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Two Philadelphia Authors Awarded The Athenaeum of Philadelphia’s 2019 Literary Award

 

Local authors Edward Posnett and Witold Rybczynski have been awarded The Athenaeum of Philadelphia’s 2019 Literary Award , an honor that carries with it a lectureship at the Athenaeum. Edward Posnett received the Literary Award for his book Strange Harvests: The Hidden History of Seven Natural Objects (Viking, 2019). Witold Rybczynski received the Literary Award for Architecture and Preservation for his book Charleston Fancy: Little Houses & Big Dreams in the Holy City (Yale University Press, 2019). The announcement of the 2019 awards usually occurs at the Spring Annual Meeting, which was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The Literary Award committee chose Edward Posnett’s Strange Harvests from a strong list of contenders. Committee Chair and Athenaeum of Philadelphia President Edward Scharff said his committee chose Posnett’s work because it “is a terrific read.” He continued, Strange Harvests “ is as hard to categorize as it is to put down. A blend of nature writing, travel, sociology and economics, it takes the reader on several fascinating journeys, each about the symbiosis between homo sapiens and creatures that have adapted their behaviors to suit our strange predilections.” Edward Posnett responded that he is “thrilled and honored to receive this award from the Athenaeum, an institution at the heart of Philadelphia’s cultural life. The award feels particularly special as I wrote much of the book shortly after moving to the city.” A London native who now resides in Philadelphia, Posnett wrote Strange Harvests after his 2015 article, “Eiderdown,” about the Icelandic tradition of eiderdown harvesting, won the Bodley Head/Financial Times Essay Prize.

Photo by David Graham

The Literary Award Committee for Art and Architecture was entranced by Witold Rybczynski’s storytelling in Charleston Fancy . Committee member Daniel Traister commented that Charleston Fancy , “a meditation on architecture, urbanity, community, friendship, restraint, idiosyncrasy, and ‘small-ness,’ is an extremely readable as well as important book.  Rybczynski allows his concerns and his themes to emerge from a storytelling approach so patiently slow and artful that it takes a while for his reader to see what he is doing. Rybczynski has written a lovely book about living gracefully and well with an awareness of both limits and community.” Upon notice of his award, Rybczynski said, “ Charleston Fancy  is about new building in an old city and I am particularly glad that the book is being recognized by the Athenaeum of my hometown, Philadelphia.” Witold Rybczynski, an architect and emeritus professor of urbanism at the University of Pennsylvania, previously won the Athenaeum Literary Award recipient in 1999 for A Clearing in the Distance and 1995 for City Life.

Both Edward Posnett and Witold Rybczynski are scheduled to receive their awards and give lectures at The Athenaeum of Philadelphia this September as part of the Charles Wharton Stork Memorial Lecture program. Both books are available to be checked out from the Athenaeum Library.

The Athenaeum Literary Award was established in 1950 to recognize and encourage literary achievement among authors who are "bona fide residents of Philadelphia or Pennsylvania living within a radius of 30 miles of City Hall" at the time their book was written or published. Any volume of general literature is eligible; technical, scientific, and juvenile books are not included. The Literary Award has expanded to two committees: one focused on literary works and a second that considers architecture and fine art books. Authors, their publishers, and agents are encouraged to submit copies of eligible books to the Athenaeum each year. Nominated works are reviewed on the basis of their significance and importance to the general public as well as for literary excellence. In recognition of his role in establishing the Literary Award, presentations are usually part of the Charles Wharton Stork Memorial Lecture program which was endowed in 1983 by his children. Dr. Stork (1881-1971) was a member of the board of directors of the Athenaeum from 1919 until 1968.