Colson Whitehead to Receive the 2025 St. Louis Literary Award
04/25/2024
ST. LOUIS – Pulitzer Prize-winning author Colson Whitehead will receive the 2025 St. Louis Literary Award from Saint Louis University. Whitehead will come to St. Louis next spring to accept the award.
The award ceremony will be held in April 2025.
Colson Whitehead will receive the 2025 St. Louis Literary Award. Photo by Chris Close.
“The St. Louis Literary Award selection committee, comprised of representatives from Saint Louis University and the St. Louis region, ultimately felt that Colson Whitehead’s versatility as an exceptionally gifted storyteller in fiction, creative nonfiction, and as an essayist helped him stand out that much more from our other esteemed finalists,” said Edward Ibur, St. Louis Literary Award executive director.
“Mr. Whitehead’s often lyrical prose and vivid imagery electrify the worlds and characters he shares with his readers, immersing them in unforgettable stories. So much of Mr. Whitehead’s work is rooted in identity, social justice, race, and culture which all connect strongly to our mission statement: The Saint 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.
While the process of making the award selection certainly brings a marked degree of anxiety for those of us on the committee, reading Colson Whitehead’s brilliant work was pure joy.”
Whitehead is the author of the novels “The Intuitionist,” “John Henry Days,” “Apex Hides the Hurt,” “Sag Harbor,” “The Underground Railroad,” “The Nickel Boys,” and “Harlem Shuffle,” among others. He also penned a book of essays about New York City, “The Colossus of New York.”
Whitehead graduated from Harvard College and worked as a reviewer of television, books and music at the Village Voice.
In addition to the Pulitzer, “The Underground Railroad,” won the National Book Award and the Carnegie Medal for Fiction. “The Nickel Boys” won the Pulitzer Prize, the Kirkus Prize, and the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction.
Whitehead has been a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway, PEN/Faulkner, Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Los Angeles Times Fiction Award and has received the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award.
He has received a MacArthur Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Whiting Writers Award, the Dos Passos Prize, and a fellowship at the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers.
Whitehead was named the New York State Author in 2018 and awarded the Prize for American Fiction from the Library of Congress in 2020.
Whitehead has taught at the University of Houston, Columbia University, New York University and Princeton University. He has also served as a writer-in-residence at Vassar College, the University of Richmond, and the University of Wyoming.
St. Louis Literary Award
The St. Louis Literary Award is presented annually by the Saint Louis University Libraries 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 influential 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, Zadie Smith and Tom Wolfe.
Saint Louis University
Founded in 1818, Saint Louis University is one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious Catholic institutions. Rooted in Jesuit values and its pioneering history as the first university west of the Mississippi River, SLU offers more than 13,500 students a rigorous, transformative education of the whole person. At the core of the University’s diverse community of scholars is SLU’s service-focused mission, which challenges and prepares students to make the world a better, more just place.
Latest Newslink
- SLU Launches William L. Clay, Sr. Institute of Civic Engagement and Economic JusticeThe Clay Institute will provide immersive learning experiences and hands-on training that address the social and economic challenges facing the St. Louis region and the nation. Institute programming will be available to all students with an interest in civic engagement and democratic participation.
- SLU Research Explores Depression's Ripple Effect on DiabetesA study conducted by researchers at Saint Louis University found that patients with depression were more likely to have uncontrolled diabetes over time and that depression contributes to a heightened economic burden to diabetes management.
- SLU/YouGov Poll: Statewide Cell Phone Ban for Missouri Schools Popular with VotersGovernor Mike Kehoe has signed Senate Bill 68 into law, enacting a statewide ban on the use of personal electronic devices, including cell phones, tablets, and smartwatches, throughout the school day in Missouri public and public charter schools.
- SLU Vaccine Center Will Enroll Healthy Volunteers in Yellow Fever Vaccine Clinical TrialSaint Louis University's Center for Vaccine Development will enroll up to 70 adult volunteers in a clinical trial to study the safety elicited by a new investigational vaccine for yellow fever, a potentially deadly disease that is spread by mosquitoes. The research is funded by Sanofi Pasteur.
- Feser Joins Global Jesuit Assembly During First Week as SLU's PresidentAs he began his tenure as Saint Louis University's 34th president, Edward Feser, Ph.D., represented SLU as a delegate at the 2025 Assembly of the International Association of Jesuit Universities (IAJU).
- SLU Partnership with St. Louis Catholic Academy Middle School Education Yields Improved Outcomes One Year OnA partnership between Saint Louis University's School of Education's Herrmann Center for Innovative Catholic Education and St. Louis Catholic Academy has yielded improved test scores and student outcomes in the middle school population after its first year. The SLU School of Education provides resources to St. Louis Catholic Academy's middle school.