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Here are the winners of the 2023 Pulitzer Prizes

Neda Ulaby - Square

Isabella Gomez Sarmiento

For more than 100 years, the Pulitzer Prizes have been awarded by Columbia University to honor American achievements in journalism, letters and drama, and music. Pulitzers are widely recognized as the most prestigious awards in their field within the United States.

The 107th Pulitzer prizes celebrated journalists across the country. The Associated Press won two awards for its coverage of the war in Ukraine, including the most prestigious of all Pulitzers, the Public Service award.

The Washington Post won two Pulitzers, as did the Los Angeles Times. So did Al.com, Birmingham. Its columnist Kyle Whitmire won the Commentary award for his work analyzing Alabama's confederate heritage. The publication also took home a Local Reporting Pulitzer for its series exposing malfeasance on the part of the local police force. Two awards were given in that category. The other Local Reporting Pulitzer went to Mississippi Today , in Ridgeland, Miss. Reporter Anna Wolfe's reporting revealed a former governor's corruption.

The New York Times won two Pulitzers as well, for International Reporting and for Illustrated Reporting and Commentary.

Caitlin Dickerson, whose reporting career began at NPR, won a Pulitzer for explanatory reporting for her work for The Atlantic . She reported on migrant families separated at the southern border and the abuses many of them suffered.

This year, in an unusual but not unheard of decision, the fiction award went to two books: Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver and Trust by Hernan Diaz.

You can't 'Trust' this novel. And that's a very good thing

Book Reviews

You can't 'trust' this novel. and that's a very good thing.

Many know how George Floyd died. A new biography reveals how he lived

Many know how George Floyd died. A new biography reveals how he lived

And while the book His Name Is George Floyd: One Man's Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice, by Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa (Viking) was only a finalist in the biography category, it won a Putlizer in the the General Nonfiction category, almost exactly three years after its subject's murder.

Here are the 2023 winners:

pulitzer prize for biography or autobiography winners & nominees

Mississippi Today reporter Anna Wolfe, center, is congratulated Monday by staff sports columnist Rick Cleveland, right, after winning the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting, as her mother, Bethel Wolfe, left, observes, at a celebration in Jackson, Miss. Wolfe was honored for her reporting on a $77 million welfare scandal, the largest embezzlement of federal funds in Mississippi's history. Rogelio V. Solis/AP hide caption

Mississippi Today reporter Anna Wolfe, center, is congratulated Monday by staff sports columnist Rick Cleveland, right, after winning the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting, as her mother, Bethel Wolfe, left, observes, at a celebration in Jackson, Miss. Wolfe was honored for her reporting on a $77 million welfare scandal, the largest embezzlement of federal funds in Mississippi's history.

Prizes in Journalism

Public Service "Awarded to Associated Press for the work of Mystyslav Chernov, Evgeniy Maloletka, Vasilisa Stepanenko and Lori Hinnant, courageous reporting from the besieged city of Mariupol that bore witness to the slaughter of civilians in Russia's invasion of Ukraine."

Breaking News Reporting "Awarded to the Staff of the Los Angeles Times for revealing a secretly recorded conversation among city officials that included racist comments, followed by coverage of the rapidly resulting turmoil and deeply reported pieces that delved further into the racial issues affecting local politics."

Investigative Reporting "Awarded to the Staff of The Wall Street Journal for sharp accountability reporting on financial conflicts of interest among officials at 50 federal agencies, revealing those who bought and sold stocks they regulated and other ethical violations by individuals charged with safeguarding the public's interest."

Explanatory Reporting "Awarded to Caitlin Dickerson of The Atlantic for deeply reported and compelling accounting of the Trump administration policy that forcefully separated migrant children from their parents, resulting in abuses that have persisted under the current administration."

Local Reporting "Awarded to John Archibald, Ashley Remkus, Ramsey Archibald and Challen Stephens of AL.com, Birmingham, for a series exposing how the police force in the town of Brookside preyed on residents to inflate revenue, coverage that prompted the resignation of the police chief, four new laws and a state audit." "Awarded to Anna Wolfe of Mississippi Today, Ridgeland, Miss., for reporting that revealed how a former Mississippi governor used his office to steer millions of state welfare dollars to benefit his family and friends, including NFL quarterback Brett Favre."

