FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Norman Mailer Society Awards 2025 Robert F. Lucid Award to David Denby
Wilkes-Barre, PA — October 13, 2025
The Norman Mailer Society is pleased to announce that the 2025 Robert F. Lucid Award for Mailer Studies has been awarded to David Denby for his book Eminent Jews: Bernstein, Brooks, Friedan, Mailer (2025).
Denby’s Eminent Jews offers a nuanced and incisive examination of four major twentieth-century cultural figures, situating Norman Mailer within a broader intellectual and cultural history of American Jewish life. The Society’s Lucid Award Committee cited Denby’s sustained critical engagement with Mailer’s work, his attentiveness to historical context, and his ability to place Mailer in productive dialogue with contemporaries across literature, politics, and the arts.
Established in 2003, the Robert F. Lucid Award for Mailer Studies honors the legacy of Professor Robert F. Lucid and his long and distinguished career as a scholar-critic of Norman Mailer. The award is given annually on the recommendation of a Society committee to recognize outstanding scholarship that advances the study and understanding of Mailer’s life and work. The recipient receives a commemorative plaque, a $250 honorarium, and an invitation to speak at the Society’s annual meeting.
The Norman Mailer Society gratefully acknowledges the ongoing support of The Lawrence Schiller Educational Trust, which matches all contributions to the Lucid Award endowment up to a total of $5,000. The Society is deeply appreciative of Mr. Schiller’s generosity and commitment to sustaining scholarly work on Norman Mailer.
David Denby will be formally recognized at the Society’s annual conference, where he will deliver remarks in conjunction with the award.
For additional information about the Robert F. Lucid Award or the Norman Mailer Society, please visit the Society’s website.
