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The F.
Scott Fitzgerald Award
In 1996 the city of Rockville honored the centennial
of the birth of F. Scott Fitzgerald. It was a year-long celebration, filled
with activities and happenings which would have delighted Fitzgerald, the
romantic legend and the chronicler of the Jazz Age who, incidentally, is
buried with his family at Saint Mary's Church in Rockville. One of these
doings was the F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Conference and its Award, which
honored the achievements of a great American author. The event has proven
so popular that we have continued it to this day. Every year, as close as possible to Fitzgerald's birthday,
we have continued to honor an outstanding American writer.
2007 Award Winner: William Kennedy
William Joseph Kennedy was born in 1928, a descendant of Irish immigrants who settled in Albany in the 19th century. After high school he enrolled at Siena College – upon earning his degree he worked for the Glens Fall (NY) newspaper, and in 1950 he was drafted. After his Army discharge, he worked at the Albany Times Union and, in 1956, he moved to Puerto Rico, where he met and married his wife Dana and edited the San Juan Star. While there, he studied creative writing with Saul Bellows. On returning to Albany in 1963, he earned public acclaim for features about the City and also became a prolific book reviewer for many national publications. His published novels include The ink Truck (1969), Legs (1975), Billy Phelan’s Greatest Game (1978) and Ironweed (1983) for which he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction. Further he was also awarded a MacArthur Foundation grant. In 1988 Quinn’s Book and, in 1992, Very Old Bones became available; in 1996 The Flaming Corsage completed his cycle of novels about New York State and Albany. Kennedy is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He has also written several works of non-fiction, is a published playwright and has co-authored two children’s books with his son Brendan.
Past Award Winners
- 1996: William Styron
- 1997: John Barth
- 1998: Joyce Carol Oates
- 1999: E. L. Doctorow
- 2000: Norman Mailer
- 2001: Ernest J. Gaines
- 2002: John Updike
- 2003: Edward Albee
- 2004: Grace Paley
- 2005: Pat Conroy
- 2006: Jane Smiley
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