Awardees | Sponsors
The Oklahoma Humanities Award is an annual distinction made by the Oklahoma Humanities Council. Its purpose is to acknowledge individuals who have contributed significantly to the understanding of the humanities in Oklahoma. The 2008 recipient of this distinguished award is N. Scott Momaday, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and Oklahoma Centennial State Poet Laureate.
About N. Scott Momaday
N. Scott Momaday was born in Lawton and is a member of the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma. He holds a Ph.D. in English and American literature from Stanford University. In addition to a lifetime of writing, he has held university professorships at Stanford, Columbia, Princeton, and the University of Arizona. Currently, he is a Senior Scholar at the School for Advanced Research in Santa Fe. Governor Brad Henry appointed Momaday as the Oklahoma Centennial State Poet Laureate in 2007.
Momaday’s literary works include The Way to Rainy Mountain; Angle of Geese; The Names: A Memoir; The Ancient Child; and In the Presence of the Sun. His first novel, House Made of Dawn, won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1969. He is the founder and chairman of The Buffalo Trust, a nonprofit foundation supporting the efforts of indigenous communities to preserve and perpetuate their cultural identity. His most recent book, Three Plays, was published by the University of Oklahoma Press in 2007.
2008 N. Scott Momaday
2007 Wilma Mankiller
Funding for the 2008 Oklahoma Humanities Award is provided in part by our sponsors:
