Pulitzer Prize for Fiction

The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It recognizes distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life, published during the preceding calendar year.

As the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel (awarded 1918–1947), it was one of the original Pulitzers; the program was inaugurated in 1917 with seven prizes, four of which were awarded that year ^[1] (no Novel prize was awarded in 1917, the first one having been granted in 1918). ^[2]

The name was changed to the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1948, and eligibility was expanded to also include short stories, novellas, novelettes, and poetry, as well as novels.

Finalists have been announced since 1980, usually a total of three. ^[2]

Definition

As defined in the original Plan of Award, the prize was given "Annually, for the American novel published during the year which shall best present the wholesome atmosphere of American life, and the highest standard of American manners and manhood," although there was some struggle over whether the word wholesome should be used instead of whole, the word Pulitzer had written in his will. ^[3] In 1927, the advisory board quietly instituted Pulitzer's word choice, replacing wholesome with whole.

A new consideration arose when the Pulitzer jury was unanimous in recommending Thornton Wilder's The Bridge of San Luis Rey for the 1928 prize, although the book deals with Peruvians in Peru, not with Americans in America. The jury chair, Richard Burton of Columbia University, emphasized the moral value of the book in his report to the advisory board: "This piece of fiction is not only an admirable example of literary skill in the art of fiction, but also possesses a philosophic import and a spiritual elevation which greatly increases its literary value." Robert Morss Lovett disagreed, saying it would be "mere subterfuge to say that it has anything to do with the highest standard of American manners and manhood," but went along with the jury in finding "less literary merit" in the other novels under discussion. (Lovett rejected the runner-up Black April by Julia Peterkin, calling it "a rather unedifying picture of life in a primitive negro community" and "an ironical answer to the terms on which the prize is offered." Peterkin won nevertheless in 1929 for a similar novel, Scarlet Sister Mary .) Having settled on Bridge, the Advisory Board redefined the conditions from "whole atmosphere of American life, and the highest standard of American manners and manhood" to "preferably one which shall best present the whole atmosphere of American life," although this did not address the novel's setting. ^[4] Further refinement into "the best novel published that year by an American author" removed any impediment to Pearl S. Buck's The Good Earth in 1932, also with a foreign setting in its study of Chinese village life in Anhui, East China. ^[5]

With 1929 came the first of several much more substantive changes. The board changed the wording to "preferably one which shall best present the whole atmosphere of American life" and deleted the insistence that the novel portray "the highest standard of American manners and manhood". In 1936, emphasis was changed again, with the award going to "a distinguished novel published during the year by an American author, preferably dealing with American life". In 1948, the advisory board widened the scope of the award with the wording "For distinguished fiction published in book form during the year by an American author, preferably dealing with American life." ^[3] This change allowed the prize to go to a collection of short stories for the first time, James Michener's Tales of the South Pacific.

Winners

In 31 years under the "Novel" name, the prize was awarded 27 times; in its first 76 years to 2024 under the "Fiction" name, 70 times. There have been 11 years during which no title received the award. It was shared by two authors for the first time in 2023. ^[2] Since this category's inception in 1918, 31 women have won the prize. Four authors have won two prizes each in the Fiction category: Booth Tarkington, William Faulkner, John Updike, and Colson Whitehead.

Because the award is for books published in the preceding calendar year, the "Year" column links to the preceding year in literature.

