Janet Heidiger Kafka Prize
Encyclopedia
The Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize is annually awarded for fiction by an American woman.
The Susan B. Anthony
Institute for Gender and Women's Studies and the Department of English at the University of Rochester
have awarded the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize for fiction by an American woman since 1975.
Each winner is awarded $5,000.
The prize is named for a 30-year-old editor killed in an auto accident. Family, friends, and associates in the publishing industry endowed the prize as a memorial to Kafka and "the literary standards and personal ideals for which she stood"
The prize is not associated with the similarly named Franz Kafka Prize
.
The Susan B. Anthony
Susan B. Anthony
Susan Brownell Anthony was a prominent American civil rights leader who played a pivotal role in the 19th century women's rights movement to introduce women's suffrage into the United States. She was co-founder of the first Women's Temperance Movement with Elizabeth Cady Stanton as President...
Institute for Gender and Women's Studies and the Department of English at the University of Rochester
University of Rochester
The University of Rochester is a private, nonsectarian, research university in Rochester, New York, United States. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees. The university has six schools and various interdisciplinary programs.The...
have awarded the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize for fiction by an American woman since 1975.
Each winner is awarded $5,000.
The prize is named for a 30-year-old editor killed in an auto accident. Family, friends, and associates in the publishing industry endowed the prize as a memorial to Kafka and "the literary standards and personal ideals for which she stood"
The prize is not associated with the similarly named Franz Kafka Prize
Franz Kafka Prize
The Franz Kafka Prize is an international literary award presented in honour of Franz Kafka, the German language novelist. The prize was first awarded in 2001 and is co-sponsored by the and the city of Prague, Czech Republic. At a presentation held annually at the end of October in the Old Town...
.
Winners
The year listed is the year the winner's book was published. The award is given during the following year. For instance, the 2005 award was given out in 2006.- 19751975 in literatureThe year 1975 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* August 12 — with the 20-year time limit stipulated by Thomas Mann at his death having expired, sealed packets containing 32 of the author's notebooks were opened in Zurich, Switzerland.* Writing under the...
: Jessamyn WestJessamyn West (writer)Mary Jessamyn West was an American Quaker who wrote numerous stories and novels, notably The Friendly Persuasion ....
, The Massacre at Fall Creek, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich - 19761976 in literatureThe year 1976 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Saul Bellow won both the Nobel Prize for Literature and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.-New books:*Kingsley Amis – The Alteration...
: Judith GuestJudith GuestJudith Guest is an American novelist and screenwriter. She was born in Detroit, Michigan and is the great-niece of Poet Laureate Edgar Guest .- Work :...
, Ordinary People, Viking Press - 19771975 in literatureThe year 1975 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* August 12 — with the 20-year time limit stipulated by Thomas Mann at his death having expired, sealed packets containing 32 of the author's notebooks were opened in Zurich, Switzerland.* Writing under the...
: Toni MorrisonToni MorrisonToni Morrison is a Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, editor, and professor. Her novels are known for their epic themes, vivid dialogue, and richly detailed characters. Among her best known novels are The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon and Beloved...
, Song of Solomon, Alfred A. Knopf - 19781978 in literatureThe year 1978 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*The Bookseller/Diagram Prize for Oddest Title of the Year, a humorous award given annually to books with unusual titles is created. The first winner was Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude...
: Mary Gordon, Final Payments, Random House - 19791979 in literatureThe year 1979 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-New books:*Douglas Adams - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy*V.C...
: Barbara Chase-RiboudBarbara Chase-RiboudBarbara Chase-Riboud is an American novelist, poet, sculptor and visual artist, perhaps best known for her historical fiction. Much of her work has explored themes related to slavery and exploitation of women....
, Sally Hemings, Viking Press - 19801980 in literatureThe year 1980 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Marguerite Yourcenar becomes the first woman to be elected to the Académie française....
: Anne TylerAnne TylerAnne Tyler is an American novelist.Tyler, the eldest of four children, was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her father was a chemist and her mother a social worker. Her early childhood was spent in a succession of Quaker communities in the mountains of North Carolina and in Raleigh...
, Morgan’s Passing, Alfred A. Knopf - 19811981 in literatureThe year 1981 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction given for the first time...
: Mary Gordon, The Company of Women, Random House - 19821982 in literatureThe year 1982 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*La Bicyclette Bleue by Régine Deforges becomes France's best selling novel ever.-New books:...
: Mary Lee SettleMary Lee SettleMary Lee Settle was an American writer and winner of the National Book Award for her 1978 novel Blood Tie...
, The Killing Ground, Farrer, Straus & Giroux - 19831983 in literatureThe year 1983 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Ironweed by William Kennedy is published.*Salvage for the Saint by Peter Bloxsom and John Kruse is published. This is the final book in a series of novels, novellas and short stories featuring the Leslie Charteris...
: Joan ChaseJoan Chase-Life:She moved from town to town in Ohio throughout her childhood.She graduated from the University of Maryland magna cum laude. From 1980 to 1984, she was an assistant director of the Ragdale Foundation.She is a member of PEN.-Awards:...