National Reporting "Awarded to Caroline Kitchener of The Washington Post, for unflinching reporting that captured the complex consequences of life after Roe v. Wade, including the story of a Texas teenager who gave birth to twins after new restrictions denied her an abortion."

International Reporting "Awarded to the Staff of The New York Times, for their unflinching coverage of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, including an eight-month investigation into Ukrainian deaths in the town of Bucha and the Russian unit responsible for the killings."

Feature Writing "Awarded to Eli Saslow of The Washington Post for evocative individual narratives about people struggling with the pandemic, homelessness, addiction and inequality that collectively form a sharply-observed portrait of contemporary America."

Commentary "Awarded to Kyle Whitmire of AL.com, Birmingham, for measured and persuasive columns that document how Alabama's Confederate heritage still colors the present with racism and exclusion, told through tours of its first capital, its mansions and monuments–and through the history that has been omitted."

Criticism "Awarded to Andrea Long Chu of New York magazine for book reviews that scrutinize authors as well as their works, using multiple cultural lenses to explore some of society's most fraught topics."

Editorial Writing "Awarded to Nancy Ancrum, Amy Driscoll, Luisa Yanez, Isadora Rangel and Lauren Costantino of the Miami Herald for a series of editorials on the failure of Florida public officials to deliver on many taxpayer-funded amenities and services promised to residents over decades."

Illustrated Reporting and Commentary "Awarded to Mona Chalabi, contributor, The New York Times for striking illustrations that combine statistical reporting with keen analysis to help readers understand the immense wealth and economic power of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos."

Breaking News Photography "Awarded to the Photography Staff of Associated Press for unique and urgent images from the first weeks of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, including the devastation of Mariupol after other news organizations left, victims of the targeting of civilian infrastructure and the resilience of the Ukrainian people who were able to flee."

Feature Photography "Awarded to Christina House of the Los Angeles Times for an intimate look into the life of a pregnant 22-year-old woman living on the street in a tent–images that show her emotional vulnerability as she tries and ultimately loses the struggle to raise her child."

Audio Reporting "Awarded to the Staff of Gimlet Media, notably Connie Walker, whose investigation into her father's troubled past revealed a larger story of abuse of hundreds of Indigenous children at an Indian residential school in Canada, including other members of Walker's extended family, a personal search for answers expertly blended with rigorous investigative reporting."

Letters and Drama Prizes

pulitzer prize for biography or autobiography winners & nominees

Nazanin Nour (left) and Narges Kalogli in English. DJ Corey Photography/Studio Theatre hide caption

Nazanin Nour (left) and Narges Kalogli in English.

Fiction "Awarded to Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver (Harper), 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."

"Awarded to Trust, by Hernan Diaz (Riverhead Books), 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."

Iranian-American playwright is set on breaking expectations

Iranian-American playwright is set on breaking expectations

Drama "Awarded to English, " by Sanaz Toossi, a quietly powerful play about four Iranian adults preparing for an English language exam in a storefront school near Tehran, where family separations and travel restrictions drive them to learn a new language that may alter their identities and also represent a new life."

History "Awarded to Freedom's Dominion: A Saga of White Resistance to Federal Power, by Jefferson Cowie (Basic Books), a resonant account of an Alabama county in the 19th and 20th centuries shaped by settler colonialism and slavery, a portrait that illustrates the evolution of white supremacy by drawing powerful connections between anti-government and racist ideologies."

Biography "Awarded to G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century, by Beverly Gage (Viking), a deeply researched and nuanced look at one of the most polarizing figures in U.S. history that depicts the longtime FBI director in all his complexity, with monumental achievements and crippling flaws."

Memoir or Autobiography "Awarded to Stay True, by Hua Hsu (Doubleday), an elegant and poignant coming of age account that considers intense, youthful friendships but also random violence that can suddenly and permanently alter the presumed logic of our personal narratives."

