Barbara Kingsolver to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award from National Book Foundation: 'Inspired Generations'

Mar. 15, 2025

Barbara Kingsolver appears at The Women’s Prize For Fiction Awards at Bedford Square Gardens on June 14, 2023 in London, England.Photo:David Levenson/Getty

David Levenson/Getty

Pulitzer Prize winnerBarbara Kingsolveris about to add another high honor to her name.

On Friday, Sept. 5, theNational Book Foundationannounced that it will be awarding theDemon Copperheadauthor its 2024 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.

Kingsolver, 68, is set to accept the lifetime achievement award at the 75th National Book Awards Ceremony and Benefit Dinner on Nov. 20, when she’ll be recognized for her decades of work spanning fiction, nonfiction, investigative journalism, poetry and science writing.

Barbara Kingsolver speaks to an audience in North Rhine-Westphalia, Cologne on March 12, 2024.Horst Galuschka/picture alliance via Getty

Horst Galuschka/picture alliance via Getty

“Spanning genres, Barbara Kingsolver’s exceptional writing and authenticity, on and off of the page, has inspired generations of writers and readers,” said David Steinberger, chair of the Board of Directors of the National Book Foundation, in a press release.

“Kingsolver’s books — which have been translated into dozens of languages — have had a vast impact on the national and global literary landscape, and it is our profound honor to present her with this lifetime achievement award at the 75th anniversary of the National Book Awards.”

Kingsolver has previously been honored with the 2000 National Humanities Medal, the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (Demon Copperhead) and has also earned recognition from the American Booksellers Association, the American Library Association, the James Beard Foundation and the PEN/Faulkner Foundation, among others.

The author — whose works have included novels such asThe Bean TreesandUnsheltered, nonfiction titles such asHolding the Line: Women in the Great Arizona Mine Strike, and multiple poetry and essay collections — was born in Annapolis, Md., grew up in Kentucky and currently lives in southwestern Virginia.

“It’s not someone outside the field. It’s 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 that Kingsolver’s writing “embraces the personal and the political, examining complex issues of social justice, exalting the natural world and exploring progressive social change with care and specificity.”

“For Kingsolver, writing is a tool for community activism — a way of shining a light on some of the most intricate 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 celebrate her remarkable literary accomplishments with the 2024 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.”

The 75th National Book Awards will take place on Nov. 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 & Benefit Dinner and to register for the broadcast, visit theNational Book Foundation.

source: people.com