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Changes Coming to St. Louis Literary Award Programming Next Week

by Maggie Rotermund
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Maggie Rotermund
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Jon Hamm is Unable to Moderate, Craft Talk Is Moved Up on Friday

ST. LOUIS - The Saint Louis University Library Associates announced today that actor and St. Louis native Jon Hamm will be unable to interview writer Neil Gaiman next week when Gaiman receives the 2023 St. Louis Literary Award. 

Neil Gaiman
Neil Gaiman. Photo by Beowulf Sheehan.

A scheduling conflict will keep Hamm from the event. St. Louis Literary Award Executive Director Edward Ibur will step in to moderate the discussion.

Gaiman is a prolific author of prose, poetry, film, journalism, comics, song lyrics, and drama. He has been honored with both the Newbery and Carnegie Medals. 

While he is best known as a novelist, Gaiman is adept at writing in a variety of forms. His work includes “Coraline,” “Neverwhere,” “The Ocean at The End of The Lane,” “American Gods,” “The Graveyard Book,” “Stardust,” and “The Sandman.” 

The Netflix adaptation of “The Sandman” premiered in August. 

The sold-out award ceremony will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 13, at the Sheldon Concert Hall. Virtual tickets are still available by registering in advance.

A craft talk will take place on April 14 on the campus of Saint Louis University. The event, originally scheduled for 12 p.m., will now take place at 11:30 a.m. The Craft Talk will be moderated by Martha Allen, assistant dean of user services at SLU’s Pius XII Memorial Library, and Martin Casas, owner of Apotheosis Comics and Lounge. 

The St. Louis Literary Award department in SLU Libraries also includes a Campus Read series, which is open to the public; the Undergraduate Writing Award; Literature & Medicine; Inspired By Arts Showcase for High School and College Students; and the Walter J. Ong S.J. Award for Excellence in Graduate Student Research.  

St. Louis Literary Award 

The St. Louis Literary Award is presented annually by the Saint Louis University Libraries and has become one of the top literary prizes in the country. The award honors a writer who deepens our insight into the human condition and expands the scope of our compassion. Some of the most important writers of the 20th and 21st centuries have come to Saint Louis University to accept the honor, including Margaret Atwood, Salmon Rushdie, Eudora Welty, John Updike, Saul Bellow, August Wilson, Stephen Sondheim, Zadie Smith and Tom Wolfe.

Saint Louis University

Founded in 1818, Saint Louis University is one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious Catholic institutions. Rooted in Jesuit values and its pioneering history as the first university west of the Mississippi River, SLU offers more than 15,200 students a rigorous, transformative education of the whole person. At the core of the University’s diverse community of scholars is SLU’s service-focused mission, which challenges and prepares students to make the world a better, more just place.