1910s to 1970s

Year	Winner		Work		Genre(s)	Author's origin
1918		Ernest Poole (1880–1950)	His Family	Macmillan (1917)	Novel	Illinois
1919		Booth Tarkington (1869–1949)	The Magnificent Ambersons	Doubleday, Page & Co. (1918)	Novel	Indiana
1920	Not awarded [a]
1921		Edith Wharton (1862–1937)	The Age of Innocence [b] [7]	D. Appleton & Company (1920)	Novel	New York
1922		Booth Tarkington (1869–1949)	Alice Adams	Doubleday, Page & Co. (1921)	Novel	Indiana
1923		Willa Cather (1873–1947)	One of Ours	Alfred A. Knopf (1922)	Novel	Virginia
1924		Margaret Wilson (1882–1973)	The Able McLaughlins	Harper & Brothers (1923)	Debut novel	Iowa
1925		Edna Ferber (1885–1968)	So Big	Grosset & Dunlap (1924)	Novel	Michigan
1926		Sinclair Lewis (1885–1951)	Arrowsmith [c]	Harcourt Brace & Co. (1925)	Novel	Minnesota
1927		Louis Bromfield (1896–1956)	Early Autumn	Amereon Ltd (1926)	Novel	Ohio
1928		Thornton Wilder (1897–1975)	The Bridge of San Luis Rey	Albert & Charles Boni (1927)	Novel	Wisconsin
1929		Julia Peterkin (1880–1961)	Scarlet Sister Mary	Bobbs-Merrill Company (1928)	Novel	South Carolina
1930		Oliver La Farge (1901–1963)	Laughing Boy	Houghton Mifflin (1929)	Novel	New York
1931		Margaret Ayer Barnes (1886–1967)	Years of Grace	Houghton Mifflin (1930)	Novel	Illinois
1932		Pearl S. Buck (1892–1973)	The Good Earth [d]	John Day Company (1931)	Historical fiction	West Virginia
1933		T. S. Stribling (1881–1965)	The Store	Doubleday, Doran (1932)	Novel	Tennessee
1934		Caroline Miller (1903–1992)	Lamb in His Bosom	Harper & Brothers (1933)	Debut novel	Georgia
1935		Josephine Winslow Johnson (1910–1990)	Now in November	Simon & Schuster (1934)	Debut novel	Missouri
1936		Harold L. Davis (1894–1960)	Honey in the Horn	Harper & Brothers (1935)	Debut novel	Oregon
1937		Margaret Mitchell (1900–1949)	Gone with the Wind	Macmillan Publishers (1936)	Novel	Georgia
1938		John Phillips Marquand (1893–1960)	The Late George Apley	Little, Brown and Company (1937)	Epistolary novel	Delaware
1939		Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (1896–1953)	The Yearling	Charles Scribner's Sons (1938)	Young adult novel	Washington, D.C.
1940		John Steinbeck (1902–1968)	The Grapes of Wrath	Viking Press (1939)	Novel	California
1941	Not awarded [e]
1942		Ellen Glasgow (1873–1945)	In This Our Life	Jonathan Cape (1941)	Novel	Virginia
1943		Upton Sinclair (1878–1968)	Dragon's Teeth	Viking Press (1942)	Historical fiction	Maryland
1944		Martin Flavin (1883–1967)	Journey in the Dark	Harper & Brothers (1943)	Novel	California
1945		John Hersey (1914–1993)	A Bell for Adano	Alfred A. Knopf (1944)	War novel	New York (born in Tianjin, China)
1946	Not awarded [f]
1947		Robert Penn Warren (1905–1989)	All the King's Men	Harcourt, Brace & Company (1946)	Political fiction	Kentucky
