3 Californians Win Literary Awards From Foundation

Six contemporary authors and poets, including three Californians, have received awards of $35,000 each for their contributions to English language literature, the Lannan Foundation has announced.

The annual Lannan Literary Awards will be presented by the foundation, an arts organization established in 1960 by entrepreneur, art collector, and poetry aficionado J. Patrick Lannan.

The awards are given to writers whose work “fosters imaginative critical thinking and calls attention to essential humanistic values in creative, skillful and provocative ways,” according to foundation literature.

Kay Boyle, the author of more than 35 books of prose and poetry and a foreign correspondent for the New Yorker until she was investigated by Senator Joseph McCarthy’s House Un-American Activities Committee in the 1950’s, received the foundation’s special award for “Outstanding Literary Achievement.”

Wendell Berry, whom the late Edward Abbey called “the best essayist writing in America today,” received the foundation’s award for nonfiction. Novelist John Berger received the award for fiction, and poet Cid Corman, was given the award for poetry.

Peter Levitt, a Malibu poet and translator, and San Francisco poet George Evans each received literary fellowships.