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Gabriel Bump, assistant professor of English, has been named the recipient of the Chicago Public Library Foundation’s 2026 21st Century Award. The foundation’s Oct. 13 awards celebration in Chicago also honored author and illustrator Mo Willems and philanthropist Helen Zell.

The recognition comes ahead of the Nov. 10 publication of Bump’s third novel, “Don’t Stop Snowing,” from Algonquin Books. The novel follows a young man seeking to move beyond his father’s troubled legacy and build a life of his own. In an early review, Publishers Weekly calls it “a memorable portrait of a young man who finds refuge in literature.”

A native of Chicago’s South Shore neighborhood, Bump teaches in UMass Amherst’s MFA for Poets and Writers, where he earned his degree in 2017. His previous novels, “Everywhere You Don’t Belong” and “The New Naturals,” were both named New York Times Notable Books.

Bump will present a reading of “Don’t Stop Snowing” at 7 p.m. on Nov. 11 at Odyssey Books in South Hadley. For more information and to claim free tickets to the event, visit this page.