Press Releases

November 27, 2003

Robert A. Caro to Receive Steinbeck Writers Award
Distinguished Biographer Headlines "Meet the Writers" Book Fair

Contact:
Amanda Olsen, Darren Johnson pr@southampton.liu.edu
631-287-8313

Southampton, NY — Two-time Pulitzer Prize winning author Robert A. Caro now has another title to add to his already long list of achievements: Steinbeck Writers Award winner. Caro will be the 16^th recipient of the prestigious annual award when Southampton College hosts the 27^th John Steinbeck "Meet the Writers" Book Fair on Friday, May 7, 2004.

The event, held at Southampton College for the first time last year, has become an East End institution, considered the unofficial start of the Hamptons summer season. The 2003 Book Fair set records as the most profitable ever, raising $35,500 with $10,200 from book sales. Over 90 authors participated.

Caro is the renowned biographer of Lyndon Johnson ("The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The Path to Power" and "Means of Ascent") and Robert Moses ("The Power Broker"), and the winner of two Pulitzer Prizes in Biography, the National Book Award, the Francis Parkman Prize, two National Book Critics Circle Awards, the H. L. Mencken Award, the Carr P. Collins Award from the Texas Institute of Letters, and an Award in Literature from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. He graduated from Princeton University, was an award-winning investigative reporter for Newsday for six years and a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University.

To research "The Years of Lyndon Johnson," Caro and his wife, Ina, moved from his native New York to Texas and then to Washington State to live in the locales in which Johnson grew up and to immerse himself in the former president’s world. He has spent years examining documents at the Johnson Library in Austin. He has also interviewed thousands of people connected with Johnson's life, many of whom had never before been interviewed. Caro has residences in New York City and Sag Harbor.

Scores of local writers of new books will meet the public and autograph their works at the Book Fair, which is sponsored by the John Steinbeck Project at Southampton College and benefits the college’s Library and Writing program. East End writers who have had a book published since last May or those who will soon have a book published and are interested in participating in this year’s event should call Carol Gilbert at (631) 287-8348.

The Steinbeck Writers Award was previously named The John Steinbeck Award. The name was changed to reflect last year’s passing of wife Elaine Steinbeck, a founder and friend of the Book Fair. Past recipients of the award include E.L. Doctorow, Lanford Wilson, Peter Matthiessen, Kurt Vonnegut, Terrence McNally, Betty Friedan, David Ignatow, Wilfred Sheed, Edward Albee, James Salter, Susan Isaacs, Dava Sobel, Kenneth Koch, Gregory Rebassa and Tom Wolfe last year.

Since its inception in 1977, the Book Fair has raised funds that support student writing awards and scholarships, acquisitions for the College Library, and the John Steinbeck Writers Room, located in the Southampton College library.