Michael Chabon, Jonathan Franzen among new members of arts academy

The Washington Post 

NEW YORK — Michael Chabon credits his latest honor to the gray in his beard.

“I knew that when the gray came in it was only a matter of time before my augustness would be recognized,” the 48-year-old Pulitzer Prize winner said with a laugh during a recent telephone interview about being voted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters, an “honor society” where members include Toni Morrison, Maya Lin and Philip Glass.

(Seth Wenig, File/Associated Press) - This Dec. 6, 2010 file photo shows author Michael Chabon as he poses for a photo in New York. Chabon, Jonathan Franzen and Jhumpa Lahiri were voted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. The new inductees will be officially welcomed at a ceremony in May.

“I am definitely honored and delighted and when I saw who else was in the academy I was sure they had made some kind of mistake.”
Three acclaimed contemporary writers — Chabon, Jonathan Franzen and Jhumpa Lahiri — are among the class of 2012, announced Friday.
Franzen, 52, has written two of the most talked-about literary novels of the past decade, “The Corrections” and “Freedom.” Both were chosen by Oprah Winfrey for her book club, and “The Corrections,” published in 2001, won the National Book Award. A book of essays, “Farther Away,” is coming out in April.
Lahiri, 44, won the Pulitzer in 2000 for her first book, the story collection “Interpreter of Maladies.” Her 2003 novel, “The Namesake,” was later made into a film of the same name, starring Kal Penn.
Chabon received the Pulitzer in 2001 for “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay,” and also is known for the novels “Wonder Boys” and “The Mysteries of Pittsburgh.” A new novel, “Telegraph Avenue,” is scheduled for the fall.