On 25 February, Mailer is awarded the Gold Medal for Literature by the National Arts Club.

Some Honorable Men: Political Conventions, 1960-1972 (76.5), is published on 1 April.

In September, he profiles presidential candidate Jimmy Carter for the New York Times Magazine.

Preceded by an excerpt in American Review, Genius and Lust: A Journey through the Major Writings of Henry Miller (76.12), edited by Mailer and containing 80 pages of his commentary, is published in October.

He receives Playboy's Best Major Work in Fiction Award for “Trial of the Warlock,” a screenplay based on J. K. Huysmans’s 1891 novel, Là-Bas. The screenplay remains uncollected.