Don DeLillo, the postmodern master of sweeping novels dealing with pressing contemporary American issues, has been named the first recipient of the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction. The prize is a new lifetime achievement award, and it will be presented to DeLillo at Washington's 13th annual National Book Festival in September. DeLillo has agreed to speak at the festival. The author of such classics as White Noise, Underworld, Libra, and Mao II calls himself “a writer in perennial hiding.”
