gallery for 2008-2010
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Science Library, SL 320, University
at Albany, NY 12222 | Phone 518-442-5620, Fax 518-442-5621, email [email protected]
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