MICHIGAN AUTHOR AWARD

The Michigan Author Award recognizes an outstanding published body of literary work by an author who is either from Michigan or has substantial ties to the state. The award was established in 1992 with the intention of recognizing significant Michigan authors with a lifetime achievement award. Over the years, the award has been given to a diverse collection of writers working in a variety of genres and styles. A panel of judges representing Michigan Library Association members determines the recipient on overall literary merit.

To learn more about the award, please download a PDF resource below.

Award Guidelines

We are accepting nominations for the 2020 Michigan Author Award through February 28, 2020. Nominate an author using the online form:

MI Author Award Nomination

MLA Names Jaimy Gordon 2019 Michigan Author Award Winner

The Michigan Library Association (MLA) is pleased to announce Jaimy Gordon has won the 2019 Michigan Author Award. The award was presented at the Michigan Author Award luncheon during the MLA 2019 Annual Conference in Novi on Friday, October 18, 2019.

MLA members on the Michigan Author Award Work Group determine the award recipient on overall literary merit. The award was established in 1992 with the intention of recognizing significant Michigan authors with a lifetime achievement award. Over the years, the award has been given to a diverse collection of writers, working in a variety of genres and styles.

"Our work group was impressed with the rich language and complex characters represented in Ms. Gordon's works over her lengthy career. We were also greatly moved by the influence she has in developing emerging Michigan writers through her profession as an English Professor," said Michigan Author Award Work Group Chair Dee Beaver. "We felt that Ms. Gordon's body of work, the length of her career, as well as her work as an educator developing Michigan writers makes her most deserving of the award."

Jaimy Gordon’s fourth novel, Lord of Misrule, won the National Book Award for Fiction in 2010, and was a Finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award; it also won the Tony Ryan Award for the year’s best book about horse racing. Gordon’s previous novels include Bogeywoman, She Drove Without Stopping, and Shamp of the City-Solo. She has been a Fellow of the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center and the Bunting Institute of Radcliffe College and has also won an Academy-Institute Award for her fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She has translated several works of Maria Beig from German, most recently Hermine, An Animal Life. Born in Baltimore, Gordon formerly taught at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, and currently teaches in the Prague Summer Program for Writers.