New York
The New York State Writers Institute of the State University of New York was mandated as a permanent, state-sponsored organization by legislation introduced by former Assemblyman William Passannante of Manhattan and former Senator Tarky Lombardi, Jr. of Syracuse and signed into law by Governor Mario M. Cuomo on September 12, 1984. Associated with the State University of New York system and located at the University at Albany, the Institute runs programs in literature and imaginative writing throughout New York State. It provides a milieu for renowned and experienced writers from all over the world to come together with new and aspiring writers for the purpose of instruction and creative exchange.
By special mandate in 1985, the Institute was designated by the New York State Legislature to award both the Edith Wharton Citation of Merit for fiction writers (State Author) and the Walt Whitman Citation of Merit for poets (State Poet) every two years. Upon the recommendation of two advisory panels of distinguished authors convened under the aegis of the Institute, the Governor awards each Citation to "an author whose achievements make him or her deserving of such recognition." Each Citation carries an honorarium of ten thousand dollars, and the State Author/State Poet "shall promote and encourage fiction/poetry within the State and shall give two public readings within the State each year."
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The State Author award is named for Edith Wharton (1862-1937), who is recognized as one of the great novelists in the history of American literature. Born in New York City into wealth and social status, she nevertheless exposed, in her darkly elegant fiction and novels, the hypocrisies and pressures of New York City society of the time, particularly examining the role and condition of women. Her prose is, in the phrase she herself used to describe successful short fiction, "a shaft driven straight into the heart of experience." |
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The State Poet award is named for Walt Whitman (1819-1892), the renowned poet born in Huntington, Long Island, whose collection Leaves of Grass heralded a new age of formal innovation in poetry with its absence of rhyme and meter and its abundance of oratorical rhythms and extended litanies. As the self-styled "poet of democracy" and the shaggy, poetic spokesman of young America, Whitman became the leading poet of liberal political movements in 19th century Europe. Whitman continues to exert a powerful influence on succeeding generations of poets both here and abroad. |
 Grace Paley1986-1988 |  Stanley Kunitz1986-1988 |
 E. L. Doctorow1989-1991 |  Robert Creeley1989-1991 |
 Norman Mailer1991-1993 |  Audre Lorde1991-1993 |
 William Gaddis1993-1995 |  Richard Howard1993-1995 |
 Peter Matthiessen1995-1997 |  Jane Cooper1995-1997 |
 James Salter1998-2000 |  Sharon Olds1998-2000 |
 Kurt Vonnegut2001-2003 |  John Ashbery2001-2003 |
 Russell Banks2004-2006 |  Billy Collins2004-2006 |
| Nominees are selected by an Advisory Panel and the Award is primarily considered for life time achievement. |
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