Art Spiegelman will receive the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters from the National Book Foundation, the literary organization announced in a news release.
Spiegelman, a longtime legend in the underground comics scene, is best known in the mainstream literary world as the author of Maus, a two-volume graphic memoir about his parents, both Holocaust survivors. The memoir became a bestseller earlier this year after the board of education in McMinn County, Tennessee, banned it from school curricula.
His other books include In the Shadow of No Towers, about the Sept. 11 attacks, and Breakdowns, a collection of his early comics.
“Art Spiegelman has captured the world’s imagination through the comics medium,” said David Steinberger, the National Book Foundation’s board chair. “His masterful graphic novels tackle and illuminate topics from the Holocaust to the aftermath of 9/11, alongside the personal intimacy of the people, events, and comics that shaped him as an artist.”
The award will be presented to Spiegelman by author Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, American Gods) at the National Book Awards ceremony on Nov. 16.
Previous winners of the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, given annually “to recognize a lifetime of literary achievement,” have included Toni Morrison, Joan Didion, Stephen King, and Walter Mosley.
The National Book Foundation also this week announced Tracie D. Hall as the winner of its Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community. Hall, the executive director of the American Library Association, was honored for her “contributions to the diversification of the library and information science fields and her commitment to digital literacy in an age of misinformation, which will have a lasting impact on readers and communities everywhere.” Hall’s award will also be presented at the Nov. 16 ceremony.
Previous winners of the Literarian Award have included broadcaster Terry Gross, poet and memoirist Maya Angelou, and librarian Nancy Pearl.
Michael Schaub, a journalist and regular contributor to NPR, lives near Austin, Texas.
