By Suzanne Lance Kurt Vonnegut has been named the new State Author for New York and John Ashbery, the new State Poet, the New York State Writers Institute announced recently. Vonnegut will receive the New York State Edith Wharton Citation of Merit for fiction writers and Ashbery will receive the New York State Walt Whitman Citation of Merit for poets. Governor George Pataki is expected to present the awards at a ceremony early next year. The citations, established in 1985 by the governor and state Legislature to promote creative writing within the state, are awarded biennially under the aegis of the New York State Writers Institute, which is located at the University. Awardees serve two years in their honorary positions and each receives a $10,000 honorarium. Previous State Authors include Grace Paley, E.L. Doctorow, Norman Mailer, and William Gaddis. Previous State Poets include Stanley Kuniz, Robert Creeley, Audrey Lorde, and Richard Howard. A resident of New York City, Vonnegut is widely regarded as one of the great satirists of American literature. He is the author of more than two dozen novels, including The Sirens of Titan (1959), Breakfast of Champions (1973), and Timequake (1997). He has also written several collections of non-fiction, including Wampeters, Foma and Granfalloons (1975), and the play Happy Birthday, Wanda June (1971). Vonnegut is perhaps best known for the novel Slaughterhouse Five (1969), which was recently ranked at No. 18 on the Modern Library’s list of the top 100 novels of the 20th century. “It is a most agreeable honor, with my 78th birthday only a few days away, that New York State should declare so publicly that I, although born in Indianapolis, am one of its own,” Vonnegut said when notified of his award. “And it is a fact that most of my published works have been created within its borders, beginning with columns I wrote for The Cornell Daily Sun in Ithaca, where I was a member of the class of 1944.” He added, “After my service in WWII, I went to work as a publicity man for General Electric in Schenectady and was also a volunteer fireman in the nearby village of Alplaus. GE was the inspiration for my first novel, Player Piano and Alplaus for my fifth, God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater.” The advisory panel that recommended Vonnegut as State Author included George Plimpton, NYS Writers Institute Director William Kennedy, and outgoing laureate James Salter. A resident of Hudson, N.Y., Ashbery is one of America’s preeminent poets. Perhaps the most honored poet of his generation, the volume Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror (1975) marked a rare achievement in American poetry, earning him the Pulitzer Prize, a National Book Critics Circle Award, and a National Book Award in poetry. His 20 volumes of verse include Some Trees (1956), Houseboat Days (1977), and Your Name Here (2000). “It’s a great pleasure to be named the State Poet of New York,” Ashbery said. “I’ve spent most of my life here, having been born in Rochester and raised on a farm near Lake Ontario. Most of the last 50 years I’ve lived in New York City, and spent time as well in the upper Hudson Valley. So I guess New York has always been home, all along, and now that it’s official it feels even more so.” The advisory panel that recommended Ashbery as State Poet included Lucille Clifton, Writers Institute Associate Director Donald Faulkner, and outgoing laureate Sharon Olds. The New York State Writers Institute of the State University of New York was mandated as a permanent, state-sponsored organization by legislation introduced by Assemblyman William Passannante and Senator Tarky Lombardi, Jr. of Syracuse and signed into law by former Governor Mario Cuomo in 1984. From its offices at UAlbany, the institute runs programs in literature and imaginative writing throughout New York State. It provides a setting for renowned and experienced writers from all over the world to come together with new and aspiring writers for the purpose of instruction and creative exchange.