Chairs

Rose Kernochan, Ronnie Ebenstein, Joan Hartman, Marc Levenstein
   

Role in furthering the NAC Mission

Our mission is to present literary works of merit to the membership and to the general public through readings and discussions with authors, panel discussions on literary subjects of interest and by introducing promising new authors. Our twice monthly events are free and open to the public, and unless otherwise noted, begin at 8pm in the Grand Gallery of The National Arts Club.

Since 1968, the Committee has recommended distinguished authors to the Board of Governors for the prestigious Medal of Honor for Literature. Past recipients of this award include most of the major literary figures of the 20th and 21st centuries.


If you are a member of The National Arts Club and are interested in joining our committee, please email us at [email protected].

  • Medal of Honor Recipients
    • 1968 Louis Auchincloss

      1969 WH Auden

      1970 SJ Perelman

      1971 Ada Louise Huxtable

      1972 Norman Cousins

      1973 Anthony Burgess

      1974 Eudora Welty

      1975 Tennessee Williams

      1976 Norman Mailer

      1978 Saul Bellow

      1979 Allen Ginsberg

      1980 Isaac Bashevis Singer

      1981 Leon Edel

      1982 Barbara Tuchman

      1983 James Laughlin

      1984 John Updike

      1985 Joseph Campbell

      1986 Marguerite Yourcenar

      1987 Robertson Davies

      1988 Carlos Fuentes

      1989 James Merrill

      1990 Iris Murdoch

      1991 Philip Roth

      1992 Arthur Miller

      1993 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
        1994 Richard Wilbur

      1995 William Styron

      1996 E.L. Doctorow

      1997 Margaret Atwood

      1998 Grace Paley

      1999 Toni Morrison

      2000 Nadine Gordimer

      2001 Tom Wolfe

      2002 Edna O’Brien

      2003 Sir Tom Stoppard

      2004 Shirley Hazzard

      2005 Alice Munro

      2006 P.D. James

      2007 Chinua Achebe

      2008 Don DeLillo

      2009 Joyce Carol Oates

      2010 David McCullough

      2011 Edward Albee

      2012 Martin Amis

      2013 Salman Rushdie

      2014 John Ashbery

      2015 Paul Auster

      2016 Jane Smiley

      2017 Alexander McCall Smith

      2018 - John McPhee