This List of members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters Department of Literature shows the members of one of the three departments of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
After being nominated by current members, new members are selected in two elections, the first by the department they join (Art, Literature or Music). Candidates who receive the most votes in their own department are then voted on by the entire membership.
Current members Source: Membership. American Academy of Arts and Letters. Accessed January 18, 2026. Name Elected Renata Adler1987 Elizabeth Alexander2025 Sherman Alexie2015 Isabel Allende2004 Hilton Als2021 Kwame Anthony Appiah2008 Charles Baxter2024 Ann Beattie1992 Louis Begley2011 Wendell Berry2014 Frank Bidart2006 T. Coraghessan Boyle2009 Peter Carey2016 Robert A. Caro2008 Michael Chabon2012 Ron Chernow2018 Ta-Nehisi Coates2021 Henri Cole2017 Billy Collins2016 Michael Cunningham2011 Edwidge Danticat2020 Lydia Davis2022 Don DeLillo1989 Junot Diaz2017 Annie Dillard1999 Rita Dove2011 Dave Eggers2015 Deborah Eisenberg2007 Louise Erdrich1998 Jeffrey Eugenides2018 Percival Everett2023 Richard Ford1998 Jonathan Franzen2012 Ian Frazier2019 Mary Gaitskill2020 Henry Louis Gates Jr.1999 Adam Gopnik2025 Mary Gordon2007 Vivian Gornick2023 Jorie Graham2009 Stephen Greenblatt2008 John Guare1989 Allan Gurganus2007 Joy Harjo2021 Robert Hass2002 Terrance Hayes2022 Amy Hempel2017 Edward Hirsch2017 Edward Hoagland1982 Margo Jefferson2024 Gish Jen2025 Maxine Hong Kingston2018 John Irving2001 Ha Jin2014 Diane Johnson1999 Edward P. Jones2019 Garrison Keillor2001 William Kennedy1993 Jamaica Kincaid2004 Barbara Kingsolver2021 Elizabeth Kolbert2021 Yusef Komunyakaa2009 Jane Kramer2016 Tony Kushner2005 Jhumpa Lahiri2012 Chang-rae Lee2025 Yiyun Li2023 Phillip Lopate2023 David Mamet1994 Colum McCann2017 Alice McDermott2024 Thomas McGuane2010 John McPhee1988 Daniel Mendelsohn2025 Claire Messud2025 Lorrie Moore2006 Paul Muldoon2008 Lynn Nottage2018 Sigrid Nunez2021 Joyce Carol Oates1978 Tim O'Brien2022 Sharon Olds2015 Cynthia Ozick1988 Suzan-Lori Parks2019 Ann Patchett2017 Caryl Phillips2021 Jayne Anne Phillips2018 Darryl Pinckney2025 Robert Pinsky1999 Richard Powers2010 Richard Price2009 Francine Prose2010 Annie Proulx2007 Claudia Rankine2019 David Remnick2016 Marilynne Robinson2010 Kay Ryan2017 George Saunders2018 Stacy Schiff2019 Grace Schulman2019 David Sedaris2019 Wallace Shawn2006 Leslie Marmon Silko2021 Mona Simpson2020 Jane Smiley2001 Anna Deavere Smith2023 Tracy K. Smith2021 Gary Snyder1987 Art Spiegelman2015 Elizabeth Strout2022 Amy Tan2022 Paul Theroux1984 Natasha Trethewey2019 Calvin Trillin2008 Anne Tyler1983 Jesmyn Ward2025 Rosanna Warren2005 John Edgar Wideman2016 Joy Williams2008 Terry Tempest Williams2019 Garry Wills1995 Tobias Wolff2014 Charles Wright1995 Kevin Young2021
Deceased members Source: