Prof. of Creative Writing Jhumpa Lahiri. Photo by Denise Applewhite

The PEN/Faulkner Foundation announced that Professor of Creative Writing Jhumpa Lahiri is the recipient of the 2017 PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in the Short Story. The award was established by the family of Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Bernard Malamud to honor excellence in the art of short fiction. A panel of PEN/Faulkner directors forms the selection committee for the awards.

Jhumpa Lahiri received the Pulitzer Prize in 2000 for Interpreter of Maladies, her debut story collection that explores issues of love and identity among immigrants and cultural transplants. Her most recent books include In Other Words (Knopf, 2016) and a translation of Domenico Starnone’s novel, Lacci, entitled Ties (Europa Editions, 2017).

Past PEN/Malamud award winners include Princeton Professor of Creative Writing, Emeritus, Joyce Carol Oates, along with acclaimed writers Grace Paley, George Saunders, James Salter, John Updike and many others.