Malcolm Guite’s Galahad and the Grail has received the 2026 Parnassus Prize from Memoria College.
Martin Cothran of Memoria College presented the award to Guite during the Memoria National Conference in Louisville, Kentucky, earlier this month.
The annual Parnassus Prize recognizes a recently published book that contributes to the cultivation of the Western liberal arts tradition. Its name was inspired by Tracy Lee Simmons’ Climbing Parnassus: A New Apologia for Greek and Latin.
Galahad and the Grail, published by Rabbit Room Press, was the only fiction title among the six books shortlisted for this year’s award.
The book opens Guite’s Merlin’s Isle: An Arthuriad series, described by its publisher as the first multivolume poetic retelling of Arthurian legend published in nearly two centuries. The first installment follows the quest for the Holy Grail through the eyes of Sir Galahad.
The volume explores courage, honor and spiritual pilgrimage while drawing on the Christian themes that have long shaped the Grail tradition. It also includes more than 25 illustrations by artist Stephen Crotts.
Guite is a poet, priest and life fellow at Girton College, Cambridge. His previous books include Sounding the Seasons, David’s Crown and Mariner: A Voyage With Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
2026 Parnassus Prize Shortlist
- Galahad and the Grail by Malcolm Guite
- Why Literature Still Matters by Jason M. Baxter
- Christian Paideia, Vol. 1: A History of Christian Education to 500 AD by Brian Welter
- Guide to the Science of Reading: Translating Research to Reignite Joy and Meaning in the Classroom by Doug Lemov, Colleen Driggs and Erica Woolway
- Truth Matters: A Dialogue on Fruitful Disagreement in an Age of Division by Robert P. George and Cornel West
- Passing the Torch: An Apology for Classical Christian Education by Louis Markos