John Dos Passos Prize for Literature

       They've announced that the 2015 John Dos Passos Prize for Literature will go to Ruth Ozeki; she'll be the 33rd prize-winner.
       This Longwood University prize is:

meant to honor one of the greatest -- and most often ignored -- American writers of the twentieth century by recognizing other writers in his name.

       And:

Recipients of the prize are American creative writers who have produced a substantial body of significant publication that displays characteristics of John Dos Passos's writing: an intense and original exploration of specifically American themes, an experimental approach to form, and an interest in a wide rage of human experiences.

       A reasonably interesting list of previous winners -- though surely they were just trying to make a name for themselves in giving the inaugural prize in 1980 to Graham Greene (apparently over the likes of John Updike and Norman Mailer, so: not the worst way to go) ..... (They seem to have gone all-American after that failed experiment.)

       Ozeki gets to pick up the prize on 24 April.