Leslie Pietrzyk, whose first collection of short stories, The Angel on My Chest, won the Drue Heinz Literature Prize, was selected over 193 applicants to be the 2025 John Updike Tucson Casitas Fellow. The fellowship consists of a $1000 prize … Continue reading →

The selection committee for the John Updike Tucson Casitas Fellowship has chosen Dr. Sue Norton, Lecturer of English in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at Technological University Dublin, to serve as the first fellow in residence. The Fellowship, which … Continue reading →

Every two years, The John Updike Society holds a conference at a site with an Updike connection to celebrate the literature and legacy of the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer. For every conference, the society awards competitive Schiff Travel Grants to scholars … Continue reading →

Because of their work preserving The John Updike Childhood Home and turning it into a museum, The John Updike Society was chosen as one of 100 nonprofit organizations to receive a $2500 donation from American Family Insurance and the American … Continue reading →

Thanks to the Robert and Adele Schiff Family Foundation, the John Updike Society was able to offer grants to scholars to help them travel to Serbia to present their work at the 5th Biennial John Updike Society Conference in Belgrade, … Continue reading →

The Guardian‘s Claire Armitstead posted an article that asks the question, “Do celebrity book blurbs ‘blackmail’ readers?” “This year’s flurry of fur and feathers was provoked by a tirade from Colin Thubron (pictured) on celebrity endorsements,” Armitstead writes. “Some blurbs, said … Continue reading →

For half of its 13-year run, The Centaurian counted on Dave Lull to scour the Internet for Updike-related news so that editor James Yerkes could keep the site interesting and useful for scholars and the just-plain-readers Updike most appreciated. Then, two … Continue reading →

Roemer and Constance McPhee, whose support helped The John Updike Society to go all out and hire a historic restoration specialist to bring The John Updike Childhood Home in Shillington, Pa. back to the way it was when Updike lived there from … Continue reading →

Dana Spiotta, an associate professor in the MFA program in creative writing at Syracuse, has been named recipient of the John Updike Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Other writers honored in 2017 by the American … Continue reading →

At the closing dinner of the Fourth Biennial John Updike Society Conference, the society honored The Robert and Adele Schiff Family Foundation with its Distinguished Service Award. The award is small, a token but heartfelt appreciation; the service is huge. … Continue reading →

The Boston Public Library in Copley Square recently underwent a $78 million renovation, and one new feature is a “Literary Awards Wall” in the Fiction section featuring authors with a Massachusetts connection who have won an award. “Writers like John … Continue reading →

The Limerick Musical Society scored big at the Association of Irish Musical Awards in Killarney this past Saturday with their production of The Witches of Eastwick, winning Best Overall Show, Best Male Actor (Dave Griffin, as Darryl Van Horne), Best … Continue reading →

On March 12, PEN America announced the “longlists” (i.e., nominees) for the 2015 PEN Literary Awards in fiction, nonfiction, biography, essays, and translation, and Adam Begley’s Updike made the longlist for biography. Also making the longlist in that category: Isabella, … Continue reading →

Finalists for the L.A. Times Book Prizes were announced today, and Adam Begley’s Updike is one of five books in the running to win the award for biography. The others are Robert M. Dowling’s Eugene O’Neill: A Life in Four Acts, Kirstin Downey’s … Continue reading →