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The Medal of Honour for Literature presented to Nigerian Writer Chinua Achebe
The Medal of Honour for Literature
One of America’s most prestigious literature Honours – The Medal of Honour for literature from the National Arts Club is to be presented to Nigerian novelist Professor Chinua Achebe on November, 16, 2007 in New York City. The Medal of Honour for Literature is given for a body of work of literary excellence. The recipient can be a novelist, poet, playwright, memoirist, or biographer.
The Medal of Honour of The National Arts Club Honours the achievement of the author chosen annually by the Literary Committee Members. The Club's Membership has included three presidents, and some of the most important artists and arts patrons in America. Presidents Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson and Dwight D. Eisenhower were all members of the National Arts Club.
Among the distinguished painters who have been members are Robert Henri, Frederic Remington, William Merritt Chase and Cecilia Beaux. Sculptors have included Saint-Gaudens, Daniel Chester French, Anna Hyatt Huntington and Paul Manship. Many renowned literary figures have also been members. The National Arts Club is proud of its early recognition of new media art forms, like photography, film and digital media, and counts Alfred Stieglitz as one of its early Members. Musicians Victor Herbert and Walter Damrosch were members, as were architects Stanford White and George B. Post. The Dramatic Arts are currently represented by members Martin Scorcese, Ethan Hawke, Dennis Hopper, Robert Redford and Uma Thurman.
Past recipients of the medal of Honour for Literature have included some of the most distinguished and important writers of the past fifty years. Achebe is the first black African and second black writer to receive this Honour.
Past Recipients:
1982 Barbara W. Tuchman
Black Tie Event
Chinua Achebe was the recipient of the 2007 Man Booker Prize, as well as Nigeria’s highest award for intellectual achievement, and many other prestigious awards. Nadine Gordimer says “Achebe is the father of modern African literature who made it an integral part of World literature.” Speakers at the Black Tie event will include Brown University President Ruth Simmons, Distinguished Global Professor in Creative Writing at NYU, Breyten Breytenbach and distinguished Professor of Afro-American studies Michael Thelwell of University of Massachusettes. Master of Ceremonies will be noted musician and Bard College President, Leon Botstein. Event tickets are $85 per person, price includes tax and service charge. RSVP by 11/12 at (212) 475-3424.
About the National Arts Club
The mission of the National Arts Club is to stimulate, foster and promote public interest in the arts and educate the American people in the fine arts. The National Arts Club was founded in 1898 by Charles de Kay. Charles de Kay was the literary and art critic for The New York Times for 18 years. He and a group of distinguished artists and patrons conceived of agathering place for artists, patrons and audiences in all the arts. American art at the turn of the century had begun to look inward for inspiration, rather than to Europe, and the American art world was alive with energy. As The National Arts Club moved into its first home in a townhouse on 34th Street, American art had found a new home.
The National Arts Club is located in the historic Tilden Mansion. 15 Gramercy Park was built in the 1840's and its original flat-front, iron-grilled appearance matched the style of the houses still maintained on the west side of Gramercy Park. Samuel Tilden acquired 15 Gramercy Park in the 1860's, and in the 1870's gave the house a massive overhaul. Tilden hired Calvert Vaux, a famed architect and one of the designers of Central Park to "victorianize" the facade with sandstone, bay windows and Gothic Ornamentation. John LaFarge created stained glass ceilings for the inside of the mansion, and Italian wood carvers made the fireplaces. Glass master Donald MacDonald wrought a unique stained glass dome for the building. All of this prompted architect Philip Johnson to call the mansion, "among the most beautiful in New York." Spencer Trask and the Board of Governors acquired the Tilden Mansion in 1906 as the new home for the National Arts Club.
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