The New York State Writers Hall of Fame or NYS Writers Hall of Fame is a project established in 2010 by the Empire State Center for the Book, which is the New York State affiliate of the U.S.

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...

's Center for the Book, and the Empire State Book Festival. Beginning in 2020, the Empire State Center for the Book partners with the New York State Writers Institute in presenting the awards. The Hall of Fame was established "to highlight the rich literary heritage of the New York State and to recognize the legacy of individual New York State writers." New writers, both living and deceased, have been inducted annually since 2010.

List of Hall of Fame members

Inaugural class of 2010

James Baldwin James Arthur Baldwin (August 2, 1924 – December 1, 1987) was an American writer. He garnered acclaim across various media, including essays, novels, plays, and poems. His first novel, '' Go Tell It on the Mountain'', was published in 1953; ...

(1924–1987) * Elizabeth Bishop (1911–1979) *

Robert Caro Robert Allan Caro (born October 30, 1935) is an American journalist and author known for his biographies of United States political figures Robert Moses and Lyndon B. Johnson. After working for many years as a reporter, Caro wrote '' The Power ...

(b. 1935) *

Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, February 1817 or 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became ...

(1818–1895) * Mary Gordon (b. 1949) *

Langston Hughes James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1901 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. One of the earliest innovators of the literary art form called jazz poetry, H ...

(1902–1967) * Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960) * Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892–1950) *

Isaac Bashevis Singer Isaac Bashevis Singer ( yi, יצחק באַשעװיס זינגער; November 11, 1903 – July 24, 1991) was a Polish-born American Jewish writer who wrote and published first in Yiddish and later translated himself into English with the help ...

(1902–1991) * Edith Wharton (1862–1937) * E. B. White (1899–1985) *

Walt Whitman Walter Whitman (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among ...

(1819–1892)

Class of 2011

* John Ashbery (1927–2017) * Willa Cather (1873–1947) *

Julia de Burgos Julia de Burgos García (February 17, 1914 – July 6, 1953) was a Puerto Rican poet. As an advocate of Puerto Rican independence, she served as Secretary General of the Daughters of Freedom, the women's branch of the Puerto Rican National ...

(1914–1953) *

Ralph Ellison Ralph Waldo Ellison (March 1, 1913 – April 16, 1994) was an American writer, literary critic, and scholar best known for his novel ''Invisible Man'', which won the National Book Award in 1953. He also wrote '' Shadow and Act'' (1964), a collec ...

(1914–1994) * Paula Fox (1923–2017) * Lorraine Hansberry (1930–1965) * Madeleine L'Engle (1918–2007) *

Herman Melville Herman Melville ( born Melvill; August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works are '' Moby-Dick'' (1851); '' Typee'' (1846), a ...

(1819–1891) *

Dorothy Parker Dorothy Parker (née Rothschild; August 22, 1893 – June 7, 1967) was an American poet, writer, critic, and satirist based in New York; she was known for her wit, wisecracks, and eye for 20th-century urban foibles. From a conflicted and unhap ...

(1893–1967)

Class of 2012

* John Cheever (1912–1982) * Hart Crane (1899–1932) * E. L. Doctorow (1931–2015) *

Edna Ferber Edna Ferber (August 15, 1885 – April 16, 1968) was an American novelist, short story writer and playwright. Her novels include the Pulitzer Prize-winning '' So Big'' (1924), '' Show Boat'' (1926; made into the celebrated 1927 musical), '' C ...

(1885–1968) *

Pete Hamill Pete Hamill (born William Peter Hamill; June 24, 1935August 5, 2020) was an American journalist, novelist, essayist and editor. During his career as a New York City journalist, he was described as "the author of columns that sought to capture ...

(1935–2020) *

Washington Irving Washington Irving (April 3, 1783 – November 28, 1859) was an American short-story writer, essayist, biographer, historian, and diplomat of the early 19th century. He is best known for his short stories "Rip Van Winkle" (1819) and " The Legen ...

(1783–1859) *

Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...

