Ben Fountain Wins 2024 Thomas Wolfe Prize, awarded by the Department of English and Comparative Literature at UNC-Chapel Hill
October 2024
Ben Fountain received the 2024 Thomas Wolfe Prize during an event held at Moeser Auditorium and hosted by the Department of English and Comparative Literature. The award recognizes contemporary writers with distinguished bodies of work.
Fountain is the author of two novels, Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk and Devil Makes Three, as well as a collection of short stories and a nonfiction book about the 2016 U.S. presidential election. His works have received numerous awards including the National Book Critics’ Circle Award and the PEN/Hemingway Award.
About the Thomas Wolfe Prize
The Thomas Wolfe Prize and Lecture honor the memory of one of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s most famous alumni, Thomas Clayton Wolfe (Class of 1920). Established in 1999 with an endowed gift to the Department of English, the program recognizes contemporary writers with distinguished bodies of work. And in doing so, the program seeks to give University students and the surrounding community the opportunity to hear important writers of their time.
The Thomas Wolfe Lecture and Award Ceremony
Listen below to Ben Fountain deliver the Thomas Wolfe Lecture as part of the award ceremony.
Learn more about the Thomas Wolfe Prize
More about Ben Fountain
One of Lithub‘s Most Anticipated Books of 2026
Named a Best Book of Summer by the L.A. Times & Kirkus
“A comic masterpiece. The current administration is finally getting the book it deserves.”
—Kirkus (Starred Review)
