‘Gilead’ wins Grawemeyer Award in Religion
From Louisville Presbyterian Seminary:
“Gilead,” a book by Marilynne Robinson that earned this year’s 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, also has claimed the 2006 Louisville Grawemeyer Award in Religion.
It is the first time a novel has won the Grawemeyer religion prize, which is given jointly by Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary and the University of Louisville.
Described as “profoundly theological but never preachy,” Robinson’s book takes the form of a diary written in the late 1950s by John Ames, a third-generation Congregationalist minister in the small town of Gilead, Iowa. As Ames’ heart is failing, he writes the diary as a legacy to his young son.
Note that Gilead will be the Book of the Quarter at Calvin Theological Seminary this coming spring, when Robinson will speak at the Seminary. Robinson will also speak at the Calvin College Festival of Faith and Writing 2006.