Saint Louis University Library Associates presented Roy with the 2022 St. Louis Literary Award for lifetime literary and political achievement.
On 28 April 2022, Saint Louis University Library Associates formally presented Arundhati Roy with the St. Louis Literary Award, an honor established to recognize writers of major literary and cultural significance. The award ceremony celebrated Roy's decades-long body of work spanning fiction, political essays, and activist writing.
The St. Louis Literary Award has a distinguished history of honoring internationally significant authors, and Roy's selection reflected the enduring importance of her contributions since her Booker Prize win in 1997. By 2022, Roy had published her second novel, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness (2017), alongside numerous essay collections addressing subjects such as the rise of Hindu nationalism, the Kashmir conflict, and India's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The ceremony provided a platform for Roy to discuss her views on the state of democracy and dissent in contemporary India, themes central to her nonfiction writing. Receiving this award in the United States, at a time when she faced increasing political pressure and legal challenges in India for her outspoken criticism of the government, highlighted the international literary community's continued recognition of her work and its protection of her right to free expression as a writer-activist.