LeAnne Howe to receive lifetime achievement award from the Oklahoma Center for the Book

“I became a writer so I could go off in all directions, meet new people, write about what I’ve hungered to know.”
-LeAnne Howe

American Indian author, playwright, and scholar, LeAnne Howe was born and educated in Oklahoma and is an enrolled citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. She is an author, poet, playwright, filmmaker and scholar with a focus on American Indian experiences. 

As the Eidson Distinguished Professor in American Literature in the department of English and Director of the Institute of Native American Studies, she is the recipient of a United States Artists (USA) Ford Fellowship, Lifetime Achievement Award by the Native Writers’ Circle of the Americas, American Book Award, Oklahoma Book Award, and is a former Fulbright Distinguished Scholar to Jordan. 

She will be honored with the 2024 Arrell Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award at the ceremony honoring Oklahoma’s literary excellence, the 35th Annual Oklahoma Book Awards on Saturday, May 11th. Named in honor of Norman historian Arrell Gibson, the Center's inaugural president, this award recognizes individuals who have left an indelible mark on Oklahoma's literary landscape.

"There is no one more deserving than Professor Howe for this honor who was recently cited as "one of Native America’s greatest writers and theorists." Her remarkable body of work has reshaped conversations about American letters and indigenous literature worldwide."

-Aruni Kashyap, Director of Creative Writing Program

"This award is yet another recognition of the fact that LeAnne Howe is a true literary visionary, whose remarkable talents in a number of different genres continue to captivate and inspire audiences both at home and worldwide." 

-Dr. Roland Végső, Professor & English Department Head

Congratulations, LeAnne Howe!