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.
2024 Award Winner: Jamaica Kincaid
On Thursday, April 25, 2024, the Saint Louis University Libraries will honor the renowned Jamaica Kincaid at the Sheldon Concert Hall. At 12:30 p.m., Friday, April 26, 2023, Kincaid will also participate in an author craft talk at the Anheuser-Busch Auditorium in Cook Hall on the Saint Louis University Campus. More information on registration will be released closer to the date.
The Antigua-born Kincaid explores themes of colonialism, gender and sexuality, racism, class, and familial relationships in her work. She came to the United States as a teenager and as a young woman began writing columns and stories for Ingénue, The Village Voice and Ms. Her work has also appeared in The Paris Review and The New Yorker. Kincaid published her first book in 1983, “At the Bottom of the River” is a collection of short stories and reflections. She is the author of the novels “Annie John,” “Lucy,” and “See Now Then,” and the more personal books.“ The Autobiography of My Mother,""Among Flowers: A Walk in the Himalaya,” and “My Brother,” which explores the death from AIDS of her younger brother. She has been nominated for the National Book Award and is a recipient of a Guggenheim grant. She was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2004 and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2009. Kincaid is a professor in the African and African American Studies department as well as the Department of English at Harvard University.
Recipients of the Saint Louis Literary Award
The list of awardees of this prize reflects numerous Nobel laureates, Pulitzer Prize winners and National Book Award recipients.
- 2023: Neil Gaiman
- 2022: Arundhati Roy
- 2021: Zadie Smith
- 2020: Michael Chabon
- 2019: Edwidge Danticat
- 2018: Stephen Sondheim
- 2017: Margaret Atwood
- 2016: Michael Ondaatje
- 2015: David Grossman
- 2014: Jeanette Winterson
- 2012: Tony Kushner
- 2011: Mario Vargas Llosa
- 2010: Don Delillo
- 2009: Salman Rushdie
- 2008: E. L. Doctorow
- 2007: William H. Gass
- 2006: Michael Frayn
- 2005: Richard Ford
- 2004: Garry Wills
- 2003: Margaret Drabble
- 2002: Joan Didion
- 2001: Simon Schama
- 2000: N. Scott Momaday
- 1999: Chinua Achebe
- 1998: Seamus Heaney
- 1997: Stephen E. Ambrose
- 1996: Antonia Fraser
- 1995: Edward Albee
- 1994: Stephen Jay Gould
- 1993: David McCullough
- 1992: Shelby Foote
- 1991: August Wilson
- 1990: Tom Wolfe
- 1989: Richard Purdy Wilbur
- 1988: Joyce Carol Oates
- 1987: John Updike
- 1986: Saul Bellow
- 1985: Walker Percy
- 1984: No Recipient
- 1983: Eudora Welty
- 1982: William Styron
- 1981: James A. Michener
- 1980: Arthur Miller
- 1979: Howard Nemerov
- 1978: Mortimer J. Adler
- 1977: Robert Penn Warren
- 1976: R. Buckminster Fuller
- 1975: John Hope Franklin
- 1974: Tennessee Williams
- 1973: James T. Farrell
- 1972: Francis Warner
- 1971: Barbara Tuchman
- 1970: W. H. Auden
- 1969: George Plimpton
- 1968: Jacques Barzun
- 1967: Henry Steele Commager