Zahm Lecture

Pulitzer Prize winner Marilynne Robinson presents the 2019 Zahm Lecture: "Wisdom and Knowledge"

Wednesday, September 11, 2019
7:15 p.m., UP Chiles Center
Free and open to the public

Renowned author Marilynne Robinson will touch upon the roles of wonder, grace and imagination to explore intersections and disconnects between knowledge and wisdom as she offers the 2019 Zahm Lecture.

Marilynne Robinson was the recipient of a 2012 National Humanities Medal, awarded by President Barack Obama, for "her grace and intelligence in writing." In 2016 she was awarded the Library of Congress Lifetime Achievement Award in American Fiction, as well as the Dayton Peace Prize’s Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award. In 2013, she was awarded South Korea’s Pak Kyong-ni Prize for her contribution to international literature. She is the author of Gilead, winner of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Critics Circle Award; Home, winner of the Orange Prize and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize; and Lila, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award. Her first novel, Housekeeping, won the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award. Robinson's nonfiction books include The Givenness of Things, When I Was a Child I Read Books, and Mother Country, which was nominated for a National Book Award. Robinson, Professor Emeritus at the University of Iowa, taught at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop for twenty-five years. 

The Zahm Lecture, which launches the academic year, addresses the important issues surrounding American Catholic education and honors Fr. John Zahm, C.S.C., an eminent Holy Cross priest and scientist of the late 19th and early 20th century.

Doors will open at 6:15pm with first-come, first-served seating. No tickets are required. Watch for signs on N Portsmouth Ave leading to additional parking. If needed, you can request accessible seating when you arrive. 

For ADA accommodations or further information, please contact the Garaventa Center at: 503.943.7702 or garaventa@up.edu.