Thurber Prize for American Humor awarded to S. E. Boyd
S. E. Boyd has won the Thurber Prize for American Humor. More precisely though, journalists Kevin Alexander and Joe Keohane and editor Alessandra Lusardi have won the 23rd Thurber Prize, which was awarded March 31 at a ceremony at the Columbus Museum of Art, for their collaboration on the 2022 novel “The Lemon.”
Receiving the first Thurber Prize for Cartoon Art was Roz Chast for her body of work last year in the New Yorker.
Chaz and the collective making up S. E. Boyd appeared at the award ceremony, along with the two other finalists for the prize. Elinor Lipman was nominated for the novel “Ms. Demeanor,” and Elaine Hsieh Chou for the novel “Disorientation.”
Prize-winning “The Lemon” is a sharply satirical novel about the aftershocks of the sudden death of a celebrity chef in the worlds of foodie culture and social media.
History of Thurber House: 40 years in the making, Thurber House benefits readers and writers
Reviewing the novel in the New York Times, book critic Madeleine Feeny called it “a poised and playful debut novel… as tart as 'artisanal citrus,' as sharp as a chef's knife.”
Kirkus Reviews magazine praised it as “a hilarious, brilliant, cynical (and maybe even a little sad) takedown of the moral vacuum that is celebrity culture.”
The idea of adding an award for cartooning to the annual award for writing was inspired by the award's namesake, Columbus-born author and cartoonist James Thurber, who was best known for the cartoons and short pieces he created for the New Yorker.
Laurie Lathan, the executive director of Thurber House, which sponsors the award, said, “There are not many awards honoring single-panel cartoon art, and given that James Thurber was most known for cartooning in that style, it was a no-brainer for Thurber House to expand the esteemed prize to recognize outstanding humor in cartooning.”
Earlier winners of the award for writing include novelist James McBride, "The Daily Show" hosts Jon Stewart and Trevor Noah and essayists Calvin Trillin and Ian Frazier.
The Thurber House is now receiving submissions for the 24th Thurber Prize, with a deadline of May 31 for books published in 2024.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Thurber Prizes awarded to S. E. Boyd, Roz Chast