2014 Michigan Author Award Winner – Jim Harrison

The Michigan Library Association (MLA) has awarded Jim Harrison with the 2014 Michigan Author Award.

Mr. Harrison is a prolific author known for his poetry, fiction, reviews, essays about the outdoors and writings about food. His work has been compared to that of William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway and has appeared in many leading publications, including The New Yorker, Esquire, Sports Illustrated, Rolling Stone and The New York Times Book Review. In addition to numerous novels and more than a dozen poetry collections, Harrison has published several collections of novellas, two of which were eventually turned into films: Revenge (1990) and Legends of the Fall (1994). Harrison’s various awards include three National Academy of Arts grants, a Guggenheim Fellowship and election to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

A panel of judges representing MLA members determined the recipient on overall literary merit.  To be eligible, authors must be a current resident of Michigan, a long-time resident of Michigan, recently relocated or an author whose works are identified with Michigan because of subject and/or setting.  Harrison was born in Grayling, Michigan. He graduated from Haslett High School and Michigan State University and has maintained life-long state residency. Many of Harrison’s fictional accounts have been set in northern Michigan.

A panel of judges representing Michigan Library Association members and the Michigan Center for the Book determined the recipient on overall literary merit. To receive the award authors must be a current resident of Michigan, a long-time resident of Michigan, recently relocated, or an author whose works are identified with Michigan because of subject and/or setting in Michigan.

Past Michigan Author Award Winners include: Dan Gerber, Charles Baxter, Nancy Willard, Janet Kauffman, Elmore Leonard, Loren Estleman, Gloria Whelan, Jerry Dennis, Janie Lynn Panagopoulos, Thomas Lynch, Nicholas Delbanco, Diane Wakoski, Patricia Polacco, Christopher Paul Curtis, Steve Hamilton, Sarah Stewart, Tom Stanton, Dave Dempsey, John Smolens, Gary Schmidt, Bonnie Jo Campbell and Laura Kasischke.

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