PEN USA, the West Coast arm of the international PEN organization, has announced that Elmore Leonard (pictured) has won their 2009 Lifetime Achievement Award. He joins an illustrious crew that includes: Woody Allen, Ray Bradbury, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and Betty Friedan.

The awards ceremony will be held in Beverly Hills on December 2, and will celebrate a number of other authors. Each winner will receive a $1,000 cash prize: The fiction award will go to Kim Barnes for "A Country Called Home," the creative nonfiction will go to Steve Lopez for "The Soloist," the research nonfiction award will go to Leslie T. Chang for "Factory Girls," and finally, the screenplay award will go to Dustin Lance Black for "Milk."

Here's more from the release: "In a career spanning 60 years, Leonard has published 43 novels and numerous short stories, creating a distinct literary style that has delighted readers and influenced a new generation of writers. Books like Swag, LaBrava, Freaky Deaky, and Tishomingo Blues are not only classics of the crime genre, but some of the best writing of the last half century."