The E. M. Forster Award is a $20,000 award given annually to an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

to fund a period of travel in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The award, named after the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

E. M. Forster Edward Morgan Forster (1 January 1879 – 7 June 1970) was an English author, best known for his novels, particularly ''A Room with a View'' (1908), ''Howards End'' (1910), and ''A Passage to India'' (1924). He also wrote numerous short stori ...

, is administered by the

American Academy of Arts and Letters The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments. Its headqu ...

. Academy members nominate authors and winners are selected by a rotating committee.

Past winners

Frank Tuohy John Francis ("Frank") Tuohy, (2 May 1925 – 11 April 1999) was an English writer and academic. Born in Uckfield, Sussex, he attended Stowe School and went on to read Moral Sciences and English at King's College, Cambridge. On completion of ...

1972 *

Margaret Drabble Dame Margaret Drabble, Lady Holroyd, (born 5 June 1939) is an English biographer, novelist and short story writer. Drabble's books include '' The Millstone'' (1965), which won the following year's John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize, and ''Jer ...

1973 * Paul Bailey 1974 *

Seamus Heaney Seamus Justin Heaney (; 13 April 1939 – 30 August 2013) was an Irish poet, playwright and translator. He received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature.

1975 *

Jon Stallworthy Jon Howie Stallworthy, (18 January 1935 – 19 November 2014) was a British literary critic and poet. He was Professor of English at the University of Oxford from 1992 to 2000, and Professor Emeritus in retirement. He was also a Fellow of Wolfs ...

1976 *

David Cook David Cook may refer to: Entertainment * David Cook (game designer) (active since 1980s), American game designer for TSR * David Cook (singer) (born 1982), winner of the seventh season of ''American Idol'' * David Cook (writer) (1940–2015), Briti ...

1977 *

Bruce Chatwin Charles Bruce Chatwin (13 May 194018 January 1989) was an English travel writer, novelist and journalist. His first book, ''In Patagonia'' (1977), established Chatwin as a travel writer, although he considered himself instead a storyteller, i ...

1979 *

F.T. Prince Frank Templeton Prince (13 September 1912 – 7 August 2003) was a British poet and academic, known generally for his best-known poem ''Soldiers Bathing'', written during the Second World War in 1942, which has been frequently included in antholog ...

1982 *

Humphrey Carpenter Humphrey William Bouverie Carpenter (29 April 1946 – 4 January 2005) was an English biographer, writer, and radio broadcaster. He is known especially for his biographies of J. R. R. Tolkien and other members of the literary society the Inkli ...

1984 *

Julian Barnes Julian Patrick Barnes (born 19 January 1946) is an English writer. He won the Man Booker Prize in 2011 with ''The Sense of an Ending'', having been shortlisted three times previously with '' Flaubert's Parrot'', ''England, England'', and '' Art ...

1986 * Blake Morrison 1988 * A. N. Wilson 1989 *

Jeanette Winterson Jeanette Winterson (born 27 August 1959) is an English writer. Her first book, '' Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit'', was a semi-autobiographical novel about a sensitive teenage girl rebelling against convention. Other novels explore gender pola ...

1990 *

Alan Hollinghurst Alan James Hollinghurst (born 26 May 1954) is an English novelist, poet, short story writer and translator. He won the 1989 Somerset Maugham Award, the 1994 James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the 2004 Booker Prize. Early life and education H ...

1991 *

Timothy Mo Timothy Peter Mo (born 30December 1950) is a British Asian novelist. Born to a British mother and a Hong Kong father, Mo lived in Hong Kong until the age of 10, when he moved to Britain. Educated at Mill Hill School and St John's College, Oxfor ...

1992 * Sean O'Brien 1993 *

Janice Galloway Janice Galloway (born 1955 in Saltcoats, Scotland) is a Scottish writer of novels, short stories, prose-poetry, non-fiction and libretti. Biography She is the second daughter of James Galloway and Janet Clark McBride. Her parents separated w ...

1994 *

Colm Tóibín Colm Tóibín (, approximately ; born 30 May 1955) is an Irish novelist, short story writer, essayist, journalist, critic, playwright and poet. His first novel, '' The South'', was published in 1990. '' The Blackwater Lightship'' was shortlis ...

1995 *

Jim Crace James Crace (born 1 March 1946) is an English novelist, playwright and short story writer. Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1999, Crace was born in Hertfordshire and has lectured at the University of Texas at Austin. His n ...

1996 *

Glyn Maxwell Glyn Maxwell (born 1962) is a British poet, playwright, novelist, librettist, and lecturer. Early life Of primarily Welsh heritage — his mother Buddug-Mair Powell (b. 1928) acted in the original stage show of Dylan Thomas's ''Under Milk Wood'' ...

1997 *

Kate Atkinson Kate Atkinson may refer to: * Kate Atkinson (actress) (born 1972), Australian actress * Kate Atkinson (writer) Kate Atkinson (born 20 December 1951) is an English writer of novels, plays and short stories. She is known for creating the Jac ...