Poetry "Awarded to Then the War: And Selected Poems, 2007-2020, by Carl Phillips (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), a masterful collection that chronicles American culture as the country struggles to make sense of its politics, of life in the wake of a pandemic, and of our place in a changing global community."

General Nonfiction "Awarded to His Name Is George Floyd: One Man's Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice, by Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa (Viking), an intimate, riveting portrait of an ordinary man whose fatal encounter with police officers in 2020 sparked an international movement for social change, but whose humanity and complicated personal story were unknown."

Prize in Music

The debut of 'Omar,' a thoroughly American opera

The debut of 'Omar,' a thoroughly American opera

Awarded to Omar, by Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels, premiered on May 27, 2022 at the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, S.C., an innovative and compelling opera about enslaved people brought to North America from Muslim countries, a musical work that respectfully represents African as well as African American traditions, expanding the language of the operatic form while conveying the humanity of those condemned to bondage.

Correction May 9, 2023

In a previous version of this story we incorrectly said the Spoleto Festival USA was in Charlotte, S.C. It is in Charleston, S.C.

  • Pulitzer Prize
  • Rhiannon Giddens

Awards Archive

Pulitzer Prize – Biography or Autobiography

2019 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

The New Negro: The Life of Alain Locke Jeffrey C. Stewart

The New Negro: The Life of Alain Locke

Jeffrey c. stewart, 2018 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder Caroline Fraser

Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder

Caroline fraser, 2017 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

The Return: Fathers, Sons and the Land in Between Hisham Matar

The Return: Fathers, Sons and the Land in Between

Hisham matar, 2016 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life William Finnegan

Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life

William finnegan, 2015 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

The Pope and Mussolini: The Secret History of Pius XI and the Rise of Fascism in Europe David I. Kertzer

The Pope and Mussolini: The Secret History of Pius XI and the Rise of Fascism in Europe

David i. kertzer, 2014 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

Margaret Fuller: A New American Life Megan Marshall

Margaret Fuller: A New American Life

Megan marshall, 2013 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo Tom Reiss

The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo

2012 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

George F. Kennan: An American Life John Lewis Gaddis

George F. Kennan: An American Life

John lewis gaddis, 2011 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

Washington: A Life Ron Chernow

Washington: A Life

Ron chernow, 2010 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt T.J. Stiles

The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt

T.j. stiles, 2009 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House Jon Meacham

American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House

Jon meacham, 2008 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

Eden's Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father John Matteson

Eden’s Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father

John matteson, 2007 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher Debby Applegate

The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher

Debby applegate, 2006 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin

American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer

Kai bird and martin j. sherwin, 2005 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

de Kooning: An American Master Mark Stevens and Annalyn Swan

de Kooning: An American Master

Mark stevens and annalyn swan, 2004 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

Khrushchev: The Man and His Era William Taubman

Khrushchev: The Man and His Era

William taubman, 2003 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson Robert A. Caro

Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson

Robert a. caro, 2002 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

John Adams David McCullough

David McCullough

2001 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

W. E. B. Du Bois: The Fight for Equality and the American Century 1919-1963 David Levering Lewis

W. E. B. Du Bois: The Fight for Equality and the American Century 1919-1963

David levering lewis, 2000 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

Vera, Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov Stacy Schiff

Vera, Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov

Stacy schiff, 1999 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

Lindbergh A. Scott Berg

A. Scott Berg

1998 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

Personal History Katharine Graham

Personal History

Katharine graham, 1997 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

Angela's Ashes: A Memoir Frank McCourt

Angela’s Ashes: A Memoir

Frank mccourt, 1996 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

God: A Biography Jack Miles

God: A Biography

1995 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

Harriet Beecher Stowe: A Life Joan D. Hedrick

Harriet Beecher Stowe: A Life

Joan d. hedrick, 1994 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

W. E. B. Du Bois: Biography of a Race, 1868–1919 David Levering Lewis

W. E. B. Du Bois: Biography of a Race, 1868–1919

1993 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

Truman David McCullough

1992 Pulitzer Prize – Biography or Autobiography

Fortunate Son: The Autobiography of Lewis B. Puller Jr. Lewis B. Puller

Fortunate Son: The Autobiography of Lewis B. Puller Jr.

