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WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Alison Lurie has been named New York State author, joining luminaries such as Kurt Vonnegut, Norman Mailer and E.L. Doctorow, according to a press release by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who appointed her.
Lurie, who grew up in White Plains, becomes the 10th state author, succeeding novelist Mary Gordon, who was on the advisory panel that recommended her.
"I am delighted and honored by this award from the state where I have spent most of my life; a state that has been the home of so many great writers as well as enthusiastic and dedicated readers, Lurie said in a statement.
Lurie has penned 10 novels, a short story collection and several childrens books and works of nonfiction.
"Alison Lurie is a wise and masterful teller of tales that often center on marital strife, domestic disorder, and academic absurdity comedies of manners of our time but with a deeply human strain, said Donald Faulkner, director of the New York State Writers Institute. She is a superior prose stylist with a wickedly satirical talent."
Cuomo also appointed Marie Howe the new state poet, succeeding Jean Valentine.
"Marie and Alison represent the rich talent and diversity that New York has to offer," Cuomo said. "Both of them have inspired New Yorkers all across the state, and their works are major assets to us all. They are truly deserving of this honor, and hopefully their great work will now reach a new and even wider audience."
Lurie won the Pulitzer Prize for her 1984 novel "Foreign Affair." She is also known for her novels "The War Between the Tates" (1974), "Love and Friendship" (1962), "Real People" (1969), "The Last Resort" (1998) and "Truth and Consequences" (2005).
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