Congratulations to revered Bay Area poet Adrienne Rich for winning the “Distinguished Contribution to American Letters” lifetime achievement honor from the National Book Foundation.

AP Article Here or visit the NBF’s Web site for more details on the awards.

“With a keen eye for absurdity, a precise ear for vernacular dialogue, and a distinctively deadpan narrative voice, Saunders explores the poignant disappointments of his downtrodden characters and the slightly skewed, vaguely futuristic version of American society they inhabit.”

Here is the compete text on the MacArthur Foundation Web site.

Other winners include genre-defying musician and curator John Zorn, literary journalist Adrian LeBlanc, and author/illustrator David MacAuley , whose Rome Antics chronicle the flight of a pigeon across the eternal city.