2021 Awards

The Society for the Study of American Women Writers was founded in 2000 to promote the study of American women writers through research, teaching, and publication. The Book Award, Edition Award, and Karen Dandurand Lifetime Achievement Award were established in 2011 to honor the work and legacies of the Society’s founding members and to further SSAWW’s goal to support and broaden knowledge among academics as well as the general public about American women writers. SSAWW is please to announce the winners of our 2021 awards.

Karen Dandurand Lifetime Achievement Award

The Karen Dandurand Lifetime Achievement Award is given every three years at the Society for the Study of American Women Writers’ conference to recognize a scholar’s career achievement in the study of American women writers. The award recognizes the individual’s commitment to the field as demonstrated in his/her teaching, mentoring of students, scholarship and service.

The award is named in honor of Karen Dandurand, who passed away in 2011. She was one of the founding editors of Legacy and was an active member of SSAWW, serving as Vice President of Development (2004-2009).

Karen Dandurand Lifetime Achievement Award 2021

Winner: Dale M. Bauer Professor, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

2021 Lifetime Achievement Award Selection Committee

Julie Goodspeed-Chadwick (Chair), Professor, Indiana University-Purdue University Columbus

Martha Pitts, Assistant Professor, Farleigh Dickinson University

Krista Quesenberry, Visiting Assistant Professor, Albion College

Claudia Stokes, Professor, Trinity University

Emily Van Duyne, Associate Professor, Stockton University

Book Award

The SSAWW Book Award is given every three years at the Society for the Study of American Women Writers’ conference to recognize excellence in the field. The award recognizes the monograph’s significant contribution to scholarship related to American women writers published during the preceding three years before the submission deadline.

2021 Book Award Winner:

Abigail G. H. Manzella

Ohio State University Press, 2018.

Available for purchase here.

2021 Book Award Honorable Mentions

Elizabeth Young for her book Pet Projects: Animal Fiction and Taxidermy in the Nineteenth-Century Archive

Penn State University Press, 2019

Available for purchase here.

Nancy Kang and Silvio Torres-Saillant for their book The Once and Future Muse: The Poetry and Poetics of Rhina P. Espaillat.

University of Pittsburgh Press, 2018

Available for purchase here.

2021 Book Award Selection Committee

Katherine Adams (Chair), Associate Professor, Tulane University

Janet Badia, Professor, Purdue University Fort Wayne

Jennifer J. Smith, Associate Professor, North Central College

Edition Award

The SSAWW Edition Award is given every three years at the Society for the Study of American Women Writers’ conference to recognize excellence in the recovery of American women writers. The award recognizes an edition published during the preceding three years before the submission deadline.