• Testimonials

    The WLA has provided an invaluable intellectual home for me as I have worked to forge a professional identity over the course of my time in graduate school.
    Alex Young, 2018
    Taylor Award recipient 2010 and EC Member 2018–2021

WLA’s Delbert and Edith Wylder Award for Exceptional Service to the WLA

 

Instituted in 1993 and named for a WLA president and two founding members of the association, this award goes to a longtime WLA member for exceptional contributions to the association.

Delbert Wylder was not just a WLA president and founding member of the WLA, but a lifelong contributor to all things WLA, who kept in touch personally with many of the early members. At his memorial, he was described as follows: “Family, friends, books, and wine: these were the four elements of Delbert Wylder. Put them together and you get The Quintessential Deb, a charming, occasionally eccentric combination of humor, warmth, and high spirits.” Deb Wylder himself described his wife, Edith, as “such a pleasure to live with every day” (communication with Dorys Grover, 2000).

In order to nominate someone for the Wylder award, please collaborate with WLA colleagues and solicit at least three detailed letters of support, from students, WLA members, or anyone else who seems appropriate. They can be submitted together or separately to the WLA Awards Coordinator/s. The Awards Coordinator/s will submit the nominations to the Past Presidents and current presidential line, who will make the decision.

Members who have previously won the award will not be considered for a second nomination.

Please send nominations to our Awards Coordinator, Anne Kaufman.


Recipients of the Delbert and Edith Wylder Award for Exceptional Service to the WLA

YearRecipient
2022Krista Comer
2021Due to covid-related rescheduling of the 2021 conference, no award was given.
2020Nicolas S. Witschi
2019Susan Kollin
2018Tom Lynch
2017Sara Spurgeon
2016Susan Naramore Maher
2015Nancy S. Cook
2014William R. Handley
2013Melody Graulich
2012Susanne George Bloomfield
2011Ann Putnam
2010Judy Nolte Temple
2009Charles Crow
2008Martin Bucco
2007 Laurie Ricou
2006Phyllis Doughman
2005Gerald Haslam
2004Melody Graulich
2003Robert Thacker
2002Stephen Tatum
2001Susan J. Rosowski
2000James C. Work
1999Ann Ronald
1998Barbara Meldrum
1997Jim Maguire
1996Thomas J. Lyon
1995Glen A. Love
1994George F. Day
1993Helen Stauffer
Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmail

  • Western Literature Association (WLA)

    Founded in 1965, the Western Literature Association (WLA) is a non-profit, scholarly association that promotes the study of the diverse literature and cultures of the North American West, past and present.

  • Western American Literature (WAL)

    (The Journal)

    Published by the Western Literature Association, Western American Literature is the leading journal in western American literary studies.

  • Black Lives Matter

    The Western Literature Association (WLA) is in solidarity with Black communities, after the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor, and the ongoing pattern of systemic racism and injustice that targets black and brown bodies. ...http://www.westernlit.org/black-lives-matter/