September 1, 2008 Distinguished Readers To Honor Herman Wouk During Literary Award Event on Sept. 10

WHAT: Herman Wouk to receive Library of Congress Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Writing of Fiction

WHO: Herman Wouk, Pulitzer Prize-winning author
James H. Billington, Librarian of Congress
William Safire, New York Times columnist
Martha Raddatz, ABC News correspondent
Jimmy Buffett, musician, author and creator of the musical “Don’t Stop the Carnival,” based on Wouk’s novel of the same name

WHEN: Wednesday, Sept. 10, 5 p.m.

WHERE: Library of Congress Coolidge Auditorium, Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First St. S.E.

The acclaimed writer Herman Wouk will receive the first Library of Congress Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Writing of Fiction. New York Times columnist William Safire, ABC News correspondent Martha Raddatz and musician Jimmy Buffett are among the distinguished guests who will read from the works of Herman Wouk during this event, which is free and open to the public.

BACKGROUND

Herman Wouk was born in 1915 and raised in the Bronx, N.Y., by Russian Jewish immigrant parents. He graduated from Columbia University in 1934 at the age of 20, soon thereafter was writing radio scripts and by 1936 was working for radio comedian Fred Allen. Wouk’s first publication was the short play “The Man in the Trench Coat” (1941), followed by “Aurora Dawn” (1947). He won the Pulitzer Prize for one of his most popular works, “The Caine Mutiny” (1951), which was made into a play starring Henry Fonda and a film starring Humphrey Bogart, with each actor playing the role of the erratic Captain Queeg. The novel draws on Wouk’s experiences in the Navy during World War II.

Wouk’s epic novels about World War II and the Holocaust, “The Winds of War” (1971) and “War and Remembrance” (1978), were made into award-winning television miniseries in 1983 and 1989. Wouk’s novels are known for their richly detailed stories and historical accuracy, the result of extensive research, much of it conducted at the Library of Congress.

For the subject of his most recent novel, “A Hole in Texas” (2004), Wouk turned to the aborted Superconducting Super Collider project, which left 14 miles of tunneling behind in the Dallas-Fort Worth area when the particle accelerator project was canceled in 1993. A new book is scheduled for publication in 2009.

For more information, visit www.loc.gov/today/pr/2008/08-138.html.