2012 Inductees to the NYS Writers Hall of Fame Announced

Noted authors Toni Morrison, Joyce Carol Oates, E.L. Doctorow, and Pete Hamill are among the 14 writers in the 2012 Class of Inductees into the NYS Writers Hall of Fame. The four will be in attendance at the induction on June 5, 2012, at the Princeton Club of New York. The announcement was made on January 11, 2012 at the Forbes Gallery in New York City by Robert L. Forbes, who serves on the board of the Empire State Center for the Book. The Center for the Book is the organization that oversees the Hall of Fame. Ten deceased writers including Kurt Vonnegut, Washington Irving, and Marianne Moore will also be inducted.

The full list of the 2012 inductees is as follows: John Cheever; Hart Crane; Edna Ferber; Washington Irving; Henry James; Mary McCarthy; Marianne Moore; Barbara Tuchman; Kurt Vonnegut; Richard Wright; E. L. Doctorow; Peter Hamill; Toni Morrison; and Joyce Carol Oates. For more information on each of the authors, please visit the Empire State Center for the Book's website at empirestatebook.org.

"This year's list of inductees has poets, novelists, journalists and historians who have roots stretching from Brooklyn to Buffalo," said Rocco Staino, the center for the book chairman. "In addition, we are delighted that this honor will help celebrate the centennial of John Cheever, Mary McCarthy and Barbara Tuchman's births."

The nominees into the NYS Writers Hall of Fame were chosen by a selection committee comprised of Harold Augenbraum, Executive Director of the National Book Foundation; Jeffrey Cannell, Deputy Commissioner for Cultural Education of the New York State Education Department; Barbara Genco, retired librarian from Brooklyn Public Library and Editor of Collection Management at Media Source; Brian Kenney, Director of the White Plains Public Library; Brian McCarthy, Associate Publisher of the Library of America; Kathleen Masterson, Director of the Literature Program at the New York State Council on the Arts; Bertha Rogers, Executive Director of Bright Hill Press & creator of the New York State Literary website and map; Rocco Staino, Chairman of the Empire State Center for the Book; and Hong Yao, Associate Coordinator Collection Development at Queens Library.

Plans are under way to house the NYS Writers Hall of Fame at the New York State Library in Albany.

For additional information on the Empire State Center for the Book and the Writers Hall of fame, contact Rocco Staino at the New York Library Association 1-800-252-NYLA or rstaino@yahoo.com.

About the Empire State Center for the Book:

The Empire State Center for the Book is part of the Library of Congress Center for the Book and is housed at the New York Library Association.

About NYLA:

The New York Library Association (NYLA) was established in 1890 by Melvil Dewey and is the oldest state library association in the nation. NYLA represents school, college, special and public libraries, library staff, trustees, and students from around the state.