St. Louis Literary Award

For more than 50 years, the St. Louis Literary Award has honored many of the most important writers of our time and celebrated the contributions of literature in enriching our lives. The St. Louis Literary Award is among the oldest and most prestigious of literary prizes in the country.

From 1967 until 1981, the award was known as the Messing Award in honor of Roswell and Wilma Messing Jr., who provided the initial funding for the prize. The St. Louis Literary Award recognizes a living writer with a substantial body of work that has enriched our literary heritage by deepening our insight into the human condition and by expanding the scope of our compassion. It is presented annually by the Saint Louis University College of Arts and Sciences.

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2027 Award Winner: Marilynne Robinson

Saint Louis University is pleased to announce that Pulitzer Prize-winning author Marilynne Robinson has been selected as the recipient of the 2027 St. Louis Literary Award.

Robinson is one of America's most celebrated novelists and essayists. She is the author of Gilead (2004), winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Critics Circle Award; Home (2008), winner of the Orange Prize and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize; Lila (2014), winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award; and Jack (2020), a New York Times bestseller. Her first novel, Housekeeping (1980), received the PEN/Hemingway Award and is widely regarded as a contemporary classic.

Robinson is also the author of numerous acclaimed works of nonfiction, including The Givenness of Things (2015), When I Was a Child I Read Books (2012), Absence of Mind (2010), The Death of Adam (1998), and Mother Country (1989).

In recognition of her contributions to American letters, Robinson received the National Humanities Medal in 2012 from President Barack Obama, who praised “her grace and intelligence in writing.” In 2025, she received the inaugural Lewis H. Lapham Award for Literary Excellence from Harper's Magazine.

Robinson's fiction and essays have earned international acclaim for their exploration of faith, democracy, memory, human dignity, and the moral dimensions of ordinary life. She will visit Saint Louis University in April 2027 to receive the St. Louis Literary Award and participate in public conversations with students, faculty, and the broader community.

Robinson will receive the award at the St. Louis Literary Award Ceremony on Thursday, April 1, 2027, at the Sheldon Concert Hall. She will also participate in the annual Author Craft Talk on Friday, April 2, 2027, at Saint Louis University.

Additional event details, including ticket information and registration opportunities, will be announced as they become available.