Novelist Arundhati Roy to Receive the 2022 St. Louis Literary Award

09/17/2021

ST. LOUIS – Saint Louis University Library Associates today announce author Arundhati Roy as the recipient of the 2022 St. Louis Literary Award. Roy will come to St. Louis next spring to accept the award.

The award ceremony will be held April 28, 2022, at the Sheldon Concert Hall. A craft talk will take place the next day on the campus of Saint Louis University.

Roy is the author of the novel The God of Small Things, which received the 1997 Booker Prize and was listed as a New York Times notable book of the year.

Roy’s second novel The Ministry of Utmost Happiness was named to the Man Booker long list in 2017 and was named a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.

Roy has been honored with Lannan Foundation’s Prize for Cultural Freedom (2002); the Sydney Peace Prize (2004); the George Orwell Award from the National Council of Teachers of English (2004); and the Norman Mailer Prize for Distinguished Writing (2011).

“First and foremost, Arundhati Roy is an exceptional writer whose work has made a profound impact culturally, socially, and politically. What resonates through her writings as an essayist, novelist, and screenwriter is a voice that is unwaveringly honest and compelling,” said Edward Ibur, Executive Director of the St. Louis Literary Award. “Ms. Roy has been a bright star in the literary universe for more than 30 years, and we are so fortunate to have her join our amazing roster of writers who have received the St. Louis Literary Award at SLU for more than 50 years.”

The 2021 award winner, Zadie Smith, will be honored Thursday, Nov. 4, at the Sheldon Concert Hall. A craft talk will take place on Friday, Nov. 5.

St. Louis Literary Award 

The St. Louis Literary Award is presented annually by the Saint Louis University Library Associates and has become one of the top literary prizes in the country. The award honors a writer who deepens our insight into the human condition and expands the scope of our compassion. Some of the most important writers of the 20th and 21st centuries have come to Saint Louis University to accept the honor, including Margaret Atwood, Salmon Rushdie, Eudora Welty, John Updike, Saul Bellow, August Wilson, Stephen Sondheim and Tom Wolfe.

Saint Louis University Library Associates

One of the oldest literary and cultural organizations in St. Louis, the Saint Louis University Library Associates seeks to build a closer relationship between the University and the community and to promote an appreciation for the value of literature. The Library Associates work to enhance the visibility of the Saint Louis University Libraries and to support the development of their world-class collections and services.