1948		James A. Michener (1907–1997)	Tales of the South Pacific	Macmillan Publishers (1947)	Interrelated short stories, Book debut	Pennsylvania
1949		James Gould Cozzens (1903–1978)	Guard of Honor	Harcourt, Brace & Company (1948)	War novel	Illinois
1950		A. B. Guthrie (1901–1991)	The Way West	William Sloane Associates (1949)	Western fiction	Indiana
1951		Conrad Richter (1890–1968)	The Town	Alfred A. Knopf (1950)	Novel	Pennsylvania
1952		Herman Wouk (1915–2019)	The Caine Mutiny	Doubleday (1951)	Historical fiction	New York
1953		Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961)	The Old Man and the Sea	Charles Scribner's Sons (1952)	Short novel	Illinois
1954	Not awarded [g]
1955		William Faulkner (1897–1962)	A Fable	Random House (1954)	Novel	Mississippi
1956		MacKinlay Kantor (1904–1977)	Andersonville	Penguin Books (1955)	Historical fiction	Iowa
1957	Not awarded [h]
1958		James Agee (1909–1955)	A Death in the Family (posthumously)	McDowell, Obolensky (1957)	Autobiographical novel	Tennessee
1959		Robert Lewis Taylor (1912–1998)	The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters	Doubleday (1958)	Historical fiction	Illinois
1960		Allen Drury (1918–1998)	Advise and Consent	Doubleday (1959)	Political fiction, Debut novel	Texas
1961		Harper Lee (1926–2016)	To Kill a Mockingbird	J. B. Lippincott & Co. (1960)	Southern Gothic, Bildungsroman, Debut novel	Alabama
1962		Edwin O'Connor (1918–1968)	The Edge of Sadness	Little, Brown and Company (1961)	Novel	Rhode Island
1963		William Faulkner (1897–1962)	The Reivers (posthumously)	Random House (1962)	Novel	Mississippi
1964	Not awarded [i]
1965		Shirley Ann Grau (1929–2020)	The Keepers of the House	Alfred A. Knopf (1964)	Novel	Louisiana
1966		Katherine Anne Porter (1890–1980)	Collected Stories	Harcourt Brace (1965)	Short story collection	Texas
1967		Bernard Malamud (1914–1986)	The Fixer	Farrar, Straus & Giroux (1966)	Novel	New York
1968		William Styron (1925–2006)	The Confessions of Nat Turner	Random House (1967)	Novel	Virginia
1969		N. Scott Momaday (1934–2024)	House Made of Dawn	Harper & Row (1968)	Novel	Oklahoma
1970		Jean Stafford (1915–1979)	Collected Stories	Farrar, Straus & Giroux (1969)	Short story collection	California
1971	Not awarded [j]
1972		Wallace Stegner (1909–1993)	Angle of Repose	Doubleday (1971)	Novel	Iowa
1973		Eudora Welty (1909–2001)	The Optimist's Daughter	Random House (1972)	Short novel	Mississippi
1974	Not awarded [k]
1975		Michael Shaara (1928–1988)	The Killer Angels	David McKay Publications (1974)	Historical fiction	New Jersey
1976		Saul Bellow (1915–2005)	Humboldt's Gift	Viking Press (1975)	Novel	Illinois (born in Quebec, Canada)
1977	Not awarded [l]
1978		James Alan McPherson (1943–2016)	Elbow Room	Little, Brown (1977)	Short story collection	Georgia
1979		John Cheever (1912–1982)	The Stories of John Cheever	Alfred A. Knopf (1978)	Short story collection	Massachusetts

1980s to 2020s

Entries from this point on include the finalists listed for each year.

Year	Winner		Work		Genre(s)	Author's origin	Finalists
1980		Norman Mailer (1923–2007)	The Executioner's Song	Little, Brown (1979)	True crime novel	New Jersey	William Wharton, Birdy Philip Roth, The Ghost Writer
1981		John Kennedy Toole (1937–1969)	A Confederacy of Dunces (posthumously)	Louisiana State University Press (1980)	Picaresque novel	Louisiana	Frederick Buechner, Godric William Maxwell, So Long, See You Tomorrow
1982		John Updike (1932–2009)	Rabbit Is Rich	Alfred A. Knopf (1981)	Novel	Pennsylvania	Robert Stone, A Flag for Sunrise Marilynne Robinson, Housekeeping
1983		Alice Walker (b. 1944)	The Color Purple	Harcourt Brace Jovanovich (1982)	Epistolary novel	Georgia	Anne Tyler, Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant Chaim Grade, Rabbis and Wives
1984		William Kennedy (b. 1928)	Ironweed	Viking Press (1983)	Novel	New York	Raymond Carver, Cathedral Thomas Berger, The Feud
1985		Alison Lurie (1926–2020)	Foreign Affairs	Random House (1984)	Novel	Illinois	Diana O'Hehir, I Wish This War Were Over Douglas Unger, Leaving the Land
1986		Larry McMurtry (1936–2021)	Lonesome Dove	Simon & Schuster (1985)	Western novel	Texas	Russell Banks, Continental Drift Anne Tyler, The Accidental Tourist
1987		Peter Taylor (1917–1994)	A Summons to Memphis	Alfred A. Knopf (1986)	Novel	Tennessee	Donald Barthelme, Paradise Norman Rush, Whites
1988		Toni Morrison (1931–2019)	Beloved	Alfred A. Knopf (1987)	Novel	Ohio	Diane Johnson, Persian Nights Alice McDermott, That Night
1989		Anne Tyler (b. 1941)	Breathing Lessons	Alfred A. Knopf (1988)	Novel	Minnesota	Raymond Carver, Where I'm Calling From
1990		Oscar Hijuelos (1951–2013)	The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love	Farrar, Straus and Giroux (1989)	Novel	New York	E. L. Doctorow, Billy Bathgate
1991		John Updike (1932–2009)	Rabbit At Rest	Alfred A. Knopf (1990)	Novel	Pennsylvania	Linda Hogan, Mean Spirit Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried
1992		Jane Smiley (b. 1949)	A Thousand Acres	Alfred A. Knopf (1991)	Domestic realism	California	David Gates, Jernigan Robert M. Pirsig, Lila: An Inquiry into Morals Don DeLillo, Mao II
1993		Robert Olen Butler (b. 1945)	A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain	Henry Holt (1992)	Short story collection	Illinois	Alice McDermott, At Weddings and Wakes Joyce Carol Oates, Black Water
1994		E. Annie Proulx (b. 1935)	The Shipping News	Charles Scribner's Sons (1993)	Novel	Connecticut	Philip Roth, Operation Shylock: A Confession Reynolds Price, The Collected Stories
1995		Carol Shields (1935–2003)	The Stone Diaries	Random House (1993)	Novel	Illinois	Grace Paley, The Collected Stories Joyce Carol Oates, What I Lived For
1996		Richard Ford (b. 1944)	Independence Day	Alfred A. Knopf (1995)	Novel	Mississippi	Oscar Hijuelos, Mr. Ives' Christmas Philip Roth, Sabbath's Theater
1997		Steven Millhauser (b. 1943)	Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer	Crown Publishers (1996)	Novel	New York	Joanna Scott, The Manikin Ursula K. Le Guin, Unlocking the Air and Other Stories
1998		Philip Roth (1933–2018)	American Pastoral	Houghton Mifflin (1997)	Novel	New Jersey	Robert Stone, Bear and His Daughter: Stories Don DeLillo, Underworld
1999		Michael Cunningham (b. 1952)	The Hours	Farrar, Straus and Giroux (1998)	Historical fiction	Ohio	Russell Banks, Cloudsplitter Barbara Kingsolver, The Poisonwood Bible
2000		Jhumpa Lahiri (b. 1967)	Interpreter of Maladies	Houghton Mifflin (1999)	Short story collection	Rhode Island (born in London, United Kingdom) (lives in Rome, Italy)	Annie Proulx, Close Range: Wyoming Stories Ha Jin, Waiting
2001		Michael Chabon (b. 1963)	The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay	Random House (2000)	Historical fiction	Washington, D.C.	Joyce Carol Oates, Blonde Joy Williams, The Quick and the Dead
2002		Richard Russo (b. 1949)	Empire Falls	Alfred A. Knopf (2001)	Novel	New York	Colson Whitehead, John Henry Days Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections
