The National Book Foundation’s Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters (DCAL) and Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community are honors that recognize a lifetime of achievement in writing and serving readers, respectively. Both awards are presented by the Foundation’s Board of Directors, and come with a prize of $10,000.
Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters
Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community
The DCAL Medal is presented each year to a person who has enriched our literary heritage over a life of service, or a corpus of work. Since it was first presented in 1988 to Jason Epstein, a number of beloved literary icons have been DCAL Medalists, including Toni Morrison, Oprah Winfrey, Ray Bradbury, Stephen King, Judy Blume, and Maxine Hong Kingston.
The annual Literarian Award is traditionally presented to an individual for a lifetime of achievement in expanding the audience for books and reading. The recipients of the Literarian Award represent a veritable pantheon of literary activists, helping to increase access to and diversity in literature.
Recent DCAL Medalists:
- Barbara Kingsolver
- Rita Dove
- Art Spiegelman
- Karen Tei Yamashita
- Walter Mosley
- Edmund White
Recent Literarians:
- Roxane Gay
- W. Paul Coates
- Paul Yamazaki
- Tracie D. Hall
- Nancy Pearl
- Carolyn Reidy
- Oren Teicher
- Dick Robinson