The MacArthur Foundation has just named its 2013 class of MacArthur Fellows. Karen Russell is among twenty-four others to receive this prestigious grant, which the Foundation says is awarded to an “extraordinary group of individuals who collectively reflect the breadth and depth of American creativity.”

Ben Marcus has been awarded the Berlin Prize Fellowship, a residency fellowship sponsored by The American Academy in Berlin.  His stint will begin in Fall 2013.

Lydia Davis was awarded the Man Booker International Prize last night in London, which is awarded for an achievement in fiction on the world stage and is distinct in that it considers literary excellence across the writer’s body of work rather than a single novel. The prize, given bi-annually, was last bestowed on Philip Roth in 2011.

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/24/gary-shteyngart-to-publish-memoir/?ref=arts

Ben Marcus has been named recipient of a 2013 Guggenheim Fellowship in Creative Arts – Fiction.

Karen Russell’s SWAMPLANDIA! has been shortlisted for the 2013 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. The novel was picked from a long list of 154 novels, submitted by 160 library systems in 44 countries.

The American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME) announced the finalists for the 2013 National Magazine Awards.  Karen Russell’s “The Blind Faith of the One-Eyed Matador” (GQ, October 2012) was named a finalist for feature writing.

Lydia Davis named recipient of The American Academy of Arts and Letters’ Award of Merit Medal 2013, given every six years to an outstanding short story writer.

Karen Russell’s VAMPIRES IN THE LEMON GROVE hit the New York Times Bestseller list at #15 in its first week of sales!

“Nemecia” by Kirstin Valdez Quade has been selected for BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES 2013, edited by Elizabeth Strout.  The story was originally published in Narrative Magazine.