2003		Jeffrey Eugenides (b. 1960)	Middlesex	Farrar, Straus and Giroux (2002)	Family saga	Michigan	Andrea Barrett, Servants of the Map: Stories Adam Haslett, You Are Not a Stranger Here
2004		Edward P. Jones (b. 1950)	The Known World	Amistad Press (2003)	Historical fiction	Washington, D.C.	Susan Choi, American Woman Marianne Wiggins, Evidence of Things Unseen
2005		Marilynne Robinson (b. 1943)	Gilead	Farrar, Straus and Giroux (2004)	Epistolary Novel	Idaho	Ward Just, An Unfinished Season Ha Jin, War Trash
2006		Geraldine Brooks (b. 1955)	March	Viking Press (2005)	Historical fiction	New York (born in Sydney, Australia)	Lee Martin, The Bright Forever E. L. Doctorow, The March
2007		Cormac McCarthy (1933–2023)	The Road	Alfred A. Knopf (2006)	Post-apocalyptic fiction	Rhode Island	Alice McDermott, After This Richard Powers, The Echo Maker
2008		Junot Díaz (b. 1968)	The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao	Riverhead Books (2007)	Novel	New Jersey (born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic)	Lore Segal, Shakespeare's Kitchen Denis Johnson, Tree of Smoke
2009		Elizabeth Strout (b. 1956)	Olive Kitteridge [m]	Random House (2008)	Interrelated short stories	Maine	Christine Schutt, All Souls Louise Erdrich, The Plague of Doves
2010		Paul Harding (b. 1967)	Tinkers [n]	Bellevue Literary Press (2009)	Debut novel	Massachusetts	Daniyal Mueenuddin, In Other Rooms, Other Wonders Lydia Millet, Love in Infant Monkeys
2011		Jennifer Egan (b. 1962)	A Visit from the Goon Squad [o]	Alfred A. Knopf (2010)	Interrelated short stories	Illinois	Jonathan Dee, The Privileges Chang-rae Lee, The Surrendered
2012	Not awarded [14]						Karen Russell, Swamplandia! David Foster Wallace, The Pale King (posthumously) Denis Johnson, Train Dreams
2013		Adam Johnson (b. 1967)	The Orphan Master's Son [p]	Random House (2012)	Novel	South Dakota	Eowyn Ivey, The Snow Child Nathan Englander, What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank
2014		Donna Tartt (b. 1963)	The Goldfinch [q]	Little, Brown and Company (2013)	Novel	Mississippi	Philipp Meyer, The Son Bob Shacochis, The Woman Who Lost Her Soul
2015		Anthony Doerr (b. 1973)	All the Light We Cannot See [r]	Charles Scribner's Sons (2014)	War novel	Ohio	Richard Ford, Let Me Be Frank With You Joyce Carol Oates, Lovely, Dark, Deep Laila Lalami, The Moor's Account
2016		Viet Thanh Nguyen (b. 1971)	The Sympathizer [s]	Grove Press (2015)	Debut novel	California (born in Buôn Ma Thuột, Vietnam)	Kelly Link, Get in Trouble: Stories Margaret Verble, Maud's Line
2017		Colson Whitehead (b. 1969)	The Underground Railroad [t]	Doubleday (2016)	Alternate historical novel	New York	Adam Haslett, Imagine Me Gone C. E. Morgan, The Sport of Kings
2018		Andrew Sean Greer (b. 1970)	Less [u]	Little, Brown and Company (2017)	Satirical novel	Washington, D.C.	Hernan Diaz, In the Distance Elif Batuman, The Idiot
2019		Richard Powers (b. 1957)	The Overstory [v]	W. W. Norton & Company (2018)	Novel	Illinois	Rebecca Makkai, The Great Believers Tommy Orange, There There
2020		Colson Whitehead (b. 1969)	The Nickel Boys [w]	Doubleday (2019)	Novel	New York	Ann Patchett, The Dutch House Ben Lerner, The Topeka School
2021		Louise Erdrich (b. 1954)	The Night Watchman [x]	Harpercollins (2020)	Novel	Minnesota	Daniel Mason, A Registry of My Passage Upon the Earth Percival Everett, Telephone
2022		Joshua Cohen (b. 1980)	The Netanyahus: An Account of a Minor and Ultimately Even Negligible Episode in the History of a Very Famous Family [y]	New York Review Books (2021)	Novel	New Jersey	Francisco Goldman, Monkey Boy Gayl Jones, Palmares
2023 [25]		Hernan Diaz (b. 1973)	Trust [z]	Riverhead Books (2022)	Novel	New York (born in Argentina)	Vauhini Vara, The Immortal King Rao
		Barbara Kingsolver (b. 1955)	Demon Copperhead [aa]	Harper (2022)	Novel	Kentucky
2024		Jayne Anne Phillips (b. 1952)	Night Watch [ab]	Knopf (2023)	Novel	West Virginia	Yiyun Li, Wednesday's Child Ed Park, Same Bed Different Dreams