, During the Reign of the Queen of Persia, Harper & Row - 19841984 in literatureThe year 1984 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*The book Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell is widely read....
: Rosellen BrownRosellen BrownRosellen Brown is an American author, and has been an instructor of English and creative writing at several universities, including the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the University of Houston...
, Civil Wars, Alfred A. Knopf - 19851985 in literatureThe year 1985 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-New books:*Isaac Asimov - Robots and Empire*Margaret Atwood - The Handmaid's Tale*Jean M. Auel - The Mammoth Hunters*Iain Banks - Walking on Glass...
: Ursula K. Le GuinUrsula K. Le GuinUrsula Kroeber Le Guin is an American author. She has written novels, poetry, children's books, essays, and short stories, notably in fantasy and science fiction...
, Always Coming Home, Harper & Row - 19861986 in literatureThe year 1986 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Michael Grade. Controller of BBC One, axes plans to televise Ian Curteis's The Falklands Play.-New books:*Kingsley Amis - The Old Devils...
: Hortense CalisherHortense CalisherHortense Calisher was an American writer of fiction.-Personal life:Born in New York City, New York, and a graduate of Hunter College High School and Barnard College , Calisher was the daughter of a young German Jewish immigrant mother and a somewhat older Jewish father from Virginia whose family...
, The Bobby Soxer, Doubleday & Company - 19871987 in literatureThe year 1987 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Tom Wolfe was paid $5 million for the film rights to his novel, The Bonfire of the Vanities, the most ever earned by an author, at the time.-Fiction:...
: Gail GodwinGail GodwinGail Kathleen Godwin is an American novelist and short story writer. She has published one non-fiction work, two collections of short stories, and eleven novels, three of which have been nominated for the National Book Award and five of which have made the New York Times Bestseller List.Godwin was...
, A Southern Family, Wm. Morrow & Company - 19881988 in literatureThe year 1988 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-New books:*Margaret Atwood - Cat's Eye*J.G. Ballard - Memories of the Space Age*Iain M...
: Kathryn DavisKathryn DavisKathryn Davis is an award-winning American novelist.Davis has taught at Skidmore College, and is now senior fiction writer in the Writing Program in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St...
, Labrador, Farrar, Strauss & Giroux - 19891989 in literatureThe year 1989 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* February 24 - Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini places a US$3 million bounty for the death of The Satanic Verses author Salman Rushdie.-Literature:...
: Marianne WigginsMarianne WigginsMarianne Wiggins is an American author. She is noted for the unusual characters and storylines in her novels. She has won the Whiting Writers' Award, an NEA award and the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize.- Biography :...
, John Dollar, Harper & Row - 19901990 in literatureThe year 1990 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*J. K. Rowling gets the idea for Harry Potter while on a train ride from Manchester to London. She says "I was staring out the window, and the idea for Harry just came. He appeared in my mind's eye, very fully formed...
: Valerie MartinValerie MartinValerie Martin is an American novelist and short story writer. She has also taught at Mount Holyoke College, Loyola University New Orleans, The University of New Orleans, The University of Alabama, and Sarah Lawrence College, among other institutions. She is a graduate of the MFA Program for...
, Mary Reilly, Doubleday & Company. - 19901990 in literatureThe year 1990 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*J. K. Rowling gets the idea for Harry Potter while on a train ride from Manchester to London. She says "I was staring out the window, and the idea for Harry just came. He appeared in my mind's eye, very fully formed...
: Karen Tei YamashitaKaren Tei YamashitaKaren Tei Yamashita is a Japanese American writer and Associate Professor of Literature at University of California, Santa Cruz, where she teaches creative writing and Asian American literature...
, Through the Arc of the Rain Forest, Coffee House Press - 19931993 in literatureThe year 1993 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Professor Stephen Hawking's book, A Brief History of Time, becomes the longest running book on the bestseller list of The Sunday Times....
: Sherri Szeman, The Kommandant’s Mistress, Harper Collins - 19941994 in literatureThe year 1994 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-New books:*Kevin J. Anderson - Champions of the Force, Dark Apprentice and Jedi Search*Reed Arvin - The Wind in the Wheat*Greg Bear - Songs of Earth and Power...
: Ann PatchettAnn PatchettAnn Patchett is an American author. She received the Orange Prize for Fiction and the PEN/Faulkner Award in 2002 for her novel Bel Canto. Patchett's other novels include Run, The Patron Saint of Liars, Taft, and The Magician's Assistant, which was shortlisted for the Orange Prize...
, Taft, Houghton Mifflin Company - 19951995 in literatureThe year 1995 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*The Dylan Thomas Centre in Swansea is opened by Jimmy Carter....
: Melissa PritchardMelissa PritchardMelissa Pritchard is an American short story writer, novelist, essayist, and journalist.-Life:Melissa Pritchard was born on December 12 in San Mateo, California. She grew up in San Mateo, Burlingame and Menlo Park and attended the Convent of the Sacred Heart High School in Atherton, California...
, The Instinct for Bliss, Zoland Books - 19961996 in literatureThe year 1996 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Harper Lee's novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, is removed from an advanced placement English reading list in Lindale, Texas because it "conflicted with the values of the community."* In the United Kingdom, the first...
