Jonathan Franzen
Jonathan Franzen is the author of six novels, most recently Crossroads and Purity, and five works of nonfiction, including The Discomfort Zone, Farther Away, and The End of the End of the Earth.
Among his honors are the National Book Award, the James Tait Black Memorial Award, the Heartland Prize, Die Welt Literature Prize, the Budapest Grand Prize, and the first Carlos Fuentes Medal awarded at the Guadalajara International Book Fair. Franzen is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the German Akademie der Künste, and the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
An ardent bird-watcher, he has served on the board of the American Bird Conservancy since 2008, and has received the EuroNatur Award for his work in bird conservation.
Literary awards
- 2001 National Book Award for Fiction
- 2001 Salon Book Award for Fiction
- 2002 Audie Award
- 2003 James Tait Black Memorial Prize
- 2010 Galaxy National Book Awards, International Author of the Year
- 2010 Los Angeles Times Book Prize (Fiction) finalist
- 2010 National Book Critics Circle Award finalist
- 2010 Salon Book Award (Fiction)
- 2011 Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize
- 2011 John Gardner Award (Fiction)
- 2013 National Book Critics Circle Award (Criticism) shortlist
Honors and other recognition
- 1981 Fulbright Scholarship to Germany
- 1988 Whiting Award
- 1996 Guggenheim Fellowship
- 1996 Granta’s Best of Young American Novelists
- 2000 Berlin Prize (American Academy in Berlin)
- 2001 Oprah’s Book Club Selection
- 2001 The New York Times Best Books of the Year
- 2009 Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Visitor American Academy in Berlin
- 2010 Oprah’s Book Club selection
- 2010 The New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2010 list
- 2010 The New York Times Best Books of the Year
- 2010 Elected to the Akademie der Kunste, Berlin
- 2011 Named one of Time‘s Time 100
- 2012 Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters
- 2012 Elected to the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
- 2012 Carlos Fuentes Medal
- 2015 Budapest Grand Prize
- 2015 Euronatur Award for outstanding commitment to nature conservation in Europe
- 2017 Frank Schirrmacher Preis
- 2022 Thomas Mann Prize
Photo Credit: Ian Bates