The Lannan Literary Awards are a series of awards and literary fellowships given out in various fields by the blank">Lannan Foundation. The foundation's awards are some of the most lucrative in the world. The 2006 awards for poetry, fiction and nonfiction each came with $150,000. Established in 1989, the awards are meant "to honor both established and emerging writers whose work is of exceptional quality", according to the foundation. http://www.lannan.org/lf/lit/awards-and-fellowships/ Lannan Foundation Web site, Web page titled "Literary Awards and Fellowships", accessed November 8, 2006.

The awards reflect the progressive, left-wing philosophy governing the Lannan Foundation, a family foundation that describes itself as "dedicated to cultural freedom, diversity and creativity through projects which support exceptional contemporary artists and writers, as well as inspired Native activists in rural indigenous communities."

Awards have gone both to literary stars, such as _W.S. Merwin, and also to those more known more for their politics than their literary talents, such as Barbara Ehrenreich and Edward Said. The foundation also gives out a "Cultural Freedom Prize" for the stated purpose of recognizing "people whose extraordinary and courageous work celebrates the human right to freedom of imagination, inquiry, and expression." The prize recently went to Robert Fisk. Other prize winners have been Eduardo Galeano, Claudia Andujar, Mahmoud Darwish, Arundhati Roy, Helen Caldicott, and Cornel West.

The foundation does not accept applications for awards or fellowships. Candidates are suggested anonymously "by a network of writers, literary scholars, publishers, and editors", with the foundation's literary committee making the final determination.