The Neustadt International Prize for Literature, an award given by the
University of Oklahoma and
World Literature Today, is given biennially and was established in 1969 as the Books Abroad International Prize for Literature. The prize has been guaranteed in perpetuity through a generous donation by the Neustadt family of Ardmore,
Oklahoma. It was renamed to the Books Abroad / Neustadt Prize for Literature before assuming its present name in 1976. The prize is the first international literary award of this scope to originate in the United States and is one of the few prizes that considers novelists, poets and playwrights equally.
The prize consists of $50,000, a replica of a feather cast in silver, and a certificate. The prize is awarded based on the decision of a jury composed of international writers. The Executive Director of World Literature Today, the only permanent juror, selects a new jury every year. The nominations are released publicly six months prior to the meeting of the jurors, who meet for two to three days at the University of Oklahoma to discuss the nominees. Once a decision is reached the President of the University announces the winner. Two to four months later the award is given at the University at a special conference.
Several winners have gone on to win the Nobel Prize in Literature (winners indicated by a star). Below is a list of past laureates.
2004 Adam Zagajewski (Poland)
2002 Alvaro Mutis (Colombia)
2000 David Malouf (Australia)
1998 Nuruddin Farah (Somalia)
1996 Assia Djebar (Algeria)
1994 Kamau Brathwaite (Barbados)
1992 João Cabral de Melo Neto (Brazil)
1990 Tomas Tranströmer (Sweden)
1988 Raja Rao (India)
1986 Max Frisch (Switzerland)
1984 Paavo Haavikko (Finland)
1982 Octavio Paz (Mexico)*
1980 Josef Škvorecky (Czechoslovakia/Canada)
1978 Czeslaw Milosz (Poland)*
1976 Elizabeth Bishop (USA)
1974 Francis Ponge (France)
1972 Gabriel García Márquez (Colombia)*
1970 Giuseppe Ungaretti (Italy)