Tulane University hosted Pulitzer Prize-winning author Marilynne Robinson on Tuesday, Jan. 28 for the fourth Carole Barnette Boudreaux ‘65 Creative Writers Series, a program that brings globally renowned authors to campus to share their experience and expertise with the Tulane community.  

Robinson is widely known for her novels “Housekeeping” and “Gilead,” which received the 1982 Hemingway Foundation/PEN award and the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, respectively. All four of her “Gilead” novels were selected for Oprah’s Book Club in 2021.  

The main event, held in Lake Residence Hall Theater, included Robinson’s delivery of a prepared speech. Robinson shared that she never reads the same speech twice at events of this kind, meaning the Tulane community was gifted with brand-new insights from the author.  

Before the event, Robinson joined a small group of Tulane students interested in creative writing and literary criticism for a discussion about her work and experience. The intimate question-and-answer session was arranged by Joseph Mistrot, assistant dean for administration and special projects of the School of Liberal Arts.  

Students were curious about how Robinson writes originally and authentically from a perspective that is so different from her own.  

“I can’t begin the novel until I know the sound of the voice that is telling the story, and once I know that, it’s almost as if the novel unfolds,” Robinson said.   

Throughout the session, Robinson referred to fiction as a dream, urging students to let it live its life separate from that of the author and to refrain from intruding on it. She taught students the importance of writing as a form of self-discovery, commenting on the beautiful complexity of the subconscious. 

“We don’t have any idea what we are, really. When a thought enters your mind, it has entered the most complex thing in the universe,” Robinson said.  

Robinson referred to her writing process as “undisciplined.” Instead of pressuring herself to write for a certain amount of time each week, she waits for inspiration to come and lets it mature in her mind. Robinson noted how she often feels a strong intuition to write about certain topics.  

“I want to make people enjoy being alive and enjoy people’s peculiarities,” Robinson said.  

“Robinson’s responses were careful and unique, showing an appreciation for the world, and asking us to pay attention to it,” said Tulane senior Chase Stenberg, who attended the small group session.  

Later that evening, members of the public and Tulane students packed Lake Theater, with some attendees even sitting on the ground in the aisle to get the chance to hear from Robinson herself.  

Robinson’s talk, titled “American Beauty,” expressed her concern for the political state of the nation and reflected on traditional values that appear to be slipping away.  

“We could think of ourselves as a deeply literary culture if we chose to,” Robinson said. “The colossus of modern literature has not yet been discovered.”  

Robinson’s reading was followed by an interview with Karen Zumhagen-Yekplé, associate professor of English, and a Q&A session open to the audience.  

Senior Ellie Goodall, who attended the event, was greatly impacted by the opportunity.  

“I left Lake Theatre feeling fortunate to be part of an institution full of opportunities to hear from the brightest minds of our time,” Goodall said. “Marilynne Robinson struck me as a one-of-a-kind intellectual.”