Friday, March 08, 2013

Massive donation to writing programme


PublishersLunch

Real estate mogul Sam Zell's widow Helen Zell will announce a $50 million gift today to support the University of Michigan's graduate writing program. The money "will essentially underwrite it in perpetuity, while offering flexibility for new projects." She was an English major at Michigan, and graduates of the writing program, which enrolls 22 people a year, include Graduates include writers Elizabeth Kostova, Hanna Pylvainen and Jesymn Ward. She says: "The ability of fiction to develop creativity, to analyze the human psyche, help you understand people — it's critical. It's as important as vitamins or anything else. To me, it's the core of the intellectual health of human beings."
She "described the new donation as an investment in some of the world's promising young poets and novelists, to ensure the books they have inside them get written, shared with the world." Already, Michigan's program "covers tuition and offers a $22,000 stipend for students while they take classes their first year, then pays them for teaching during their second" and provides a third year of post-doc support.

The 25th annual Triangle Awards, presented on April 25, will honor John D'Emilio as the 2013 recipient of the Publishing Triangle's Bill Whitehead Award for Lifetime Achievement. He is the author or editor of multiple books, including Lost Prophet: The Life and Times of Bayard Rustin, which won the Publishing Triangle's Randy Shilts Award for Gay Nonfiction.

Separately, the Lambda Literary Awards, also in their 25th year, announced their nominees, across 23 categories. Winners will be announced at a ceremony in New York on June 3.

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