Lewis b. puller, 1991 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

Jackson Pollock: An American Saga Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith

Jackson Pollock: An American Saga

Steven naifeh and gregory white smith, 1990 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

Machiavelli in Hell Sebastian de Grazia

Machiavelli in Hell

Sebastian de grazia, 1989 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

Oscar Wilde Richard Ellmann

Oscar Wilde

Richard ellmann, 1988 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

Look Homeward: A Life of Thomas Wolfe David Herbert Donald

Look Homeward: A Life of Thomas Wolfe

David herbert donald, 1987 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference David J. Garrow

Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference

David j. garrow, 1986 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

Louise Bogan: A Portrait Elizabeth Frank

Louise Bogan: A Portrait

Elizabeth frank, 1985 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

The Life and Times of Cotton Mather Kenneth Silverman

The Life and Times of Cotton Mather

Kenneth silverman, 1984 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

Booker T. Washington: The Wizard of Tuskegee, 1901–1915 Louis R. Harlan

Booker T. Washington: The Wizard of Tuskegee, 1901–1915

Louis r. harlan, 1983 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

Growing Up Russell Baker

Russell Baker

1982 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

Grant: A Biography William S. McFeely

Grant: A Biography

William s. mcfeely, 1981 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

Peter the Great: His Life and World Robert K. Massie

Peter the Great: His Life and World

Robert k. massie, 1980 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt Edmund Morris

The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt

Edmund morris, 1979 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

Days of Sorrow and Pain: Leo Baeck and the Berlin Jews Leonard Baker

Days of Sorrow and Pain: Leo Baeck and the Berlin Jews

Leonard baker, 1978 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

Samuel Johnson Walter Jackson Bate

Samuel Johnson

Walter jackson bate, 1977 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

A Prince of Our Disorder: The Life of T. E. Lawrence John E. Mack

A Prince of Our Disorder: The Life of T. E. Lawrence

John e. mack, 1976 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

Edith Wharton: A Biography R. W. B. Lewis

Edith Wharton: A Biography

R. w. b. lewis, 1975 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York Robert Caro

The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York

Robert caro, 1974 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

O'Neill, Son and Artist Louis Sheaffer

O’Neill, Son and Artist

Louis sheaffer, 1973 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

Luce and His Empire W. A. Swanberg

Luce and His Empire

W. a. swanberg, 1972 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

Eleanor and Franklin Joseph P. Lash

Eleanor and Franklin

Joseph p. lash, 1971 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

Robert Frost: The Years of Triumph, 1915–1938, Lawrance Thompson

Robert Frost: The Years of Triumph, 1915–1938,

Lawrance thompson, 1970 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

Huey Long Thomas Harry Williams

Thomas Harry Williams

1969 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

The Man From New York: John Quinn and His Friends Benjamin Lawrence Reid

The Man From New York: John Quinn and His Friends

Benjamin lawrence reid, 1968 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

Memoirs George F. Kennan

George F. Kennan

1967 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

Mr. Clemens and Mark Twain Justin Kaplan

Mr. Clemens and Mark Twain

Justin kaplan, 1966 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.

A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House

Arthur m. schlesinger, jr., 1965 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

Henry Adams, 3 vols., Ernest Samuels

Henry Adams, 3 vols.,

Ernest samuels, 1964 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

John Keats Walter Jackson Bate

1963 Pulitzer Prize – Biography or Autobiography

Henry James Leon Edel

Henry James

1962 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

No award given

No award given

1961 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

Charles Sumner and the Coming of the Civil War David Donald

Charles Sumner and the Coming of the Civil War

David donald, 1960 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

John Paul Jones Samuel Eliot Morison

John Paul Jones

Samuel eliot morison, 1959 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

Woodrow Wilson, American Prophet Arthur Walworth

Woodrow Wilson, American Prophet

Arthur walworth, 1958 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

George Washington, Volumes I-VII Douglas Southall Freeman with John Alexander Carroll and Mary Wells Ashworth

George Washington, Volumes I-VII

Douglas southall freeman with john alexander carroll and mary wells ashworth, 1957 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