Repeat winners

Four writers to date have won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction multiple times, one nominally in the novel category and two in the general fiction category. Ernest Hemingway was selected by the 1941 and 1953 juries, but the former was overturned with no award given that year. ^[e]

• Booth Tarkington, 1919, 1922
• William Faulkner, 1955, 1963 (awarded posthumously)
• John Updike, 1982, 1991
• Colson Whitehead, 2017, 2020

Authors with multiple nominations

5 Nominations

• Joyce Carol Oates

4 Nominations

• Philip Roth

3 Nominations

• Alice McDermott
• Anne Tyler
• Colson Whitehead

2 Nominations

• Russell Banks
• Raymond Carver
• Don DeLillo
• Hernan Diaz
• E. L. Doctorow
• Louise Erdrich
• Richard Ford
• Adam Haslett
• Oscar Hijuelos
• Ha Jin
• Denis Johnson
• Barbara Kingsolver
• Richard Powers
• Annie Proulx
• Marilynne Robinson
• Robert Stone
• John Updike

Notes

1. First-time fiction juror Stuart P. Sherman initially recommended Joseph Hergesheimer's Java Head for the award; he rescinded his recommendation when the other jurors informed him that the word "whole" in a key phrase of the original description of the award, "the whole atmosphere of American life", had subsequently been changed to "wholesome". ^[6]
2. Juror Robert Morss Lovett wrote in the June 22, 1921 issue of The New Republic that in fact the jury had preferred Main Street , by Sinclair Lewis. The Pulitzer board overturned their decision. The man with the deciding vote may have been Nicholas Murray Butler. Lovett thought the public had a right to know that the jury had chosen another book. Lewis was angry but wrote her a congratulatory note. Wharton wrote back, "When I discovered that I was being rewarded — by one of our leading Universities — for uplifting American morals, I confess I did despair. Subsequently, when I found the prize shd really have been yours, but was withdrawn because your book (I quote from memory) had 'offended a number of prominent persons in the Middle West,' disgust was added to despair."
3. Lewis declined the prize. ^[8]
4. Advisory Board secretary Frank D. Fackenthal asked the jurors only to "list the books in the order of the jury's choice without indicating the ins and outs of the vote." Their report said that they had also "favorably considered" Shadows on the Rock by Willa Cather and The Lady Who Came to Stay by R.E. Spencer, noting "it's a rare year when three such excellent novels appear." ^[5]
5. The fiction jury had recommended the 1941 award be shared by The Trees by Conrad Richter and The Ox-Bow Incident by Walter Van Tilburg Clark. While the Pulitzer Board initially intended to give the award to the jury's third choice, Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls , the president of Columbia University, Nicholas Murray Butler, persuaded the board to reverse its judgment because he deemed the novel offensive, and no award was given that year. ^{[6] [9]}
6. Though Apartment in Athens by Glenway Wescott, The Wayfarers by Dan Wickenden, and Black Boy by Richard Wright were each championed by at least one juror, the jury as a whole could not reach a consensus; one point of contention over Black Boy specifically was that the book is a memoir, not a novel. ^[6]
7. The two-man fiction jury could not agree on a single book to recommend to the Advisory Board, so no award was given; among the books recommended by juror Eric P. Kelly were Ramey by Jack D. Ferris, The Sands of Karakorum by James Ullman, The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow, and The Four Lives of Mundy Tolliver by Ben Lucien Burman, while juror Harris F. Fletcher recommended The Street of the Three Friends by Myron Brinig and The Deep Sleep by Wright Morris ^[6]
8. The fiction jury had recommended the 1957 award to Elizabeth Spencer's The Voice at the Back Door , but the Pulitzer board, which has sole discretion for awarding the prize, made no award.
9. "Among the books the judges most seriously considered were the following: (1) Norman Fruchter's Coat Upon a Stick…, (2) May Sarton's novella Joanna and Ulysses…, (3) Sumner Locke Elliott's Careful, He Might Hear You …, [and] (4) John Killens' And Then We Heard the Thunder… If a prize were to be awarded for a 1963 novel we felt these to be the most serious candidates." However, the fiction jury ultimately recommended that no award be given because "no one of them imposes itself upon us as demanding recognition as 'distinguished fiction'…." ^[6]
