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.
Katsuya Izumi, senior lecturer in language and culture studies, has received a grant award from the Northeast Asian Council of the Association for Asian Studies to support research for an upcoming book.
Trinity College Assistant Professor of International Studies Natassja B. Gunasena was awarded a Career Enhancement Fellowship for Junior Faculty by the Institute for Citizens & Scholars to support research that she plans to publish as a book.
A striking and colorful piece of art in the Cornelia Center created by conceptual artist Sol LeWitt underwent a thorough restoration this summer, nearly three decades after its installation.
Trinity College students Augustin Millet ’28 and Noah R. Turner ’27 spent a month conducting archaeological research in Greece this summer alongside Associate Professor of Classical Studies Martha K. Risser.
