Edith Anisfield Wolf

Edith Karolyn Anisfield Wolf (August 2, 1889 – January 23, 1963) was an American poet and philanthropist from Cleveland. She created and endowed an award in 1935 for non-fiction books that advance racial understanding, and in 1941 expanded the award to include fiction and poetry; the awards are now called the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards.

Life and career

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1889 to Jewish parents Daniela (Guttenberg) and John Anisfield (born in Vienna), Edith Anisfield was her parents’ only child. Her father, a successful clothing manufacturer, realtor, civic leader and philanthropist, and she managed her father's philanthropy and the family holdings. in honor of her father. In 1941 she added a second prize for creative literature in honor of her husband, and the awards were collectively called the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards. Since 1996, the jury has been headed by Henry Louis Gates Jr. Ralph Ellison, Quincy Jones, Junot Díaz, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Oprah Winfrey. The awards, $1,000 per recipient in the 1930s, The categories are fiction, nonfiction, poetry and Lifetime Achievement. The Saturday Review magazine administered the awards while Wolf was alive. The awards are now managed by the Cleveland Foundation.