Image by Flickr/Pop!Tech

“It’s nice enough to be able to make a living as a writer, so awards are absolutely gravy,” David Rakoff told The Arty Semite after winning the 2011 Thurber Prize for American Humor on October 3 for his third collection of essays, “Half Empty.”

“It’s lovely,” he said in a phone conversation this morning. “But I don’t for an instant presume that I’m on the same level as James Thurber. Nonetheless, it’s a tremendous validation.”

Rakoff, 46, was awarded the $5,000 prize at a function at the Algonquin Hotel in New York City where James Thurber once lived. As winner of the prize, he will appear some time in the next year at a Thurber House event, most likely the Thurber Birthday Gala. Rakoff was nominated for the award last summer, along with Mike Birbiglia for “Sleepwalk with Me and Other Painfully True Stories” and Rick Reilly for “Sports from Hell: My Search for the World’s Dumbest Competition.”

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

The Thurber Prize was first awarded in 1997, and has been given annually since 2004. Previous winners include David Sedaris, Jon Stewart and Christopher Buckley. One must be an American citizen to be eligible for the award. Rakoff, who was born in Montreal and grew up in Toronto, is a naturalized U.S. citizen and considers himself an American writer. “I’ve lived well over half my life here, and I’ve done all my writing in the U.S.,” he said.

As to whether “Half Empty” stands apart from other works in Rakoff’s hefty portfolio, the writer himself can’t say. “That’s an assessment best left to others,” he said. “It all comes from the same place. One’s hope, I suppose, is that one’s writing gets stronger and better as time goes on.”

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$90 $180

$360

Other amount