"Maus" cartoonist Art Spiegelman is this year's winner of the Edward MacDowell Medal for lifetime achievement.
The honor was announced on Sunday by the venerable MacDowell artist colony, based in Peterborough, New Hampshire.
MacDowell chairman Michael Chabon said in a statement that Spiegelman, the first medal recipient honored for graphic novels, pioneered making comics respected as an art form. He said Speigelman's work was "personal and world historical."
Spiegelman is best known for his Holocaust works "Maus: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History" and "Maus II: A Survivor's Tale: And Here My Troubles Began."
Chabon will present the medal to Spiegelman on Aug. 12 during a free public event in Peterborough.
Previous MacDowell medal winners include Robert Frost, Toni Morrison and Joan Didion.
