Announced in early April, SLU’s Center for Literary and Creative Arts will bring the St. Louis Literary Awards into the College of Arts and Sciences and aims to inspire the wider St. Louis community through new and expanded programs.
The center will sponsor “interdisciplinary programs and partnerships focused on publicly engaged scholarship, experiential learning and internships, public performance, lectures and creative showcases,” according to its website.
Vice President of diversity, equity and inclusion and affiliated dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Katrina Thompson Moore shared her excitement to broaden the scope of the center.
“It’s not just reading, it’s appreciating it and having a love for it,” Moore said. “[It’s] appreciating the written word, the performed body, [the] sound of music, all these various things and doing it with St. Louis at the heart of it.”
Faculty members had been looking to expand the St. Louis Literary Award for some time. A gift to CAS from an anonymous donor opened up the opportunity.
The St. Louis Literary Award itself will stay largely the same, just offer further connections outside of SLU. Program director Ted Ibur said integrating university and community outreach has always been his priority.
“When I took over the leadership role of the Literary Award itself, that was first and foremost the plan. How do we create programs that will reach across the campus and then reach into the community? And that’s been kind of the philosophy,” Ibur said.
Current programs associated with the award include the campus read, award ceremony, author craft talk and the Undergraduate Writing Award.
The center’s largest new undertaking, the Youth Literary Initiative, will provide a common book similar to SLU’s campus read for local high school students to read and engage with in class, culminating with activities, art exhibits and book clubs hosted on SLU’s campus for those students.
Moore said that these opportunities introduce students to new avenues of thinking.
“Bringing these students to another space to engage and have conversations with people they would have never met — they’re gonna have different perspectives,” Moore said.
Ibur echoed this sentiment and said that the scope of the center will increase.
“It is bringing together classes that would normally never have a connection together from different parts of St. Louis City and St. Louis County and across the river,” Ibur said. “They’re able to have a different sense of community, and that, to me, is extremely exciting.”
Ibur and Moore also plan on further engaging with creatives at the Grand Center Arts District and bridging meaningful relationships, emphasizing the intersections of multiple mediums of art and performance.
Lily Callon, a junior majoring in English and education and an employee of the St. Louis Literary Award, said that the new center provides excellent resources for her future career.
“One of my largest goals when I graduate is: I wanna stay connected. I want my students to read the book [for the Youth Literary Initiative]. I want my students to come see the author speak at our craft talk,” Callon said. “I want to continue that fantastic connection with the youth of the area.”
Callon also said she appreciated a new opportunity from last year, which allowed two students from Affton High School to create a project in response to St. Louis Literary Award winner Jhumpa Lahiri’s work and learn about the award and its functions for an internship.
Moore said opportunities for the center and those it serves are varied and exciting.
“We want to shine a light for our students, our community, our [alumni], our students’ families. Right around the corner are these wonderful arts areas,” Moore said. “There’s so many ways that we can open these doors. And so the great part is [that] we’re at a place where anything can happen.”
