Awards and Honors

During his lifetime, Linney won two National Critics Awards; three Drama-Logue Awards; two Obie Awards; the Madge and Sidney Kingsley Award in playwriting from the Dramatists Guild of America; the William Inge Theatre Festival’s Distinguished Achievement in the American Theatre Award; the Edward Albee Last Frontier Playwright Award; and fellowships from the Guggenheim and Rockefeller foundations and the New York Foundation for the Arts. 

The American Academy of Arts of Letters

One of Linney’s highest honors was his election in 2002 to The American Academy of Arts and Letters, an honor society of 250 artists who are elected for life.  Linney’s membership certificate is pictured at left.  He was later honored in 2010 by the Academy with the Gold Medal for Drama, an award honoring distinguished achievement.  Others who have received this award include Eugene O’Neill, Tennessee Williams, Edward Albee, Lillian Hellman, Thornton Wilder, and Arthur Miller.

The Fellowship of Southern Writers

In 1990, Linney was elected to the Fellowship of Southern Writers which seeks to recognize and encourage literature in the South.  Pictured here is the membership as it stood in 1995.  Seated from left to right are: C. Eric Lincoln, Sally L. Robinson, Louis D. Rubin, Jr., George Garrett, Elizabeth Spencer, and George Core.  Standing from left to right are: Mary Lee Settle, Shelby Foote, Lewis P. Simpson, Lee Smith, Walter Sullivan, Wendell Berry, Romulus Linney, Madison Jones, Fred Chappell, Doris Betts, Charles Wright, and Ellen Douglas.

Linney received honorary degrees from Oberlin College, Wake Forest University, and Appalachian State University.  He is pictured here after receiving an honorary degree from Oberlin College.