Profiles in Courage John F. Kennedy

Profiles in Courage

John f. kennedy, 1956 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

Benjamin Henry Latrobe Talbot Faulkner Hamlin

Benjamin Henry Latrobe

Talbot faulkner hamlin, 1955 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

The Taft Story William S. White

The Taft Story

William s. white, 1954 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

The Spirit of St. Louis Charles A. Lindbergh

The Spirit of St. Louis

Charles a. lindbergh, 1953 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

Edmund Pendleton 1721–1803 David J. Mays

Edmund Pendleton 1721–1803

David j. mays, 1952 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

Charles Evans Hughes Merlo J. Pusey

Charles Evans Hughes

Merlo j. pusey, 1951 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

John C. Calhoun: American Portrait Margaret Louise Coit

John C. Calhoun: American Portrait

Margaret louise coit, 1950 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

John Quincy Adams and the Foundations of American Foreign Policy Samuel Flagg Bemis

John Quincy Adams and the Foundations of American Foreign Policy

Samuel flagg bemis, 1949 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

Roosevelt and Hopkins Robert E. Sherwood

Roosevelt and Hopkins

Robert e. sherwood, 1948 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

Forgotten First Citizen: John Bigelow Margaret Clapp

Forgotten First Citizen: John Bigelow

Margaret clapp, 1947 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

The Autobiography of William Allen White William Allen White

The Autobiography of William Allen White

William allen white, 1946 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

Son of the Wilderness: The Life of John Muir Linnie Marsh Wolfe

Son of the Wilderness: The Life of John Muir

Linnie marsh wolfe, 1945 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

George Bancroft: Brahmin Rebel Russel Blaine Nye

George Bancroft: Brahmin Rebel

Russel blaine nye, 1944 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

The American Leonardo: The Life of Samuel F. B. Morse Carleton Mabee

The American Leonardo: The Life of Samuel F. B. Morse

Carleton mabee, 1943 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

Admiral of the Ocean Sea Samuel Eliot Morison

Admiral of the Ocean Sea

1942 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

Crusader in Crinoline: The Life of Harriet Beecher Stowe Forrest Wilson

Crusader in Crinoline: The Life of Harriet Beecher Stowe

Forrest wilson, 1941 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

Jonathan Edwards, 1703–1758: a biography Ola Elizabeth Winslow

Jonathan Edwards, 1703–1758: a biography

Ola elizabeth winslow, 1940 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

Woodrow Wilson, Life and Letters. Vols. VII and VIII Ray Stannard Baker

Woodrow Wilson, Life and Letters. Vols. VII and VIII

Ray stannard baker, 1939 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

Benjamin Franklin Carl Van Doren

Benjamin Franklin

Carl van doren, 1938 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

Andrew Jackson, 2 vols. Marquis James

Andrew Jackson, 2 vols.

Marquis james, 1937 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

Hamilton Fish Allan Nevins

Hamilton Fish

Allan nevins, 1936 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

The Thought and Character of William James Ralph Barton Perry

The Thought and Character of William James

Ralph barton perry, 1935 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

R. E. Lee Douglas S. Freeman

Douglas S. Freeman

1934 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

John Hay Tyler Dennett

Tyler Dennett

1933 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

Grover Cleveland: A Study in Courage Allan Nevins

Grover Cleveland: A Study in Courage

1932 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

Theodore Roosevelt: A Biography Henry F. Pringle

Theodore Roosevelt: A Biography

Henry f. pringle, 1931 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

Charles W. Eliot, President of Harvard University, 1869–1901 Henry James

Charles W. Eliot, President of Harvard University, 1869–1901

1930 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

The Raven: A Biography of Sam Houston Marquis James

The Raven: A Biography of Sam Houston

1929 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

The Training of an American: The Earlier Life and Letters of Walter H. Page Burton J. Hendrick

The Training of an American: The Earlier Life and Letters of Walter H. Page

Burton j. hendrick, 1928 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

The American Orchestra and Theodore Thomas Charles Edward Russell

The American Orchestra and Theodore Thomas

Charles edward russell, 1927 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

Whitman Emory Holloway

Emory Holloway

1926 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

The Life of Sir William Osler, 2 vols. Harvey Cushing

The Life of Sir William Osler, 2 vols.

