Poets & Writers to Honor Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Richard Russo, and Riverhead’s Rebecca Saletan
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Poets & Writers, the distinguished nonprofit literary organization that fosters the professional creative development of poets as well as fiction and nonfiction writers, has announced its annual awards recipients: 
Penguin Random House authors Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Richard Russo will receive the 2018 Writers for Writers Awards, “recognizing authors who have given generously to other writers or to the broader literary community.”
Rebecca Saletan, Vice President, Editorial Director, Riverhead Books, will receive the 2018 Editor’s Award, which “honors a book editor who has made an outstanding contribution to the publication of poetry or literary prose over a sustained period of time.”
Author Susan Isaacs, who chairs the Poets & Writers’ Board of Directors and the committee that annually selects the honorees, commented, “We receive nominations from writers, publishing professionals, and others in the literary community. From the information about the nominees and their accomplishments, we select three writers and an editor who exemplify Poets & Writers’ core values: service, integrity, inclusivity, and excellence. This year’s honorees are models of those qualities. The Board is delighted to be able to honor them. Their work makes me proud to be part of this community.”
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Photo Credit: Wani Olatunde
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is the author of several acclaimed novels, including HALF OF A YELLOW SUN (Anchor) and AMERICANAH (Anchor), as well as highly regarded essay collections, WE SHOULD ALL BE FEMINISTS (Anchor) and DEAR IJEAWELE, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions (Knopf). Poets & Writers salutes Ms. Adichie for how she “supports and encourages younger writers through her work with the Farafina Trust Creative Writing Workshop in Nigeria, widely regarded as the premier writing program in Africa.”
Richard Russo
Photo Credit: Elena Seibert
Richard Russo is the author of numerous bestselling novels, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning EMPIRE FALLS (Vintage) and, most recently, EVERYBODY’S FOOL (Vintage). Poets & Writers notes that Mr. Russo “is renowned as an advocate for other writers. While many well-known authors will blurb an emerging writer’s book, Russo goes much farther, often planning joint appearances and hosting high-profile events to help bring attention to books and authors he believes in.”
Rebecca Saletan
Photo Credit: Louie Saletan
Ms. Saletan is being recognized for “her long-standing commitment to championing diverse voices and lowering barriers to publishing, as well as her exceptional ability to spot talent and to inspire her colleagues.” During the course of her thirty-five-year career in publishing, she has worked with a wide range of authors, including 2017 National Book Award-winning author, journalist and social critic Masha Gessen; the late National Book Award-winning writer and environmentalist Peter Matthiessen; and internationally bestselling novelist and essayist Mohsin Hamid.
Also being honored with a 2018 Writers for Writers award is Steve Cannon, who created “A Gathering of the Tribes,” a New York City multi-cultural East Village institution since 1991. This performance venue and meeting place is for artists and audiences to come together across all artistic disciplines.
The awards will be presented at Poets & Writers’ annual dinner, In Celebration of Writers, on Wednesday evening, March 28, 2018, in Manhattan.