The American Writers Museum (AWM) is excited to open its new special exhibit American Prophets: Writers, Religion, and Culture on Friday, November 21, 2025. Tied to this exhibit, acclaimed writers will join AWM September through December for events on topics including James Baldwin and queer spirituality, horror writing and religion, and the significance of spirituality in popular music from Leonard Cohen to Fleetwood Mac.
A groundbreaking initiative, American Prophets journeys through the pages of American history to explore the influence of religion and spirituality on writers and readers. The exhibit opening in November features interactive displays incorporating more than 100 different creative works and writers spanning genres and mediums from literature to film, music, comedy and more. AWM invites visitors to discover how storytelling serves as a powerful lens for examining belief systems, personal identity and the ever-evolving relationship between religion and American culture.
American Prophets will be open at AWM through November 2026. For more details on the exhibit and programming updates, visit AmericanWritersMuseum.org
Renderings of the new American Prophets exhibit at the American Writers Museum, credit Amaze Design.
“Throughout American Prophets visitors will see the connections between writers of different beliefs, which we hope inspires greater empathy, understanding and tolerance among people of any and all religions or beliefs,” says AWM President Carey Cranston. “For many readers, their chance to experience or understand spiritual practices outside of their own often comes from the stories they read or that they see represented on screen. The American writers showcased in our new exhibit and program series create these opportunities for learning and understanding.”
Along with a variety of interactive displays spanning genres, the American Prophets exhibit includes a selection of unique objects of religious significance to writers that can be tied to their works. Featured artifacts include:
· Flannery O'Connor's rosary
· Ursula K. Le Guin's annotated copy of the Tao Te Ching
· Samira Ahmed's amulet with a Muslim prayer
· Louie Pérez’s statue of the Santo Niño de Atocha
· Harold Ramis’ pocket-sized primer The Five-Minute Buddhist
· Pauli Murray’s vestments
· Rachel Pollack’s statue of a Greek goddess
· Brad Wagnon’s Cherokee turtle shell rattle
· Sanjay Patel’s prayer bell
· Sholem Asch’s antique inkwells and spice boxes
American Prophets is supported by a $2.5 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. through its Religion and Cultural Institutions Initiative.
American Prophets Program Series September—December 2025
Despite James Baldwin’s disavowal of Christianity in his youth, he continued to engage the symbols and theology of Christianity in works such as The Amen Corner, Just Above My Head, and others. Author Christopher W. Hunt appears Tuesday, September 16 at 6 p.m. at the American Writers Museum (180 N. Michigan Avenue, 2nd Floor, Chicago) to discuss his new book Jimmy’s Faith: James Baldwin, Disidentification, and the Queer Possibilities of Black Religion, showing how Baldwin’s usage of religious symbols both shifted their meaning and served as a way for him to build his own religious and spiritual vision. Hunt will be in conversation with Northwestern University professor Ivy Wilson. Books will be available for purchase and Hunt will sign them following the program. Tickets are $12.51, with discounts for seniors and students, at americanwritersmuseum.org/program-calendar/james_baldwin_queer_spirituality_in_person. This event will also be livestreamed.
AWM presents Horror Writing and Religion, a panel discussion with award-winning writers about religion, spirituality and the horror genre, on Friday, October 10 at 6:30 p.m. at the University of Chicago Divinity School (1025 E. 58th Street, Chicago). Leading writers of horror and suspense discuss their use of religion in their work, from magic and voodoo in Tananarive Due’s The Good House, to historical cults in Matt Ruff’s Lovecraft Country, to reckoning with the past in Levi Holloway’s play Paranormal Activity. What frightens us so deeply about religion, and how do different kinds of writing explore this topic? Due, Ruff and Holloway will be joined in conversation by horror writer Juan Martinez. Books will be available for purchase and the authors will sign them following the program. Tickets are $23.18 at americanwritersmuseum.org/program-calendar/horror_writing_and_religion.
Scholar and author Thomas A. Tweed discusses his new book Religion in the Lands that Became America on Monday, November 10 at 6 p.m. at the American Writers Museum (180 N. Michigan Avenue, 2nd Floor, Chicago). A sweeping retelling of American religious history, Tweed shows how religion has enhanced and hindered human flourishing from the Ice Age to the Information Age. Tweed is joined in conversation by fellow Indigenous Studies scholar John N. Low. Books will be available for purchase and Tweed will sign them following the program. Tickets are $12.51, with discounts for seniors and students, at americanwritersmuseum.org/program-calendar/american-prophets-religion-in-the-lands-that-became-america-in-person. This event will also be livestreamed.
Emmy Award–winning music journalist Alan Light discusses the significance of spirituality in popular music on Monday, November 24 at 6 p.m. at the American Writers Museum (180 N. Michigan Avenue, 2nd Floor, Chicago). Light has written numerous books on songs and songwriters including The Holy or The Broken, which explores the significance of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” and his newest book Don’t Stop, which examines the enduring relevance of Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours album 50 years after its release. Books will be available for purchase and Light will sign them following the program. Tickets are $12.51, with discounts for seniors and students, at americanwritersmuseum.org/program-calendar/spirituality-song-from-leonard-cohen-to-fleetwood-mac-in-person. This event will also be livestreamed.
Religious Studies professor and writer Kathryn Gin Lum discusses her book Heathen: Religion and Race in American History on Wednesday, December 10 at 6 p.m. at the American Writers Museum (180 N. Michigan Avenue, 2nd Floor, Chicago). This innovative history shows how the religious idea of the heathen in need of salvation undergirds American conceptions of race. Books will be available for purchase and Gin Lum will sign them following the program. Tickets are $12.51, with discounts for seniors and students, at americanwritersmuseum.org/program-calendar/american-prophets-kathryn-gin-lum-heathen-in-person. This event will also be livestreamed.
