Michael Chabon and Neil Gaiman will receive two of Fall for the Book’s major festival awards at the 14th annual festival—taking place September 26-30 at George Mason University and in venues throughout Northern Virginia, DC, and Maryland.
Michael Chabon (photo: Jennifer Chaney)
Michael Chabon will receive this year’s Fairfax Prize, honoring outstanding literary achievement and presented by the Fairfax Library Foundation, and in doing so, joins a distinguished list of previous winners including Amy Tan, Ann Patchett, E.L. Doctorow, and Michael Cunningham.
Neil Gaiman has been named the winner of the 2012 Mason Award, recognizing authors who have made extraordinary contributions to bringing literature to a wide reading public; previous recipients have included Stephen King, Sherman Alexie, and Chinua Achebe.
Neil Gaiman (photo: Sophie Quach)
“Both of these writers have had extremely successful writing careers that have made them favorites among readers,” said William Miller, executive director of Fall for the Book. “In addition to their excellent novels, Chabon and Gaiman have written children’s and young adult books, and it is rare to have authors who have found success with both adult and young audiences. Both of them have also worked with comics and comic books, and as graphic novels continue to grow in popularity and maintain a place in the literary world, it is important to look at writers who are pushing the boundaries of traditional fiction.”
