VIDEO : Stephen King to Receive National Medal of Arts From Barack Obama

When Stephen King was announced as the winner of a medal for distinguished contribution to American letters in 2003, the eminent literary critic Harold Bloom said it was ?a testimony to [the] idiocy? of the awarding organisation, the National Book Awards. On 10 September, no less than Barack Obama will present the novelist with the United States? National Medal of Arts. The highest award for artists given by the US government, the medal goes to those who are ?deserving of special recognition by reason of their outstanding contributions to the excellence, growth, support and availability of the arts in the United States?.