President Obama to award National Medal to Stephen King, Jhumpa Lahiri et al

September 11, 2015 00:50

In the three decades that the National Medals of Arts have been awarded, the list of recipients has grown long and luminous. Ray Bradbury, Maya Angelou, Aretha Franklin, Frank Capra, Georgia O'Keeffe, even AT&T (and many, many more) the artists and arts patrons who have earned the prize from the U.S. government are as hallowed in name as they are diverse in discipline.

This year, that list gets a bit horrific.

Stephen King, the prolific novelist behind best-selling frights such as The Shining and Carrie, will receive the 2014 National Medal of Arts from President Obama on Thursday, along with 10 other artists. In the citation for the prize, to be read by Obama at the White House awards ceremony, the National Endowment for the Arts spoke of King in glowing terms:

"One of the most popular and prolific writers of our time, Mr. King combines his remarkable storytelling with his sharp analysis of human nature. For decades, his works of horror, suspense, science fiction, and fantasy have terrified and delighted audiences around the world."

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