10. The three novels the Pulitzer committee put forth for consideration to the Pulitzer board were: Losing Battles by Eudora Welty; Mr. Sammler's Planet by Saul Bellow; and The Wheel of Love by Joyce Carol Oates. The board rejected all three and opted for no award. ^[10]
11. The fiction jury had unanimously recommended the 1974 award to Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow , but the Pulitzer board, which has sole discretion for awarding the prize, made no award. ^[9]
12. The fiction jury had recommended the 1977 award to Norman MacLean's A River Runs Through It , but the Pulitzer board, which has sole discretion for awarding the prize, made no award. That same year, however, Alex Haley's iconic family saga Roots was awarded a special Pulitzer Prize. ^[9]
13. "A collection of 13 short stories set in small-town Maine that packs a cumulative emotional wallop, bound together by polished prose and by Olive, the title character, blunt, flawed and fascinating." ^[11]
14. "A powerful celebration of life in which a New England father and son, through suffering and joy, transcend their imprisoning lives and offer new ways of perceiving the world and mortality." ^[12]
15. "An inventive investigation of growing up and growing old in the digital age, displaying a big-hearted curiosity about cultural change at warp speed." ^[13]
16. "An exquisitely crafted novel that carries the reader on an adventuresome journey into the depths of totalitarian North Korea and into the most intimate spaces of the human heart." ^[15]
17. "A beautifully written coming-of-age novel with exquisitely drawn characters that follows a grieving boy's entanglement with a small famous painting that has eluded destruction, a book that stimulates the mind and touches the heart." ^[16]
18. "An imaginative and intricate novel inspired by the horrors of World War II and written in short, elegant chapters that explore human nature and the contradictory power of technology." ^[17]
19. "A layered immigrant tale told in the wry, confessional voice of a "man of two minds" -- and two countries, Vietnam and the United States." ^[18]
20. "For a smart melding of realism and allegory that combines the violence of slavery and the drama of escape in a myth that speaks to contemporary America." ^[19]
21. "A generous book, musical in its prose and expansive in its structure and range, about growing older and the essential nature of love." ^[20]
22. "An ingeniously structured narrative that branches and canopies like the trees at the core of the story whose wonder and connectivity echo those of the humans living amongst them." ^[21]
23. "A spare and devastating exploration of abuse at a reform school in Jim Crow-era Florida that is ultimately a powerful tale of human perseverance, dignity and redemption." ^[22]
24. "A majestic, polyphonic novel about a community’s efforts to halt the proposed displacement and elimination of several Native American tribes in the 1950s, rendered with dexterity and imagination." ^[23]
25. "A mordant, linguistically deft historical novel about the ambiguities of the Jewish American experience, presenting ideas and disputes as volatile as its tightly-wound plot." ^[24]
26. "A riveting novel set in a bygone America that explores family, wealth and ambition through linked narratives rendered in different literary styles, a complex examination of love and power in a country where capitalism is king." ^[26]
27. "A masterful recasting of “David Copperfield,” narrated by an Appalachian boy whose wise, unwavering voice relates his encounters with poverty, addiction, institutional failures and moral collapse–and his efforts to conquer them. ^[27]
28. "A beautifully rendered novel set in West Virginia's Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in the aftermath of the Civil War, where a severely wounded Union veteran, a 12-year old girl and her mother, long abused by a Confederate soldier, struggle to heal." ^[28]

