Authors Margaret Atwood and Roberto Calasso have been elected as foreign honorary members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. The authors were named along with three composers. The recipients were chosen by vote of the 250 members of the Academy.
In addition, William H. Gass‘ novel Middle C was honored with the William Dean Howells Medal for the best novel published in the last five years. Louise Gluck was given the Gold Medal for Poetry.
These honors will be given out at a ceremony in May, after which an exhibition featuring art, architecture, books, and manuscripts will be on display from May 21 to June 14.