Iowa writing professor receives White House honor

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A Pulitzer Prize-winning author teaching creative writing at the University of Iowa will be awarded a National Humanities Medal by President Barack Obama on Wednesday.

Marilynne Robinson is among 12 people to receive the recognition.

A statement from the White House says Robinson will be recognized “for her grace and intelligence in writing” and her novels which are written with “moral strength and lyrical clarity.”

Her novel “Gilead” won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2005 and “Housekeeping” was a finalist for the prize in 1982.

Robinson, a native of Idaho, became a professor at the University of Iowa’s Writers’ Workshop in 1991, where she continues to teach creative writing.

The humanities medal recognizes those whose work deepens the nation’s understanding of history, literature, philosophy and related disciplines.