Harvey cushing, 1925 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

Barrett Wendell and His Letters M. A. Dewolfe Howe

Barrett Wendell and His Letters

M. a. dewolfe howe, 1924 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

From Immigrant to Inventor Michael I. Pupin

From Immigrant to Inventor

Michael i. pupin, 1923 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

The Life and Letters of Walter H. Page Burton J. Hendrick

The Life and Letters of Walter H. Page

1922 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

A Daughter of the Middle Border Hamlin Garland

A Daughter of the Middle Border

Hamlin garland, 1921 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

The Americanization of Edward Bok Edward Bok

The Americanization of Edward Bok

1920 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

The Life of John Marshall, 4 vols. Albert J. Beveridge

The Life of John Marshall, 4 vols.

Albert j. beveridge, 1919 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

The Education of Henry Adams Henry Adams

The Education of Henry Adams

Henry adams, 1918 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

Benjamin Franklin, Self-Revealed William Cabell Bruce

Benjamin Franklin, Self-Revealed

William cabell bruce, 1917 pulitzer prize – biography or autobiography.

Julia Ward Howe Laura E. Richards and Maud Howe Elliott, assisted by Florence Howe Hall

Julia Ward Howe

Laura e. richards and maud howe elliott, assisted by florence howe hall.

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Pulitzer Prizes: 2023 Winners List

Here is the full list of winners and finalists.

A gold medal engraved with a depiction of a man operating a printing machine.

By The New York Times

PUBLIC SERVICE

Associated Press

The Pulitzer committee honored the A.P. for the work of Mstyslav Chernov, Evgeniy Maloletka, Vasilisa Stepanenko and Lori Hinnant, citing their “courageous reporting from the besieged city of Mariupol that bore witness to the slaughter of civilians in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”

Finalists Austin American-Statesman, in collaboration with the USA Today Network; The Washington Post

BREAKING NEWS

Staff of The Los Angeles Times

The Los Angeles Times won for “revealing a secretly recorded conversation among city officials that included racist comments,” followed by additional coverage exploring racial issues in local politics.

Finalists Staff of The New York Times; Josh Gerstein, Alex Ward, Peter S. Canellos, Hailey Fuchs and Heidi Przybyla of Politico

INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING

Staff of The Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal was honored for “sharp accountability reporting on financial conflicts of interest among officials at 50 federal agencies.”

Finalists Joaquin Palomino and Trisha Thadani of the San Francisco Chronicle; staff of the Star Tribune of Minneapolis

EXPLANATORY REPORTING

Caitlin Dickerson of The Atlantic

Ms. Dickerson’s work was a “deeply reported and compelling accounting of the Trump administration policy that forcefully separated migrant children from their parents,” the committee said.

Finalists Duaa Eldeib of ProPublica; Terrence McCoy of The Washington Post

LOCAL REPORTING

AL.com and Mississippi Today

This year’s local reporting category had two winners. John Archibald, Ashley Remkus, Ramsey Archibald and Challen Stephens of AL.com won for “exposing how the police force in the town of Brookside preyed on residents to inflate revenue,” coverage that led the police chief to resign. Anna Wolfe of Mississippi Today won for reporting on how a former governor of Mississippi steered millions of state welfare dollars to benefit family and friends, including the football champion Brett Favre.

Finalists Staff of the Los Angeles Times

NATIONAL REPORTING

Caroline Kitchener of The Washington Post

Ms. Kitchener was awarded for “unflinching reporting that captured the complex consequences of life after Roe v. Wade,” including the story of a teenager in Texas who gave birth to twins after restrictions denied her an abortion.

Finalists Stephania Taladrid, contributing writer, The New Yorker; Joshua Schneyer, Mica Rosenberg and Kristina Cooke of Reuters

INTERNATIONAL REPORTING

Staff of The New York Times

For “unflinching coverage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” including a deeply reported investigation into Ukrainian deaths in the town of Bucha.

