Newsroom > Distinguished Professor John Matteson Nominated for Inaugural Biography Prize

Newsroom Archive


   

Distinguished Professor John Matteson Nominated for Inaugural Biography Prize

Distinguished Professor of English John Matteson has done it again. Matteson, who won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Biography for Eden’s Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father, is one of the finalists for the inaugural Plutarch Award for the best biography of 2012, for his newest work, The Lives of Margaret Fuller.

The Plutarch Award is presented by Biographers International Organization (BIO). The winner will be revealed on May 18 at the annual Compleat Biographer Conference in New York.

A statement issued by BIO describes the Plutarch Award as “the first prize to be awarded to a biographer, by biographers.”

“We at John Jay have long recognized that Professor Matteson combines outstanding scholarship and engaging writing to produce works that enlighten scholars, students and the general public,” said John Jay College President Jeremy Travis. “His contributions to the study of literature as well as to the overall academic life of the College are truly profound."

Professor Matteson is a former recipient of the Distinguished Faculty Award presented by the John Jay College Alumni Association, and the Dean's Award for Distinguished Achievement by a Ph.D. Alumnus of the Columbia University School of Arts and Sciences. The Lives of Margaret Fuller, published by W.W. Norton, was previously honored with the 2012 Ann M. Sperber Award, presented by the Fordham University Department of Communication and Media Studies to recognize an outstanding biography of a journalist or other media figure.