National Book Critics Circle Award (1977)
American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters Award (1977)
Honorary degree, Barnard College (1979)
Pulitzer Prize (1988)
American Book Award (1988)
Robert F. Kennedy Book Award (1987-88)
Anisfield Wolf Book Award in Race Relations (1988)
Modern Language Association of American Commonwealth Award in Literature (1989)
Nobel Prize in Literature (1993)
Commander of the Arts and Letters, Paris (1993)
Rhegium Julii Prize for Literature (1994)
Condorcet Medal, Paris (1994)
The Pearl Buck Award (1994)
Jefferson Lecture (1996)
National Book Foundation's Medal of Distinguished Contribution to American Letters (1996)
National Humanities Medal (2000)
Honorary degree, Oxford University (2005)