America
Obama to present National Humanities Medal to Jhumpa Lahiri
Washington, Sep 4
Pulitzer Prize winning
Indian-American author is one of the 10 distinguished recipients of the
2014 National Humanities Medal, to be prsented by President Barack
Obama at a White House ceremony on September 10.
Lahiri has been
awarded the medal "for enlarging the human story", according to the
White house citation. "In her works of fiction, Lahiri has illuminated
the Indian-American experience in beautifully wrought narratives of
estrangement and belonging."
The medal honors an individual or
organization whose work has deepened the nation's understanding of the
human experience, broadened citizens' engagement with history and
literature or helped preserve and expand Americans' access to cultural
resources.
The White House citation is accompanied by an article
on Lahiri written by Elizabeth Word Gutting, a writer based in
Washington and the programme director of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation.
Lahiri's
novel "The Lowland" was among the books Obama took with him while
vacationing in Martha's Vineyard, an island summer resort in
Massachusetts, last month.
"The Lowland" is a story about two
brothers who grew up in Calcutta in the 1960s. After one is killed, the
other marries his pregnant widow and moves to the US. The New York
Times calls the premise of this novel "startlingly operatic".
Other awardees include historians, writers, a philosopher, scholar, preservationist, food activist and an education course.
The
National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) manages the nominations
process for the National Humanities Medal on behalf of the White House.
"The
National Endowment for the Humanities is proud to join President Obama
in celebrating the achievements of these distinguished medalists,"
said NEH chairman William Adams.
"The recipients of this medal
have sparked our imaginations, ignited our passions, and transformed
our cultural understanding. They embody how the humanities can serve a
common good."
The first National Humanities Medal was awarded in
1996. Since then, 175 have been bestowed to 163 individuals and 12
organizations inclusive of this year's recipients.
(Arun Kumar can be contacted at [email protected])