References

1. "1917 Pulitzer Prizes". The Pulitzer Prizes (pulitzer.org). Retrieved 2018-04-19.
2. "Pulitzer Prize for the Novel". The Pulitzer Prizes (pulitzer.org). Retrieved 2008-08-19.
3. Fischer, Erika J.; Fischer, Heinz D., eds. (2007). Chronicle of the Pulitzer Prizes for Fiction: Discussions, Decisions and Documents. Munich, Germany: K. G. Saur Verlag. pp. 3–11. ISBN   978-3-598-30191-9 . Retrieved July 22, 2021.
4. Weissberg, Claudia Stone. "What makes a novel 'American'? Pearl S. Buck challenged the status quo". The Pulitzer Prizes. Pulitzer.org. Retrieved January 19, 2025.
5. Weissberg, Claudia Stone. "What makes a novel 'American'? Pearl S. Buck challenged the status quo". The Pulitzer Prizes. Pulitzer.org. Retrieved January 19, 2025.
6. Hohenberg, John (1974). The Pulitzer Prizes: A History of the Awards in Books, Drama, Music, and Journalism, Based on the Private Files Over Six Decades . New York: Columbia University Press. pp.  55, 143–44, 198, 204, 258. ISBN   0231038879.
7. Mike Pride. "Edith Wharton's 'The Age of Innocence' Celebrates its 100th Anniversary". The Pulitzer Prizes. Pulitzer.org. Retrieved January 20, 2025.
8. McDowell, Edwin (1984-05-11). "Publishing: Pulitzer Controversies". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2018-02-15.
9. McDowell, Edwin (11 May 1984). "PUBLISHING: PULITZER CONTROVERSIES" . The New York Times. Retrieved 2018-04-19. [I]n 1941, after both the jury and the board voted to give the fiction prize to Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls, Nicholas Murray Butler, president of Columbia and ex-officio chairman of the board, forced the board to change its vote because he found the book offensive.
10. Fischer, Heinz Dietrich; Fischer, Erika J. (1997). Novel/Fiction Awards 1917–1994: From Pearl S. Buck and Margaret Mitchell to Ernest Hemingway and John Updike. The Pulitzer Prize Archive. Vol. 10 (in part D, "Belles Lettres"). München: K.G. Saur. pp. LX–LXI. ISBN   9783110972115. OCLC   811400780.
11. "2009 Pulitzer Prize Winners & Finalists". The Pulitzer Prizes (pulitzer.org). Retrieved 14 January 2021.
12. "2010 Pulitzer Prize Winners & Finalists". The Pulitzer Prizes (pulitzer.org). Retrieved 14 January 2021.
13. "2011 Pulitzer Prize Winners & Finalists". The Pulitzer Prizes (pulitzer.org). Retrieved 14 January 2021.
14. "2012 Pulitzer Prize Winners & Finalists". The Pulitzer Prizes (pulitzer.org). Retrieved 24 December 2017.
15. "2013 Pulitzer Prize Winners & Finalists". The Pulitzer Prizes (pulitzer.org). Retrieved 14 January 2021.
16. "2014 Pulitzer Prize Winners & Finalists". The Pulitzer Prizes (pulitzer.org). Retrieved 14 January 2021.
17. "2015 Pulitzer Prize Winners & Finalists". The Pulitzer Prizes (pulitzer.org). Retrieved 14 January 2021.
18. "2016 Pulitzer Prize Winners & Finalists". The Pulitzer Prizes (pulitzer.org). Retrieved 14 January 2021.
19. "2017 Pulitzer Prize Winners & Finalists". The Pulitzer Prizes (pulitzer.org). Retrieved 14 January 2021.
20. "2018 Pulitzer Prize Winners & Finalists". The Pulitzer Prizes (pulitzer.org). Retrieved 14 January 2021.
21. "2019 Pulitzer Prize Winners & Finalists". The Pulitzer Prizes (pulitzer.org). Retrieved 14 January 2021.
22. "2020 Pulitzer Prize Winners & Finalists". The Pulitzer Prizes (pulitzer.org). Retrieved 14 January 2021.
23. "2021 Pulitzer Prize Winners & Finalists". The Pulitzer Prizes (pulitzer.org). Retrieved 11 June 2021.
24. "2022 Pulitzer Prize Winners & Finalists". The Pulitzer Prizes (pulitzer.org). Retrieved 9 May 2022.
25. Stewart, Sophia (2023-05-08). "'Demon Copperhead,' 'Trust,' 'His Name Is George Floyd' Among 2023 Pulitzer Prize Winners". Publishers Weekly . Retrieved 2023-05-10.
26. "2023 Pulitzer Prize Winners & Finalists". The Pulitzer Prizes (pulitzer.org). Retrieved 8 May 2023.
27. "2023 Pulitzer Prize Winners & Finalists". The Pulitzer Prizes (pulitzer.org). Retrieved 8 May 2023.
28. "2024 Pulitzer Prize Winners & Finalists". The Pulitzer Prizes (pulitzer.org). Retrieved 6 May 2024.

Further reading

• Stuckey, W. J. (1981). The Pulitzer Prize Novels: A Critical Backward Look. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN   978-0806106885.

External links

• Novels portal

• Official website for Pulitzer Prize: for the Novel and for Fiction
• A collection of the public domain winners as eBooks at Standard Ebooks
• The Pulitzer Prize Thumbnails Project
• Michael's Cunningham's "Letter from the Pulitzer Fiction Jury: What Really Happened This Year," The New Yorker — Part One (July 9, 2012) and Part Two (July 10, 2012)