Garrison Keillor wins 2007 Steinbeck Award

Famed American cultural commentator and entertainer Garrison Keillor, most popularly noted for his radio show, “A Prairie Home Companion,” will receive the 2007 John Steinbeck Award from San Jose State University and the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas.
Keillor’s contributions to American culture range from hosting his popular radio show on National Public Radio to screenwriting, music, acting and writing. His latest novel, “Pontoon,” has just been published.

The Martha Heasley Cox Center for Steinbeck Studies at San Jose State University created the Steinbeck award in 1996. Named for the Salinas-born, Nobel Prize-winning writer who died in 1968, the award honors writers and artists whose work captures the spirit of Steinbeck’s empathy for and belief in the common man.According to Thomas Steinbeck, the writer’s son, his father once said, “The basic responsibility of all committed artists must be to remind people of their own inherent and unwavering humanity, and to do so without critical bias.

The artist must learn to rely upon and nurture empathy and compassion, and do so with a joyful heart.”

Thomas Steinbeck will present the award Sept. 25 (that is today!) prior to Keillor’s appearance at the Marin Veterans’ Memorial Auditorium. Past recipients include playwright Arthur Miller, songwriter Jackson Browne, singer Joan Baez and actor Sean Penn.

Above story from TheCalifornian.com

For a fuller story use this link to the San Jose State University site.

And for more on Keillor go to Garrison Keillor News website

Pic of author/broadcaster from Garrison Keillor pictures.