St. Louis Literary Award

For more than 50 years, the St. Louis Literary Award has honored many of the most important writers of our time and celebrated the contributions of literature in enriching our lives. The St. Louis Literary Award is among the oldest and most prestigious of literary prizes in the country.

From 1967 until 1981, the award was known as the Messing Award in honor of Roswell and Wilma Messing Jr., who provided the initial funding for the prize. The St. Louis Literary Award recognizes a living writer with a substantial body of work that has enriched our literary heritage by deepening our insight into the human condition and by expanding the scope of our compassion. It is presented annually by the Saint Louis University Libraries.

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2026 Award Winner: Jhumpa Lahiri

Saint Louis University will honor Jhumpa Lahiri in spring of 2026. Lahiri received the Pulitzer Prize in 2000 for Interpreter of Maladies, her debut story collection that explores issues of love and identity among immigrants and cultural transplants. With a compelling, universal fluency, Lahiri portrays the practical and emotional adversities of her diverse characters in elegant and direct prose.

Her acclaimed novels and short story collections include The Namesake, Unaccustomed Earth, The Lowland, and Roman Stories. She is also a translator, essayist, and editor of The Penguin Book of Italian Short Stories. Lahiri’s work has been recognized with the PEN/Hemingway Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the National Humanities Medal, and election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Born in London to Bengali parents and raised in Rhode Island, Lahiri is the Millicent C. McIntosh Professor of English and Director of Creative Writing at Barnard College, Columbia University. She divides her time between New York and Italy.