Author Gene Wolfe joined the likes of Ursula K Le Guin, Isaac Asimov and Ray Bradbury after the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) announced Wolfe as their 2012 recipient of the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master award for "lifetime achievement in science fiction and/or fantasy" According to Neil Gaiman, author Gene Wolfe is "one of our finest living writers". The “The Book of the New Sun” author has now the 2012 recipient of the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master award for "lifetime achievement in science fiction and/or fantasy" announced the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) Thursday. “It's not that Gene Wolfe is, in the opinion of many (and I am one of the many), our finest living science fiction writer. It is that he is, in the opinion of the Washington Post (and of me, too) one of our finest living writers," said Gaiman in a report published on the Guardian. "He has been our uncrowned grand master for a long time, and now the rest of the world will know as well." President of the SFWA, John Scalzi said "you'd have to search far and wide to find a contemporary fantasy writer who has not been directly influenced by Gene Wolfe.” Wolfe humorously addressed the announcement saying this award is more than he’s ever expected. "You're raising me to a height I would never have imagined," he said. "If you keep this up I'll start thinking I'm a good writer." The Guardian also reported Wolfe sharing his journey to becoming a writer and how she lived “paycheck by paycheck”. "I sold a few stories. Then it was time for school to start again, and Rosemary began badgering me for money for school clothes. I would gladly have given it to her if there had been any. Another story, Car Sinister, sold, and instead of depositing the check I got the manager of the hardware store to cash it for me. I took it to Rosemary: 'Here's every dime I got for that story. That's how much you have for school clothes.' A few days passed, and I was sitting on the kitchen floor trying to mend a chair. Rosemary came up behind me and said, 'Shouldn't you be writing?'" said Wolfe. "That's when I knew I was a writer."