Trinity College Associate Professor of English Ethan Rutherford continues to receive accolades for his debut novel, North Sun: Or, the Voyage of the Whaleship Esther.
The American Academy of Arts and Letters announced recently that Rutherford has been recognized with the Rosenthal Family Foundation Award for Literature, which honors an exceptional novel published in the preceding year. Last fall, North Sun was named by the National Book Foundation as a finalist for the 2025 National Book Award for Fiction.
Rutherford is among 18 recipients of the American Academy of Arts and Letters’s 2026 Awards in Literature, which honor both established and emerging writers. The 300 members of Arts and Letters nominate candidates for awards, and a rotating committee of writers selects the winners.
The literature awards will be presented alongside the architecture, art, and music awards at Arts and Letters’s annual Ceremonial in May.
Founded in 1898, the American Academy of Arts and Letters represents the highest standards of artistic achievement in the country. Its community of members are among the nation’s leading contemporary architects, visual artists, writers, and composers. Arts and Letters honors creative accomplishment through the election of members, the conferment of awards, and presenting public exhibitions and interdisciplinary programs at its historic buildings in the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City.
Read an interview with Rutherford as he discusses his novel here.
Ewa Syta, Charles A. Dana Research Associate Professor of Computer Science and chair of Trinity’s Computer Science Department, has been named among the 46 finalists for the Connecticut Technology Council’s 21st annual Women of Innovation awards.
Trinity alumna Teodora “Tea” Brnović ’24 and Associate Professor of Sociology Alyson K. Spurgas recently had a co-authored article published in the October 2026 issue of Social Science & Medicine.
Trinity Computer Science faculty members Chandranil Chakraborttii and Kenneth A. Kousen are among the recipients of the first awards presented by the Connecticut AI Alliance’s AI Computing Access Program.
Trinity’s Summer Research Program supports intensive student involvement in ongoing faculty research. More than 100 Trinity students spent part of summer 2026 engaged in research projects with faculty mentors.
