The endowment for the prizes comes from the estate of the writer Donald Windham, who died in May 2010. Eugene V. Kokot, a co-executor of the estate, said that while Mr. Windham’s will was quite specific about his intention to establish a fund for literary prizes, the details of how such prizes should be awarded had been worked out by the executors and advisers at Yale.
More at The New York Times.

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