Pulitzer Prize victor Indian American author Jhumpa Lahiri to be conferred top

Prior recipients of the National Humanities Medal include farmer/poet Wendell Berry, Toni Morrison, Garrison Keillor, Steven Spielberg, Quincy Jones, and Joyce Carol Oates. The National Endowment for the Humanities manages the nominations process on behalf of the White House.

King will receive the medal alongside 10 other individuals and organisations, including one fellow author, Tobias Wolff, who the National Endowment for the Arts cited for his “contributions as an author and educator”, saying that “his raw works of fiction examine themes of American identity and individual morality”, and that “with wit and compassion, Mr Wolff’s work reflects the truths of our human experience”. “The recipients of this medal have sparked our imaginations, ignited our passions, and transformed our cultural understanding”.

President Barack Obama will present the 2014 National Medals of Arts and Humanities to visual artist John Baldessari, actress Sally Field, novelists Jhumpa Lahiri and Larry McMurtry, food activist and writer Alice Waters and 16 others at a White House ceremony on Thursday. “My anticipation of her joining our community is made all the greater by the announcement today of her recognition by the White House – a testament to her extraordinary talents and profound insights, and a well-deserved honor”. “They embody how the humanities can serve a common good”, he said. Her debut short story collection “Interpreter of Maladies” won the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and her book “The Lowland” was a nominee for the Man Booker Prize. In her writings and edited volumes, Dr. Higginbotham has traced the course of African-American progress, and deepened our understanding of the American story.

Born with the first names Nilanjana Sudeshna, Lahiri chooses to use her nickname Jhumpa.