Additional American Prophets events with authors spanning genres will be presented into 2026. Check the events calendar at AmericanWritersMuseum.org for updates on American Prophets programming.
Author Bios for American Prophets Programs
Tananarive Due is an award-winning author who teaches Black Horror and Afrofuturism at UCLA. A leading voice in Black speculative fiction for more than 20 years, Due has won an American Book Award, an NAACP Image Award, and a British Fantasy Award, and her writing has been included in best-of-the-year anthologies. Her books include The Reformatory (winner of a Los Angeles Times Book Prize, Chautauqua Prize, Bram Stoker Award, Shirley Jackson Award, World Fantasy Award, and a New York Times Notable Book), The Wishing Pool and Other Stories, Ghost Summer: Stories, My Soul to Keep, and The Good House. She and her late mother, civil rights activist Patricia Stephens Due, co-authored Freedom in the Family: A Mother-Daughter Memoir of the Fight for Civil Rights. She was an executive producer on Shudder’s groundbreaking documentary Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror. She and her husband/collaborator, Steven Barnes, wrote “A Small Town” for Season 2 of Jordan Peele’s The Twilight Zone on Paramount Plus, and two segments of Shudder’s anthology film Horror Noire. They also co-wrote their Black Horror graphic novel The Keeper, illustrated by Marco Finnegan. Due and Barnes co-host a podcast, “Lifewriting: Write for Your Life!” She and her husband live with their son, Jason.
Kathryn Gin Lum is Professor in the Religious Studies Department, in collaboration with the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity at Stanford. She is also Professor, by courtesy, of History in affiliation with American Studies and Asian American Studies. Her teaching and research focus on the lived ramifications of religious beliefs; she specializes in the history of religion and race in America.
Levi Holloway is an American playwright, actor, and educator. He is the co-founder of the Neverbird Project, a youth based deaf and hard of hearing theatre company. He specializes in working with deaf children and creating theatre for deaf people. He was an elementary school teacher in Chicago in the deaf department at Bell Elementary for over a decade. He is a repertory member of A Red Orchid Theatre in Chicago, and also performed as an actor in productions with Lookingglass Theatre Company and Steppenwolf. His play Grey House marked his Broadway debut as a playwright in 2023. He teaches playwrighting at Silk Road Rising Theatre Company in Chicago. His latest play Turret premiered at A Red Orchid Theatre in 2024, starring Michael Shannon.
Dr. Christopher W. Hunt is Assistant Professor of Religion at Colorado College, and received his PhD from the Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. Hunt’s work considers the relevance and meaning of Black religion for those on the margins or considered outside of traditional religious spaces.
Emmy Award–winning music journalist Alan Light is the author of numerous books including The Holy or the Broken: Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley, and the Unlikely Ascent of “Hallelujah” (which was adapted into an acclaimed documentary), as well as Let’s Go Crazy: Prince and the Making of Purple Rain and biographies of Johnny Cash, Nina Simone, and the Beastie Boys. He was the cowriter of bestselling memoirs by Gregg Allman and Peter Frampton. Alan was a senior writer at Rolling Stone and the editor-in-chief of Vibe and Spin. He contributes frequently to The New York Times, Esquire, and The Wall Street Journal, among many publications, and cohosts the podcast Sound Up! With Mark Goodman and Alan Light.
Matt Ruff is the award-winning author of eight novels, including Fool on the Hill, Set This House in Order, Bad Monkeys, The Mirage, 88 Names, and the bestselling Lovecraft Country, which was adapted as an HBO series. His most recent book is The Destroyer of Worlds: A Return to Lovecraft Country.
Thomas A. Tweed is the Harold and Martha Welch Professor of American Studies and professor of history at the University of Notre Dame. A past president of the American Academy of Religion, he is editor of Retelling U.S. Religious History and author of Crossing and Dwelling: A Theory of Religion and Religion: A Very Short Introduction.
The American Writers Museum is the first museum of its kind in the United States. The mission of the American Writers Museum is to excite audiences about the impact of American writers — past, present and future — in shaping our collective histories, cultures, identities, and daily lives. The museum is located at 180 N. Michigan Ave. Chicago, IL 60601, and offers something for every age group including permanent exhibits and special galleries highlighting America’s favorite works and the authors behind them. Tickets to the museum are $16 for adults, $10 for seniors, students, and teachers. Free for members and children ages 12 and under. To inquire about discounted rates for groups of 10 or more, including adults, student travel groups, and University students, visit AmericanWritersMuseum.org/visit/groups or call 312-374-8765. Museum hours are Monday, Thursday—Sunday, 10 AM—5 PM. Closed Tuesday and Wednesday. For more information visit AmericanWritersMuseum.org or call 312-374-8790. Follow AWM on Facebook, X, Instagram and YouTube.
Lilly Endowment Inc. is an Indianapolis-based private foundation created in 1937 by J.K. Lilly, Sr. and his sons Eli and J.K. Jr. through gifts of stock in their pharmaceutical business, Eli Lilly and Company. Although the gifts of stock remain a financial bedrock of the Endowment, it is a separate entity from the company, with a distinct governing board, staff and location. In keeping with the founders’ wishes, the Endowment supports the causes of community development, education and religion. Although the Endowment maintains a special commitment to its founders’ hometown, Indianapolis, and home state, Indiana, it also funds programs throughout the United States, especially in the field of religion. A principal aim of the Endowment’s religion grantmaking is to deepen and enrich the lives of Christians in the United States, primarily by seeking out and supporting efforts that enhance the vitality of congregations and strengthen the pastoral and lay leadership of Christian communities. The Endowment also seeks to improve public understanding of diverse religious traditions by supporting fair and accurate portrayals of the role religion plays in the United States and across the globe.