Anne Tyler Announced As Winner Of The 2012 Sunday Times Award For Literary Excellence

Press release via Book2Book

It is announced today that Anne Tyler – Pulitzer-prize winning author of Breathing Lessons, The Accidental Tourist, The Amateur Marriage, Digging to America and many other novels – will be the 25th recipient of the annual Sunday Times Award for Literary Excellence, an award bestowed in recognition of a lifetime's achievement in books.

Andrew Holgate, Literary Editor of The Sunday Times, will present the prize at a public event at the Sheldonian on 1st April 2012, as part of The Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival. Following the presentation, Anne Tyler will be interviewed by Peter Kemp, the chief fiction reviewer of The Sunday Times.

Anne Tyler's trip to the UK to accept the prize will be her first official visit to the UK.

Andrew Holgate commented:

'2012 is the 25th year of The Sunday Times Award for Literary Excellence, which is given in recognition of a lifetime's achievement in literature. Since 1987, the prize has been awarded to a remarkable range of authors, from Anthony Burgess, Muriel Spark and Margaret Atwood to Ted Hughes, Seamus Heaney and John le Carré. I can think of no modern English-language author who more deserves to be added to that list than Anne Tyler. The apparent effortlessness of her prose is matched by her empathy for her characters, the depth of her human understanding and the consistency of her literary vision. Readers the world over treasure Anne Tyler for the profound way she seems to peer into their hearts, and we are thrilled that she has chosen to visit the UK for the first time to accept the award.'

Anne Tyler said:

'I am surprised and delighted by the news of this award. I know what a great honour it is, and what good company I'm keeping; the list of those who have received it before me is dazzling.'