American Prophets: Visitor Testimonies

In the American Writers Museum’s current special exhibit, visitors get a chance to pick up the pen and reflect on their spiritual journeys.

written by Ainsley Atwood

As part of our special exhibit American Prophets: Writers, Religion, and Culture, we invite visitors to reflect on their own experiences with spirituality and writing. Since the exhibit opened in November 2025, guests of many backgrounds have shared their relationships with their faith, their loves of reading and writing, and which writers they considered prophets. The following are some common themes among the visitor responses that I’ve noticed.

Spiritual Journeys

Guests have been forthcoming with stories about faith and family. They tend to write about the dynamic nature of faith especially, whether that be growing closer to the religion they were born into or drifting away from it, or changing traditions altogether. One guest grew up Catholic but converted to Methodism; while another studied many different faiths throughout their life. One guest was raised Mormon but has since taken a step back from that tradition; while another came to their faith while they were in college. Many visitors also write about having a complicated relationship with their beliefs, such as one visitor who noted feeling that their relationship with Buddhism was different than that of other practitioners they know. Another visitor came from a religiously split household and shared how that still impacts them today:

“Religion was split in my household. My mom being Baptist, then non-denominational, while daddy is a Jehovah’s Witness. My identity spiritually, culturally and racially often caused a chaotic crisis in my life. I expressed my emotions about it all in my books, essays, and screenplays. It’s been a God sent relief.”

Connecting to God in Literature

Multiple visitors report feeling unwelcome or restricted in religious settings and institutions, yet they still feel connections to God outside of those spaces, often finding it in literature. Many respondents reference the most influential writers in their faith journeys, their American prophets. While some visitors cite explicitly religious writers like Walker Percy, Dorothy Day, Flannery O’Connor, and Martin Luther King Jr. as influences on their beliefs, most turn to less obviously spiritual writers like Sylvia Plath, bell hooks, Mary Oliver, and Joan Didion. As one respondent wrote about the global impact of writers:

“Sartre, Nietzsche, and Camus had a greater impact on my beliefs than growing up with Matthew, Mark, and Luke.”

Reading and Writing as Ritual Healing

For many visitors, faith informs their approaches to reading and writing. Many of the writers who have visited said they feel God’s guidance in their writing and credit God with their literary successes, be it finishing a draft or publishing their work. Some respondents consider reading essential to their spiritual growth and share stories about the impact that literature has had on their lives. For some, reading and writing helped them through grief and loss. For others, reading saved their lives. An overwhelming sentiment that many visitors share is the power of literature to make one feel less isolated and foster community. As one visitor put it:

“Writing is the best way to tell a stranger they’re not alone.”

Physical Journeys

Other visitors reflect on where they are in life—what their hopes and anxieties are for the future, what past events have shaped them, and what specifically brought them to the American Writers Museum. Guests have come from all over the world to visit, and for some of them it took courage and intentionality to make that trip. One visitor remarked that none of their friends wanted to come with them to Chicago, so they had to brave the solo trip alone. For one family, visiting the American Writers Museum was the culmination of a three-week long road trip:

“Three weeks on the road. One mini van, two children, one grandpa, two tired parents, and many bottles of wine. All the way from Montana and soon-to-be back again. Mostly joy, some angst. Was it worth it? Absolutely!”

Writers as Prophets

Some visitors, instead of offering reflections of their own, pay tribute to writers they admire or offer their own bits of wisdom. Many take the opportunity to quote writers that have spoken to them in some way, ranging from Mitch Albom to Stephanie Meyer to Carl Sagan. Some of these quotes are explicitly religious, but others speak to more secular truths:

“Reading Carl Sagan’s, the great science communicator, Pale Blue Dot essay changed me in profound ways. Not growing up with any specific religion left me wondering about meaning and how humans can be better to one another — seeing us all as a ‘mote of dust floating in a sunbeam’ made our fragility and aloneness in the universe feel like a calling to reduce suffering and be kind.”

All in all, visitors react in a variety of ways to the exhibit, but there are common themes of introspection, change, and growth. But the ultimate common denominator is the power of words to make us think, feel, and wrestle with forces bigger than ourselves—and to allow for empathy and understanding of people who have different ideas and beliefs than our own.

We would love to hear about your faith journey! What personal journeys have impacted your own faith, spirituality, religion, or belief-system? How has your spirituality been impacted by writers and their works? Who are YOUR American prophets?

Plan your visit to the American Writers Museum and explore American Prophets today!

View the gallery below to discover more visitor testimonies in American Prophets: Writers, Religion, and Culture.

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