Barbara Kingsolver receives award for her life's work

Pulitzer Prize winner Barbara Kingsolver is about to add another prestigious honor to her name.

On Friday, September 5, the National Book Foundation announced that it was Demon Copperhead Winner of the 2024 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Literature.

Kingsolver, 68, will receive the lifetime achievement award at the 75th National Book Awards ceremony and benefit dinner on November 20. She will be honored for her decades of work in fiction, nonfiction, investigative journalism, poetry and academic writing.

“Barbara Kingsolver’s extraordinary writing style and authenticity across genres have inspired generations of writers and readers on and off the page,” said David Steinberger, chairman of the board of the National Book Foundation, in a press release.

“Kingsolver's books – which have been translated into dozens of languages ​​- have had an enormous impact on the national and global literary landscape, and we are honored to present her with this lifetime achievement award on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the National Book Awards.”

Kingsolver has already been awarded the National Humanities Medal in 2000 and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2023 (Demon Copperhead) and has also received recognition from the American Booksellers Association, the American Library Association, the James Beard Foundation, and the PEN/Faulkner Foundation, to name a few.

The author, whose works include novels such as The bean trees And UnprotectedNon-fiction books like Holding the line: Women in the great miners' strike in Arizonaand several collections of poetry and essays – was born in Annapolis, Maryland, grew up in Kentucky, and currently lives in southwest Virginia.

She told the Related Press It is “a remarkable and wonderful feeling to be recognized and honored in this way by my peers.” Nominations for the award are made by former National Book Award winners, finalists, jurors and other authors and literary experts, according to a press release.

“It's not about anyone outside the field. It's about the people who see literature as our livelihood and our spiritual anchor,” she said. “And that means the world to me.”

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In a statement, the foundation's executive director, Ruth Dickey, said Kingsolver's writings “encompass both the personal and the political, explore complex issues of social justice, celebrate the natural world, and explore with care and precision ongoing social change.”

“For Kingsolver, writing is a tool for civic engagement – a way to bring to light some of the most complicated environmental and social injustices of our time, and an art form through which she can share stories of her beloved Appalachia with the world,” Dickey continued. “We have all benefited from her brilliance, and it is a gift to recognize her remarkable literary achievements with the 2024 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Literature.”

The 75th National Book Awards will be held on November 20 at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City, where she will accept the award from her agent, Sam Stoloff of the Frances Golden Agency.

For more information about the 75th National Book Awards ceremony and benefit dinner, and to register for the broadcast, visit the National Book Foundation website.