Norman Kingsley Mailer (born January 31, 1923) is an American novelist, journalist, playwright, screenwriter and film director. Along with Truman Capote, Joan Didion and Tom Wolfe, Mailer is considered an innovator of creative nonfiction, a genre sometimes called New Journalism, but which covers the essay to the nonfiction novel. He has been awarded the Pulitzer Prize twice and the National Book Award once. In 2005, he won the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters from The National Book Foundation.