Tony Kushner Receives Chicago Tribune Literary Prize and AVP Award; Talks Politics and Violence with Chris Jones

It has been a good, anti-violence filled week for Tony and Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Tony Kushner.  This past Sunday, November 8, Kushner was presented with the 2009 Chicago Tribune Literary Prize at the Symphony Center. As part of the event, presented by the Chicago Humanities Festival, Kushner engaged with Chicago theater critic Chris Jones in a special Q & A. on politics and violence. The next day, on Monday November 9, Kushner was honored by the New York City Anti-Violence Project (AVP) during their 13th annual Courage Awards at the W New York Ballroom.

The Chicago Tribune Literary Prize is a lifetime achievement award given to an author whose body of work has had great impact on American society. Each year, a panel of editors select a recipient based on the scope and significance of their work. The honor goes to an author whose novels, plays, or stories have touched their audience and changed the face of literature. Past winners have include Arthur Miller, Tom Wolfe, Margaret Atwood, and August Wilson.

At the event, as reported in the Chicago Tribune, Kushner deemed the current war in Iraq a "tremendous crime." While maintaining his pride as a Jewish man, he also openly condemned Israel's tratment of Palestinian citizens. 

To read the full report of the evening in the Chicago Tribune, click here.

Back in New York, Kushner continued his recognition streak for being a mouthpiece for piece at the AVP award ceremony.  The New York City Anti-Violence Project is dedicated to eliminating hate violence, sexual assault, stalking, and domestic violence in lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and HIV-affected communities through counseling, advocacy, organizing, and public education.

Said AVP executive director Sharon Stapel: "We at AVP are inspired by Tony Kushner's brave and honest commentary on our culture and our society...His work inspires us to make connections between class, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation and gender identity and to dream of a world that is fair and equal. He also forces us to see the realities of our struggles and how far we have come, and how far we have to go, to achieve equal rights for LGBT people."

Kushner is the author of, amongst other works, the two-part ‘Angels in America: Millenium Approaches,' and Angels in America: Perestroika.' In 1992, Kushner was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Angels. In 1993, Kushner won the Tony Award for Best Play for ‘Angels in America: Millennium Approaches.' Kushner would win another Tony Award the following year for Best Play for the second part of the Angels series, ‘Angels in America: Perestroika.' 'Angels' was made into an HBO-miniseries and received with much critical acclaim.

His other theatrical works include The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism With a Key to the ScripturesHydriotaphia, 'Slavs!: Thinking About the Longstanding Problems of Virtue and Happiness, A Bright Room Called Day, Homebody/Kabul, and the book for the musical Caroline, or Change. He also received an Oscar nomination for co-writing the screenplay for Munich, the feature film directed by Steven Spielberg.