Appreciating Writers

Ask the average person who Tom Brady, Wayne Gretzky or Lebron James is and not only will they likely know, they’ll probably recall memorable moments in the athletes’ careers.

Ask them who Anthony Doerr is and they are likely to say “Who’s that?”

And that is really a shame.

Anthony Doerr is the author of the WWII-era novel All the Light We Cannot See, the current winner of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.

This says a lot about the values in our society. We (myself included) idolize these amazing athletes for what they can do with a ball or puck, but we don’t fully appreciate the astounding accomplishments of writers. With the exceptions of celebrity scribes like Stephen King, J. K. Rowling, and James Patterson, most writers work in relative obscurity, without fanfare, million-dollar salaries or million-dollar shoe deals.

Even the Pulitzer Prizes themselves are grossly overlooked. These top awards for writing are presented at a luncheon at New York’s Columbia University, and they are the only major award ceremony that is not nationally televised.

Do you know who won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction last year? I have to admit, I had to look that one up myself. So I am just a guilty as everyone else.

I am a rabid fan of the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles, which means I too am swept up in the majesty of professional sports. There is nothing wrong with following sports teams, but we should not overlook the beauty and magic of the written word. There are so many great writers in the world, both in fiction and non-fiction, and we should make a better effort to appreciate them.

By the way, Donna Tartt won last year for her novel The Goldfinch.

For more information about the Pulitzer Prizes, visit their website: http://www.pulitzer.org/.