LITERARY PRIZE COMMITTEE MEMBERS

Amor Towles

Amor is a graduate of Yale University and received an MA in English from Stanford. Having worked as an investment professional for over twenty years, he now devotes himself full time to writing in Manhattan, where he lives with his wife and two children. His novels Rules of Civility, A Gentleman in Moscow, and The Lincoln Highway, and his collection of shorter fiction called Table for Two have collectively sold more than six million copies and been translated into more than thirty languages. Both Bill Gates and President Barack Obama included A Gentleman in Moscow and The Lincoln Highway on their annual book recommendation lists.

Carl Safina

Carl is an acclaimed ecologist and author of books and other writings about the human relationship with the natural world. His books include New York Times Bestsellers, including Becoming Wild: How Animal Cultures Raise Families, Create Beauty, and Achieve Peace; Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel; and many others. He is the founding president of the Safina Center, and winner of several esteemed awards and fellowships. Carl has been a visiting fellow at Yale University and a senior fellow with the World Wildlife Fund. He was named among "100 Notable Conservationists of the 20th Century" by Audubon magazine.

Rebecca Saletan

Becky is the Vice President and Editorial Director of Penguin Random House, Inc. where she edits a wide range of literary nonfiction and fiction, with emphasis on underrepresented and global voices and perspectives. In addition to working with Peter, the writers with whom she has worked include Nobelist and International Booker Prize winner Olga Tokarczuk, Nobelist Abdulrazak Gurnah, National Book Award winner Masha Gessen, two-time Booker Prize finalist Mohsin Hamid, amongst others.  

Neil Olson

Neil has been in the publishing business for more than thirty years, primarily at the agency eventually known as Donadio & Olson, where he rose from assistant to partner. As Peter Matthiessen’s former literary agent, he has had the honor to work closely with many illustrious authors, including New York Times bestsellers, winners of the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the Edgar Allan Poe Award, the William Dean Howells Medal, and many others. He is primarily interested in fiction, history, biography, travel and environmental issues.

Daniel Slager

Daniel is the publisher & CEO of Milkweed Editions. Prior to joining Milkweed as editor-in-chief in 2005, he was an editor at Harcourt Trade Publishers in New York. Prior to joining Harcourt, he was the associate editor of Grand Street, a leading quarterly magazine of literature and fine arts. Peter serves on the Boards of Directors for the Ledig House International Writers’ Colony, Motionpoems, and Open Book, as well as on the Advisory Board for Archipelago Books, an independent publishing house in New York.

Renée Zuckerbrot

Renée worked as an editor at Doubleday before becoming a literary agent. She joined Massie & McQuilken in 2016. Her clients have won or been nominated for a number of awards, including the MacArthur Fellowship, The Booker Prize, the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, the National Book Award, the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize, B&N Discover Great New Writers Award, the Story Prize, and the PEN/Faulkner Prize.

Biddle Duke

Biddle is a writer, editor, and publisher whose work has appeared in The New Yorker online, The New York Times, Ski Racing, Purist, The Surfers Journal, Backcountry magazine, The East Hampton Star, and a number of other regional publications. In addition, he is the founder of EAST magazine, whose four issues a year celebrate the soul–history, environment, food, culture, art, politics–of the Eastern-most tip of Long Island.

Peter Godwin

Peter is a Zimbabwean author, journalist, screenwriter, documentary filmmaker, and former human rights lawyer. Best known for his writings concerning the breakdown of his native country, he has reported from more than 60 countries and written several books, including the acclaimed When A Crocodile Eats The Sun. Peter served as President of PEN from 2012 to 2015.

Alex Matthiessen

Under his father’s tutelage Alex developed a passion for inherent beauty and complexity of nature and the need to protect it. As a professional environmentalist, he has a particular appreciation for the rich natural, cultural and maritime heritage of Eastern Long Island, where he grew up and where his father lived for over five decades. Alex has worked or consulted for a variety of non-profit organizations, including World Wildlife Fund, Conservation International, Rainforest Action Network, and most recently, Riverkeeper which he led for a decade (2000-10) and transformed into New York’s premier clean water advocate. Currently, Alex is facilitating investments in sustainable, “green“ enterprises whose entrepreneurs are building the companies of the future.

Scott Chaskey

As a poet, farmer, and educator, Scott has spent the past three decades cultivating soil and community for the Peconic Land Trust at Quail Hill Farm in Amagansett, NY–one of the country’s original CSA programs. Past president of the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York, he was honored as Farmer of the Year in 2013. Scott has served as a founding Board member for both the Center for Whole Communities in Vermont and Sylvester Manor Educational Farm on Shelter Island, NY. He is the author of several books, including his most recent publication, Soil and Spirit (Milkweed Editions, 2023).

Michael Haggiag

Michael has had an extensive career as a filmmaker, television producer and publisher in the United Kingdom, having founded Aurum Press, known for publishing the multi-volume Aurum Encyclopedia of Film, the “Angelina Ballerina” children’s book series, as well as many iconic British photographers of the 1970s. Michael was instrumental in the preservation of the Selous Game Reserve in Tanzania when he published Peter Matthiessen’s classic “Sand Rivers” in 1982.

Lee Carlson

A founding member of the PMC, Lee is a writer and longtime Zen student and friend of Peter Matthiessen. Their intimate discussions before Peter’s death, and what the writer would like his legacy to be, have been part of the genesis for the Peter Matthiessen Center.

Paul Rogers

An early member of the PMC committee, Paul is a writer who has called Eastern Long Island his home since first summering in Sagaponack in 1967, where he had the joy of becoming close friends with the Matthiessen family. He is currently committed to helping restore the artistic vibrancy and natural beauty that have been an integral part of the community.