Award Distinguished Pennsylvania Artist Award

National Book Award, Medal of Distinguished Contribution to American Letters (1998)

PEN/Malamud Award (1988)

National Medal of Arts (1989)

National Humanities Medal (2003)

Bad Sex in Fiction (2008)

Gold Medal, American Academy of Arts and Letters (2007)

National Institute of Arts and Letters (1964)

American Academy of Arts and Letters (1964)

American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1976)

Cover of "Time" magazine (1968 ∙ 1981)

Signet Society Medal for Achievement in the Arts (1971)

Library of Congress, Honorary Consultant in American Letters ( 1972)

Recorded by "The Spoken Arts Treasury of 100 American Poets" (1972)

Lecturer, Centro Venezolano Americano (1972)

Lincoln Lectureship from the Fulbright Board of Foreign Scholarships (1973)

Lafayette College, honorary Doctor of Literature (1974)

Lotus Club Award of Merit (1975)

Lincoln Literary Award, Union League Club (1983)

National Arts Club Medal of Honor (1984)

Kutztown University Foundation's Director Award (1985)

Exhibit of work at M.D. Anderson Library of the University of Houston (1985)

Peggy Varnadow Helmerich Award (1987)

Elmer Holmes Bobst Award for Fiction (1987)

Brandeis University Life Achievement Award (1988)

First annual PEN/Malamud Memorial Reading (1988)

Conch Republic Prize for Literature (1993)

Howells Medal (1995)

Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, France (1995)

Society for the Arts, Religion and Contemporary Culture (1996)

Campion Award (1997)

Harvard Arts First Medal (1998)

Thomas Cooper Library Medal (1998)

Man Booker International Prize Finalist (2005)

F. Scott Fitzgerald Award for Outstanding Achievement in American Fiction (2002)

Jefferson Lecture (2008)

multiple honorary doctorates

Bowdoin Prize (1954)

Carl Sandburg Literary Award (2005)