Elmore Leonard Honoured With Prestigous Award
Elmore Leonard has been honoured with The National Book Foundation’s Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters award. He will be presented with the medal on November 14th.
“I was very surprised. I didn’t ever count on winning this kind of an award,” Leonard said. “I’ve won a lot of awards, but not like this one.”
The award has been given to such authors as Ray Bradbury, Norman Mailer, Arthur Miller, Toni Morrison, Philip Roth, John Updyke, Gore Vidal and Tom Wolfe.
“I think I’m a good writer. I don’t see any objection to my being on this list,” he says of his inclusion.
When asked on whether he’d be able to limit his speech to the six minute requirement, he took a drag of his cigarette and replied “Oh yeah.”