Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Lynn Nottage, Stephen Adly Guirgis Among 2016 American Academy of Arts and Letters Announces Literature Award Winners

Three of New York's most exciting playwrights were among the 21 writers announced by The American Academy of Arts and Letters as recipients of its 2016 awards in literature.

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, who has both shocked and thrilled audiences with plays like NEIGHBORS, AN OCTOROON and APPROPRIATE will receive $20,000 as winner of the Benjamin H. Danks Award, given every three years to an exceptional young playwright.

Lynn Nottage, whose extensive career has included thought-provoking works such as the Pulitzer Prize winning RUINED, INTIMATE APPAREL and the Obie-winning FABULATION, and Stephen Adly Guirgis, author of Broadway's THE MOTHERFUCKER WITH THE HAT and the 2015 Pulitzer Prize winning BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY, are two of the eight recipients of the Arts and Letters Award in Literature, carrying a prize of $10,000.

The awards will be presented in New York at the Academy's annual Ceremonial in May. The literature prizes, totaling $550,000, honor both established and emerging writers of fiction, nonfiction, drama, and poetry. The Academy's 250 members propose candidates, and a rotating committee of writers selects winners. This year's award committee members were John Guare, Sharon Olds, Anne Tyler, Rosanna Warren, and Joy Williams.

The American Academy of Arts and Letters was established in 1898 to "foster, assist, and sustain an interest in literature, music, and the fine arts." Election to the Academy is considered the highest formal recognition of artistic merit in this country. Founding members include William Merritt Chase, Kenyon Cox, Daniel Chester French, Childe Hassam, Henry James, Theodore Roosevelt, Elihu Vedder, and Woodrow Wilson. The Academy is currently comprised of 250 of America's leading voices in the fields of Art, Architecture, Literature, and Music. The Academy presents exhibitions of art, architecture, and manuscripts, and readings and performances of new musicals. It is located in three landmark buildings designed by McKim, Mead & White, Cass Gilbert, and Charles Pratt Huntington, on Audubon Terrace at 155 Street and Broadway, New York City.

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