The Saint Louis University Library Associates recently announced author and historian Simon Schama as the winner of the 2001 Saint Louis Literary Award. A presentation ceremony will take place in the Saint Louis Room of the Busch Memorial Center at 5 p.m. on Oct. 30.

Schama was born in London in 1945. Since then he has taught history courses at Cambridge, Oxford and Harvard universities. He is currently a professor of art history and history at Columbia University.

Schama’s books include Patriots and Liberators, The Embarrassment of Riches, Citizens, Dead Certainties, Landscape and Memory and Rembrandt’s Eyes. He received a National Magazine Award for his work as an art critic for The New Yorker from 1995 to 1998. Schama was also the recipient of the Literature Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Schama is writer/presenter of historical documentaries on the BBC and the History Channel. Volume I of “The History of Britain” was shown in the fall of 2000 and the spring of 2001. “A History of Britain, Vol. II: The Wars of the British 1603-1776” will appear of the History Channel on Oct. 29, 30, 31 and Nov. 1.

The ceremony honoring this noted author, historian and television writer/presenter is free and open to the public.

SLU Library Associates executive secretary Bernice Shepherd encourages students to take advantage of this opportunity. “[The associates] hope students will attend the presentation,” Shepherd said. “Schama’s lecture will be something they will enjoy.”

Previous recipients of the Saint Louis Literary Award include W.H. Auden, Tennessee Williams, Robert Penn Warren, Arthur Miller, John Updike, Tom Wolfe and Chinua Achebe.