: Kathleen Cambor, The Book of Mercy, Farrar, Straus & Giroux - 19971996 in literatureThe year 1996 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Harper Lee's novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, is removed from an advanced placement English reading list in Lindale, Texas because it "conflicted with the values of the community."* In the United Kingdom, the first...
: Cristina GarcíaCristina GarcíaCristina García is a Cuban-born American journalist and novelist. After working for Time Magazine as a researcher, reporter, and Miami bureau chief, she turned to writing fiction. Her first novel, Dreaming in Cuban , received critical acclaim and was a finalist for the National Book Award...
, The Agüero Sisters, Alfred A. Knopf - 19981998 in literatureThe year 1998 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*March 5 - Tennessee Williams' 1938 play, Not About Nightingales, receives its stage première....
: Nicole MonesNicole MonesNicole Mones is an American novelist and food writer. , she has published three novels, entitled Lost in Translation, which appeared in 1998, A Cup of Light , and The Last Chinese Chef, released May 2007. Lost in Translation won the 2000 Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize awarded by the Susan B...
, Lost in Translation, Delacorte Press - 19991999 in literatureThe year 1999 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*June 19 - Stephen King is hit by a Dodge van while taking a walk. He spends the next three weeks hospitalized...
: Susan HubbardSusan HubbardSusan Hubbard is an American fiction writer and professor at the University of Central Florida. She has written seven books of fiction, and is a winner of the Associated Writing Program Prize for Short Fiction and the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize for best prose book of the year by an American...
, Blue Money, University of Missouri Press - 20002000 in literatureThe year 2000 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* February 13 - Final original Peanuts comic strip is published...
: Carrie Brown, The Hatbox Baby, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill - 20012001 in literatureThe year 2001 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* The film version of J. R. R. Tolkien's classic book, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, is released to movie theaters...
: Edie MeidavEdie Meidav-Life:She graduated with a B.A., Yale University, and M.F.A., Mills College.Her fiction, poetry, and criticism have appeared in Writing on Air , On Globalization , Now Write! Fiction Writing Exercises from Today's Best Teachers and Writers , and other anthologies, and in Village Voice,...
, The Far Field: A Novel of Ceylon, Houghton Mifflin Company - 20022002 in literatureThe year 2002 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*March 16: Authorities in Saudi Arabia arrested and jailed poet Abdul Mohsen Musalam and fired a newspaper editor following the publication of Musalam's poem The Corrupt on Earth that criticized the state's Islamic...
: Joyce Hackett, Disturbance of the Inner Ear, Carroll & Graf - 20032003 in literatureThe year 2003 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-New books:*Peter Ackroyd - The Clerkenwell Tales*Atsuko Asano - No...
: Kate Moses, Wintering, St. Martin's Press - 20042004 in literatureThe year 2004 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Canada Reads selects Guy Vanderhaeghe's The Last Crossing to be read across the nation....
: Sarah Shun-lien BynumSarah Shun-lien BynumSarah Shun-lien Bynum is an American writer.She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and daughter and teaches writing and literature at UC San Diego. Bynum is a graduate of Brown University and the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop...
, Madeleine Is Sleeping, Harcourt, Inc. - 20052005 in literatureThe year 2005 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*February 25 - Canada Reads selects Rockbound by Frank Parker Day as the novel to be read across the nation....
: Jill CimentJill Ciment-Biography:Ciment was born in Montreal, Canada in 1955. Without finishing high school, she went to New York to become an artist, and ended up working at a "modeling" agency posing nude for lowlife shutterbugs. She went to study art at the California Institute of Arts, under John Baldessari. She...
, The Tattoo Artist, Pantheon Books - 20062006 in literatureThe year 2006 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Literature:*Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - Half of a Yellow Sun*Chris Adrian - The Children's Hospital *Martin Amis - House of Meetings...
: Nell FreudenbergerNell Freudenberger-Life:Freudenberger graduated from Harvard and has traveled extensively in Asia.Her travel writing has been published in Travel + Leisure, Salon, The New Yorker, and The Telegraph Magazine. ...
, The Dissident, Ecco - 20072007 in literatureThe year 2007 in literature involves some significant new books.-Events:*November 19 - First Kindle e-book reader released.*December 11 - Terry Pratchett informs fans on-line that he has been diagnosed with a rare form of Alzheimer's disease.-Literature:...
: Miranda Beverly-Whittemore, Set Me Free, Warner Books - 20082008 in literatureThe year 2008 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*January 1 - In the 2008 New Year Honours, Hanif Kureishi , Jenny Uglow , Peter Vansittart and Debjani Chatterjee are all rewarded for "services to literature".*June 15 - Gore Vidal, asked in a New York Times...
: Saher Alam, "The Groom to Have Been", Spiegel & Grau - 20092009 in literatureThe year 2009 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*8 October - Romanian-born German novelist Herta Müller wins the 2009 Nobel Prize in Literature....
: Isla Morley, "Come Sunday", Farrar, Straus & Giroux