Lynn Nottage, Ayad Akhtar, Dominique Morisseau Receive Academy of Arts and Letters Awards

The American Academy of Arts and Letters has announced that playwrights Lynn Nottage, Ayad Akhtar, and Dominique Morisseau are among this year's recipients of the 2017 Arts and Letters Awards in Literature.

Akhtar (Disgraced) and Morisseau (Skeleton Crew) will receive a prize of $10,000 for "exceptional accomplishment in any genre." Nottage (Sweat) will receive the Nitro Mountain Award of Merit Medal, which comes with a $25,000 prize. Nottage is the first playwright of color to receive this particular award and the second woman to receive the honor.

The literature prizes, totaling $265,000, honor both established and emerging writers of fiction, nonfiction, drama, and poetry. The Academy’s 250 members propose candidates, and a rotating committee of writers selects winners. This year’s award committee members were John Guare (chairman), Thomas McGuane, Anne Tyler, Rosanna Warren, and Joy Williams.