The Prize Recognizes a Writer of Artistic Literary Narrative Nonfiction
Mary Gabriel, author of Ninth Street Women, has been named the recipient of the 2022 NYU/Axinn Foundation Prize. The honor aims to celebrate and support distinguished work in artistic literary narrative nonfiction by a writer whose career is in full vibrancy.
The prize includes a cash award of $100,000. The purpose of the award is to encourage the ongoing work of a writer of literary narrative nonfiction whose books invite a wide readership to explore issues and subjects not otherwise adequately addressed, and thereby make a significant impact on the wider culture.
“This award fosters an excellent and influential writer’s continuing contributions to literature and culture,” says Lynne Kiorpes, dean of NYU’s Graduate School of Arts and Science (GSAS), which administers the award. “By encouraging ongoing work by writers of important literary narrative nonfiction, the NYU/Axinn Foundation Prize aims to cultivate and promote books marked by vision, distinctive language, depth of research and discernment about topics not otherwise adequately addressed, books that also deepen our understanding of the human condition and are of broad interest and appeal.”
Isabel Wilkerson, author of the award-winning The Warmth of Other Suns and Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent, was the recipient of the inaugural NYU/Axinn Foundation Prize, which was given in 2020.
Gabriel is the author of Love and Capital: Karl and Jenny Marx and the Birth of a Revolution, published in 2011. It was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award. She is also the author of Notorious Victoria: The Life of Victoria Woodhull, Uncensored and The Art of Acquiring: A Portrait of Etta and Claribel Cone.