1998 *

Nick Hornby Nicholas Peter John Hornby (born 17 April 1957) is an English writer and lyricist. He is best known for his memoir ''Fever Pitch'' and novels '' High Fidelity'' and '' About a Boy'', all of which were adapted into feature films. Hornby's work f ...

1999 *

Carol Ann Duffy Dame Carol Ann Duffy (born 23 December 1955) is a Scottish poet and playwright. She is a professor of contemporary poetry at Manchester Metropolitan University, and was appointed Poet Laureate in May 2009, resigning in 2019. She was the first ...

2000 *

Marina Carr Marina Carr is an Irish playwright who has written almost thirty plays, including '' By the Bog of Cats'' (1998). Early life and education Carr was born in Dublin, Ireland, but spent the majority of her childhood in Pallas Lake, County O ...

2001 * Helen Simpson 2002 *

Andrew O'Hagan Andrew O'Hagan (born 1968) is a List of Scottish novelists, Scottish novelist and non-fiction author. Three of his novels have been nominated for the Booker Prize and he has won several awards, including the Los Angeles Times Book Award. His m ...

2003 *

Robin Robertson Robin Robertson (born in 1955) is a Scottish poet. Biography Robertson was brought up on the north-east coast of Scotland, but has spent most of his professional life in London. After working as an editor at Penguin Books and Secker and Warb ...

2004 *

Dennis O'Driscoll Dennis O'Driscoll (1 January 1954 – 24 December 2012) was an Irish poet, essayist, critic and editor. Regarded as one of the best European poets of his time, Eileen Battersby considered him "the lyric equivalent of William Trevor" and a ...

2005 *

Geoff Dyer Geoff Dyer (born 5 June 1958) is an English author. He has written a number of novels and non-fiction books, some of which have won literary awards. Personal background Dyer was born and raised in Cheltenham, England, as the only child of a ...

2006 *

Jez Butterworth Jeremy "Jez" Butterworth (born March 1969) is an English playwright, screenwriter, and film director. He has written screenplays in collaboration with his brothers, John-Henry Butterworth, John-Henry and Tom. Life and career In March 1969, But ...

2007 *

John Lanchester John Henry Lanchester (born 25 February 1962) is a British journalist and novelist. He was born in Hamburg, brought up in Hong Kong and educated in England; between 1972 and 1980 at Gresham's School in Holt, Norfolk, then at St John's College, ...

2008 *

Paul Farley Paul Farley, FRSL (born 1965) is a British poet, writer and broadcaster. Life and work Farley was born in Liverpool. He studied painting at the Chelsea School of Art, and has lived in London, Brighton and Cumbria. His first collection of poe ...

2009 *

Dan Rhodes Dan Rhodes (born 1972) is an English writer, possibly best known for the novel '' Timoleon Vieta Come Home'' (2003), a subversion of the popular ''Lassie Come Home'' movie. He is also the author of ''Anthropology'' (2000), a collection of 101 st ...

2010 *

Rachel Seiffert Rachel Seiffert (born 1971) is a British novelist and short story writer. Biography She was born in 1971 in Oxford to German and Australian parents, and was brought up bilingually. She lives in London. Publications and awards Seiffert has p ...

2011 * David Mitchell 2012 *

Adam Foulds Adam Samuel James Foulds FRSL ( ; born 8 October 1974) is a British novelist and poet. Biography Foulds was educated at Bancroft's School, read English at St Catherine's College, Oxford under Craig Raine, and graduated with an MA in creative ...

2013 * Sarah Hall 2014 *

Adam Thirlwell Adam Thirlwell (born 22 August 1978) is a British novelist. His work has been translated into thirty languages. He has twice been named as one of ''Granta''s Best of Young British Novelists. In 2015 he received the E.M. Forster Award from the Am ...

2015 *

Sinéad Morrissey Sinéad Morrissey (born 24 April 1972 in Portadown, County Armagh) is a Northern Irish poet. In January 2014 she won the T. S. Eliot Prize for her fifth collection ''Parallax'' and in 2017 she won the Forward Prize for Poetry for her sixth coll ...

2016 * Robert MacFarlane 2017 *

Jon McGregor Jon McGregor (born 1976) is a British novelist and short story writer. In 2002, his first novel was longlisted for the Booker Prize, making him then the youngest ever contender. His second and fourth novels were longlisted for the Booker Prize ...

2018 *

Sally Rooney Sally Rooney (born 20 February 1991) is an Irish author and screenwriter. She has published three novels: ''Conversations with Friends'' (2017), ''Normal People'' (2018), and ''Beautiful World, Where Are You'' (2021). ''Normal People'' was adapt ...

2019 *Stephen Sexton 2020

References

External links

Contact informationPast winners
American literary awards Awards of the American Academy of Arts and Letters {{lit-award-stub