Prizes
The Library of Congress is proud to honor our nation’s greatest living writers with the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction and the Rebekah Johnson Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry. Through these prizes, the Library continues to celebrate the creativity of the American people at the highest level.
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Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction
The annual Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction honors an American literary writer whose body of work is distinguished not only for its mastery of the art but also for its originality of thought and imagination. The award seeks to commend strong, unique, enduring voices that—throughout long, consistently accomplished careers—have told us something revealing about the American experience. The most recent winner of the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction is James McBride.
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Rebekah Johnson Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry
The biennial, privately funded $10,000 prize has recognized the most distinguished book of poetry written by an American and published during the preceding two years, and/or lifetime achievement in poetry. The prize is donated by the family of the late Mrs. Bobbitt of Austin, Tex., in her memory, and established at the Library of Congress. The 2022 Bobbitt Prize was awarded to Rita Dove for lifetime achievement and to Heid E. Erdrich for her book “Little Big Bully.”