St. Louis Literary Award Discussion with Director Mira Nair Moved to November 13

St. Louis Literary Award Panel with Director Mira Nair Slated for November 13

ST. LOUIS - Saint Louis University will hold a Zoom discussion with Mira Nair, director of "The Namesake," on Thursday, Nov. 13. "The Namesake" is based on the novel of the same name by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jhumpa Lahiri, the 2026 St. Louis Literary Award honoree.

The event is rescheduled from its original date of Oct. 30.

The panel will include Edward Ibur, executive director of the St. Louis Literary Award Programs; Joya Uraizee, Ph.D., English professor at SLU; Ruth Bouman, a senior majoring in English and History; Sharonda Stith, a graduate student in Theological Studies at SLU; and Charles Turnell, a junior majoring in political science and the treasurer of the SLU Cinema Club.

Nair is an Academy-Award-nominated director best known for her visually dense films that pulsate with life. Her debut feature, "Salaam Bombay!" (1988) won the Caméra d'Or at Cannes, followed by the groundbreaking "Mississippi Masala" (1991), the Golden Globe & Emmy-winning "Hysterical Blindness" (2001) and the international hit "Monsoon Wedding" (2001), for which she was the first woman to win Venice Film Festival's coveted Golden Lion.

Also known for her literary craftsmanship of subcontinental fiction, Mira has filmed "The Namesake," "The Reluctant Fundamentalist" (2012), "Vanity Fair" (2004), "A Suitable Boy" (2020) and "Queen of Katwe" (2016). At home everywhere, in 2021 she directed the TV pilot of the iconic film "National Treasure." She returned to the theatre for her most recent endeavor, directing Monsoon Wedding the Musical, which opened in New York City at St. Ann Warehouse in May 2023 and is bound for the West End in 2026.

The panel discussion will be held at 12 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 13.

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Her next feature films will be "AMRI," an experimental portrait of Amrita Sher-Gil, India's pioneering modern artist, and "BRO," a searing tale of class, conflict and revenge in contemporary India. A book on Mira Nair's cinema will be published by Rizzoli in 2026.

An activist by nature, Nair founded Salaam Baalak Trust for street children in 1989, and the Maisha Film Lab in East Africa to train filmmakers on the continent in 2004. In 2012, she was awarded the Padma Bhushan, India's third-highest civilian honour.

The 2026 St. Louis Literary Award honoree Jhumpa Lahiri is the author of the novels "The Namesake," "The Lowland," and "In Altre Parole," among others. She also wrote the short story collections "Interpreter of Maladies" and "Unaccustomed Earth," and she is the author of poetry and the non-fiction "The Clothing of Books" and "Translating Myself and Others."

She received the Pulitzer Prize in 2000 for "Interpreter of Maladies," her debut story collection which explores issues of love and identity among immigrants and cultural transplants. The novel "The Namesake" was named a New York Times Notable Book and Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist.

St. Louis Literary Award

The St. Louis Literary Award, now housed in the College of Arts & Sciences, is presented annually by Saint Louis University 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.