(1843–1916) * Mary McCarthy (1912–1989) * Marianne Moore (1887–1972) *

Toni Morrison Chloe Anthony Wofford Morrison (born Chloe Ardelia Wofford; February 18, 1931 – August 5, 2019), known as Toni Morrison, was an American novelist. Her first novel, '' The Bluest Eye'', was published in 1970. The critically acclaimed '' S ...

(1931–2019) *

Joyce Carol Oates Joyce Carol Oates (born June 16, 1938) is an American writer. Oates published her first book in 1963, and has since published 58 novels, a number of plays and novellas, and many volumes of short stories, poetry, and non-fiction. Her novels '' Bla ...

(b. 1938) *

Barbara W. Tuchman Barbara Wertheim Tuchman (; January 30, 1912 – February 6, 1989) was an American historian and author. She won the Pulitzer Prize twice, for '' The Guns of August'' (1962), a best-selling history of the prelude to and the first month of Worl ...

(1912–1989) * Kurt Vonnegut (1922–2007) *

Richard Wright Richard Wright may refer to: Arts * Richard Wright (author) (1908–1960), African-American novelist * Richard B. Wright (1937–2017), Canadian novelist * Richard Wright (painter) (1735–1775), marine painter * Richard Wright (artist) (born 19 ...

(1908–1960)

Class of 2013

* James Fenimore Cooper (1789–1851) *

Countee Cullen Countee Cullen (born Countee LeRoy Porter; May 30, 1903 – January 9, 1946) was an American poet, novelist, children's writer, and playwright, particularly well known during the Harlem Renaissance. Early life Childhood Countee LeRoy Porter ...

(1903–1946) * Marilyn Hacker (b. 1942) * Alice McDermott (b. 1953) * Walter Mosley (b. 1952) * Miguel Piñero (1946–1988) * Maurice Sendak (1928–2012) * Calvin Trillin (b. 1935)

Class of 2014

* Russell Banks (b. 1940) * Mary Higgins Clark (1929–2020) * Nora Ephron (1941–2012) * Alice Hoffman (b. 1952) *

Maurice Kenny Maurice Frank Kenny (August 16, 1929 – April 16, 2016) was an American poet who identified as Mohawk descent. Life Maurice Frank Kenny was born on August 16, 1929, in Watertown, New York. He identified his father as being of Mohawk and I ...

(1929–2016) * Rex Stout (1886–1975) * James Thurber (1894–1961)

Class of 2015

Isaac Asimov yi, יצחק אזימאװ , birth_date = , birth_place = Petrovichi, Russian SFSR , spouse = , relatives = , children = 2 , death_date = , death_place = Manhattan, New York City, U.S. , nationality = Russian (1920–1922)Soviet (192 ...

(1920?–1992) *

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...

(1926–1997) * Ezra Jack Keats (1916–1983) * Dawn Powell (1896–1965) *

Francine Prose Francine Prose (born April 1, 1947) is an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and critic. She is a visiting professor of literature at Bard College, and was formerly president of PEN American Center. Life and career Born in Brookl ...

(b. 1947) * David Remnick (b. 1958) *

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 shortlist ...

(b. 1955)

Class of 2016

Roger Angell Roger Angell (September 19, 1920 – May 20, 2022) was an American essayist known for his writing on sports, especially baseball. The only writer ever elected into both the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the Baseball Writers' Associa ...

(1920–2022) *

Maya Angelou Maya Angelou ( ; born Marguerite Annie Johnson; April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014) was an American memoirist, popular poet, and civil rights activist. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and ...

(1928–2014) * Roz Chast (b. 1954) * Samuel R. Delany (b. 1942) * Jean Craighead George (1919–2012) *

Don Marquis Donald Robert Perry Marquis ( ; July 29, 1878 – December 29, 1937) was an American humorist, journalist, and author. He was variously a novelist, poet, newspaper columnist, and playwright. He is remembered best for creating the characters Arc ...

