Page 32 - The Indian EYE 050225

Newsmakers of the Week MAY 02, 2025 | The Indian Eye 32

JHUMPA LAHIRI

Writer gets 2026 St. Louis

Literary Award

aint Louis University will present the 2026 St. Louis Literary Award to
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jhumpa Lahiri. In April 2026, Lahiri will
Stravel to St. Louis to accept the honor.
“The St. Louis Literary Award selection committee is thrilled to select
Jhumpa Lahiri as the 58th award recipient. The Award’s mission, in part, is
to celebrate writers whose work enhances our understanding of the human
condition, and we believe will resonate long into the future,” said Edward
Ibur, St. Louis Literary Award executive director. “Lahiri’s essays, translated
works, and fiction reveal a writer who adeptly explores identity, cultural dis-
location, and the immigrant experience. Lahiri also knows how to flat-out tell
a great story that keeps the reader turning the pages and leaves an indelible
impression long after the story ends.”
Lahiri is the author of several novels, including “The Namesake,” “The
Lowland,” and “In Altre Parole.” She is also the author of poetry, the non-fic-
tion works “The Clothing of Books” and “Translating Myself and Others,”
and the collections of short stories “Interpreter of Maladies” and “Unaccus-
tomed Earth.”
She received the Pulitzer Prize in 2000 for “Interpreter of Maladies,” her
debut story collection which explores issues of love and identity among immi-
grants and cultural transplants. The novel “The Namesake” was named a New
York Times Notable Book and Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist. A film
version, directed by Mira Nair, was released in 2007.
“Unaccustomed Earth” received the 2008 Frank O’Connor International
Short Story Award and was a finalist for the Story Prize. Her book, “The Low-
land,” won the DSC award for South Asian fiction and was a finalist for both
the Man Booker Prize and the National Book Award in fiction.
Born in London, Lahiri moved to Rhode Island as a young child with
her Bengali parents. She is a graduate of Barnard College and has a Ph.D. in
Renaissance Studies from Boston University.
In 2014, Lahiri was awarded the prestigious National Humanities Medal.
As well as the Pulitzer Prize, Lahiri has been awarded the PEN/Hemingway
Award, an O. Henry Prize, the Addison Metcalf Award from the American
Academy of Arts and Letters.
To read more about Indian diaspora and Global Indians, log on to and follow
our website www.TheIndianEYE.com

www.TheIndianEYE.com