Author Ellen Douglas will receive a lifetime achievement award from the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters on Saturday.

Douglas is the pen name of 87-year-old Josephine Haxton, who is best known for such books as “A Family’s Affair,” and National Book Award nominee “Apostles of Light.” Her stories, novels and nonfiction are set in Mississippi and deal candidly with race relations, families and the role of women.

A University of Mississippi graduate, Douglas will join Eudora Welty, Walter Anderson and Leontyne Price as lifetime achievement winners.

The institute honors writers and artists with awards each year, but rarely gives out lifetime honors.