(1878–1937) * Grace Paley (1922–2007) *

Stephen Sondheim Stephen Joshua Sondheim (; March 22, 1930November 26, 2021) was an American composer and lyricist. One of the most important figures in twentieth-century musical theater, Sondheim is credited for having "reinvented the American musical" with sho ...

(1930–2021)

Class of 2017

* Ron Chernow (b. 1949) * Alexander Hamilton (1755–1804) * William Kennedy (b. 1928) * Christopher Morley (1890–1957) * Walter Dean Myers (1937–2014) *

Frederick Law Olmsted Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822August 28, 1903) was an American landscape architect, journalist, social critic, and public administrator. He is considered to be the father of landscape architecture in the USA. Olmsted was famous for co- ...

(1822–1903) * Lillian Ross (1918–2017)

Class of 2018

* Ira Gershwin (1896–1983) * E. L. Konigsburg (1930–2013) *

Jose Marti Jose is the English transliteration of the Hebrew and Aramaic name ''Yose'', which is etymologically linked to ''Yosef'' or Joseph. The name was popular during the Mishnaic and Talmudic periods. *Jose ben Abin *Jose ben Akabya *Jose the Gali ...

(1853–1895) * Russell Shorto (b. 1959) *

Colson Whitehead Arch Colson Chipp Whitehead (born November 6, 1969) is an American novelist. He is the author of eight novels, including his 1999 debut work '' The Intuitionist''; '' The Underground Railroad'' (2016), for which he won the 2016 National Book Awar ...

(b. 1969) * Jacqueline Woodson (b. 1963)

Class of 2019

* William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) * Jennifer Egan (b. 1962) *

Doris Kearns Goodwin Doris Helen Kearns Goodwin (born January 4, 1943) is an American biographer, historian, former sports journalist, and political commentator. She has written biographies of several U.S. presidents, including ''Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream ...

(b. 1943) *

Larry Kramer Laurence David Kramer (June 25, 1935May 27, 2020) was an American playwright, author, film producer, public health advocate, and gay rights activist. He began his career rewriting scripts while working for Columbia Pictures, which led him to Lo ...

(1935–2020) * James Patterson (b. 1947) * Richard Peck (1934–2018) * Ntozake Shange (1948–2018)

Class of 2020/2021

The 2020 induction ceremony was postponed to 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic.announcement
/ref> * Edwidge Danticat (b. 1969) * Bill Finger (1914–1974) *

Anna Katharine Green Anna Katharine Green (November 11, 1846 – April 11, 1935) was an American poet and novelist. She was one of the first writers of detective fiction in America and distinguished herself by writing well plotted, legally accurate stories. Gr ...

(1846–1935) *

Oscar Hammerstein II Oscar Greeley Clendenning Hammerstein II (; July 12, 1895 – August 23, 1960) was an American lyricist, librettist, theatrical producer, and (usually uncredited) director in the musical theater for almost 40 years. He won eight ...

(1895–1960) *

Andrea Davis Pinkney Andrea Davis Pinkney (born 1963) is the author of numerous books for children and young adults, including picture books, novels, works of historical fiction and nonfiction who writes about African-American culture. In addition to her work as an a ...

(b. 1963) *

Lore Segal Lore Segal (born March 9, 1928), née Lore Groszmann, is an American novelist, translator, teacher, short story writer, and author of children's books. Her novel ''Shakespeare's Kitchen'' was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2008. Early lif ...

(b. 1928) *

Garry Trudeau Garretson Beekman Trudeau (born July 21, 1948) is an American cartoonist, best known for creating the ''Doonesbury'' comic strip. Trudeau is also the creator and executive producer of the Amazon Studios political comedy series '' Alpha House' ...

(b. 1948)

Class of 2022

* Irving Berlin (1888-1989) * Min Jin Lee (b. 1968) * Audre Lorde (1934-1992) * James McBride (b. 1957)

References

{{reflist Writers halls of fame 2010 establishments in New York (state) American literary awards Awards established in 2010 Culture of Albany, New York Writers State halls of fame in the United States

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actual halls or muse ...