Frederick Buechner - Important Dates

Important Dates

Awards and Honors
Irene Glascock Prize for Poetry 1948
O. Henry Award for "The Tiger" 1955
Rosenthal Award for The Return of Ansel Gibbs 1959
Fiction Finalist, National Book Award for Lion Country 1972
Finalist, Pulitzer Prize for Godric 1981
American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters 1982
Christianity and Literature Belles Lettres Prize 1987
Critics' Choice Books Award for Fiction for Son of Laughter 1994
  • July 11, 1926 born in NYC
  • 1936 father commits suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning
  • 1937 family moves to Bermuda until evacuation of Americans at beg. of WWII- 1943 graduates Lawrenceville School (NJ)
  • 1944-6 serves in army
  • 1943-8 attends Princeton University
  • 1948 wins Irene Glascock Prize for Poetry; begins work on his first novel, A Long Day’s Dying
  • 1948–53 teaches English at Lawrenceville
  • 1950 A Long Day’s Dying published
  • 1952 The Season’s Difference published
  • 1953–55 lives in NYC; lecturer at New York University
Honorary Doctorates
Virginia Theological Seminary 1982
Lafayette College 1984
Lehigh University 1987
Cornell College 1989
Yale University 1990
The University of the South 1996
Susquehanna University 1998
Wake Forest University 2000
King College 2008
  • 1954 – 8 enrolled at Union Theological Seminary; also works at Harlem employment clinic
  • 1955-6 year off from seminary to write; meets and marries Judith Buechner
  • 1955 short story "The Tiger" wins O. Henry Prize
  • 1958 publishes The Return of Ansel Gibbs; book receives the Rosenthal award
  • June 1, 1958 ordination as an evangelist with B.D. from Union Theological Seminary
  • 1958–1960 chaplain and chairman of Dept. of Religion at Phillips Exeter Academy
  • 1960-7 school minister and teacher of religion at Phillips Exeter Academy; daughters are born
  • 1963-4 sabbatical in VT
  • 1965 The Final Beast published
  • 1966 first theological work The Magnificent Defeat (collection of school sermons) published
  • after 1967 moves with family to Rupert, VT to pursue writing full time
  • 1969 second book of sermons, The Hungering Dark, published
  • 1969 delivers William Belden Noble Lectures at Harvard
  • 1970 Harvard lectures published as The Alphabet of Grace (theological autobiography on a day in his life)
  • 1970 The Entrance to Porlock (retelling of The Wizard of Oz) published
  • 1971 Lion Country published (first of tetralogy on Leo Bebb); nominated for National Book Award
  • 1971 Russell Lecturer at Tufts University
  • 1972 Open Heart (second of tetralogy on Leo Bebb) published
  • 1974 Love Feast (third of tetralogy on Leo Bebb) published
  • 1974 Wishful Thinking: A Theological ABC
  • 1974 The Faces of Jesus (book of pictures with text by CFB) published
  • 1976 Lyman Beecher Lecturer at Yale; lectures published in same year as Telling the Truth: The Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy, and Fairy Tale
  • 1977 Treasure Hunt (fourth of tetralogy on Leo Bebb) published
  • 1979 The Book of Bebb published
  • 1977 Telling the Truth: The Gospel in Tragedy, Comedy, and Fairy Tale published
  • 1979 Peculiar Treasures: A Biblical Who’s Who published, with illustrations by daughter Katherine
  • 1980 Godric published; Pulitzer Prize finalist
  • 1982 D.D. from Virginia Theological Seminary; archive established at Wheaton College
  • 1982 The Sacred Journey (first volume of autobiography) published
  • 1983 Now and Then published (second volume of autobiography)
  • 1984 A Room Called Remember: Uncollected Pieces published
  • 1985 semester-long teaching position at Wheaton College; offers manuscripts to the college
  • 1987 Christianity and Literature Belles Lettres Prize
  • 1987 Brendan published
  • 1988 Whistling in the Dark: An ABC Theologized published
  • 1990 The Wizard’s Tide published (later re-released as The Christmas Tide)
  • 1991 Telling Secrets (third volume of autobiography) published
  • 1992 Wiersma Lecturer at Calvin College
  • 1992 The Clown in the Belfry: Writings on Faith and Fiction published
  • 1992 Listening to Your Life: Daily Meditations with Frederick Buechner published
  • 1993 The Son of Laughter published
  • 1996 The Longing for Home published
  • 1997 On the Road with the Archangel published
  • 1998 The Storm published
  • 1999 The Eyes of the Heart: A Memoir of the Lost and Found (fourth volume of autobiography) published
  • 2001 Speak What We Feel (Not What We Ought to Say) published
  • 2004 Beyond Words: Daily Readings in the ABC’s of Faith published
  • 2006 Secrets in the Dark published
  • 2008 The Buechner Institute inaugurated at King College
  • 2008 The Yellow Leaves: A Miscellany published

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