Finalists Paul Carsten, David Lewis, Reade Levinson and Libby George of Reuters; Yaroslav Trofimov and James Marson of The Wall Street Journal

FEATURE WRITING

Eli Saslow of The Washington Post

Mr. Saslow was honored for articles about people struggling with homelessness, addiction, inequality and the pandemic. The stories “collectively form a sharply-observed portrait of contemporary America,” the committee said.

Finalists Elizabeth Bruenig of The Atlantic; Janelle Nanos of The Boston Globe

Kyle Whitmire of AL.com

For “measured and persuasive columns that document how Alabama’s Confederate heritage still colors the present with racism and exclusion.”

Finalists Xochitl Gonzalez of The Atlantic; Monica Hesse of The Washington Post

Andrea Long Chu of New York Magazine

Ms. Chu’s book reviews “scrutinize authors as well as their works, using multiple cultural lenses to explore some of society’s most fraught topics.”

Finalists Lyndsay C. Green of the Detroit Free Press; Jason Farago of The New York Times

EDITORIAL WRITING

Nancy Ancrum, Amy Driscoll, Luisa Yanez, Isadora Rangel and Lauren Costantino of the Miami Herald

The Herald’s editorials looked at ”the failure of Florida public officials to deliver on many taxpayer-funded amenities and services promised to residents over decades.”

Finalists Lisa Falkenberg, Joe Holley, Nick Powell and the late Michael Lindenberger of the Houston Chronicle; Alex Kingsbury of The New York Times

Illustrated Reporting and Commentary

Mona Chalabi, contributor, The New York Times

Ms. Chalabi’s illustrations were honored for combining “statistical reporting with keen analysis to help readers understand the immense wealth and economic power of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.”

Finalists Matt Davies of Newsday, Long Island, N.Y.; Pia Guerra, contributor, The Washington Post

BREAKING NEWS PHOTOGRAPHY

Photography Staff of Associated Press

The A.P. provided “unique and urgent images from the first weeks of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” the committee said.

Finalists Rafiq Maqbool and Eranga Jayawardena of the A.P.; Lynsey Addario of The New York Times

FEATURE PHOTOGRAPHY

Christina House of The Los Angeles Times

For “an intimate look into the life of a pregnant 22-year-old woman living on the street in a tent.”

Finalists Photography Staff of Associated Press; Gabrielle Lurie and Stephen Lam of the San Francisco Chronicle

AUDIO REPORTING

The Staff of Gimlet Media

The committee noted Connie Walker in particular, “whose investigation into her father’s troubled past revealed a larger story of abuse of hundreds of Indigenous children at an Indian residential school in Canada.”

Finalists Jenn Abelson, Nicole Dungca, Reena Flores, Sabby Robinson and Linah Mohammad of The Washington Post; Kate Wells, Sarah Hulett, Lindsey Smith, Laura Weber Davis and Paulette Parker of Michigan Radio

“Demon Copperhead,” by Barbara Kingsolver and “Trust,” by Hernan Diaz

Two awards were given in this category: to Barbara Kingsolver, for a recasting of the Charles Dickens novel “David Copperfield ” set in Appalachia. The narrator’s “wise, unwavering voice relates his encounters with poverty, addiction, institutional failures and moral collapse — and his efforts to conquer them,” the committee said. Hernan Diaz was honored for “ Trust ,” which explores family, ambition and wealth through linked narratives in different literary styles.

Finalists “The Immortal King Rao,” by Vauhini Vara

“English,” by Sanaz Toossi

The committee called Ms. Toossi’s work “a quietly powerful play about four Iranian adults preparing for an English language exam in a storefront school near Tehran.” A coproduction of the Atlantic and Roundabout theater companies , the play is set in a classroom in Iran in 2008.

Finalists “On Sugarland,” by Aleshea Harris; “The Far Country,” by Lloyd Suh

“Freedom’s Dominion: A Saga of White Resistance to Federal Power,” by Jefferson Cowie

“A resonant account of an Alabama county in the 19th and 20th centuries shaped by settler colonialism and slavery,” the book charts the evolution of white supremacy by exploring connections between anti-government and racist ideologies.

Finalists “Watergate: A New History,” by Garrett M. Graff; “Seeing Red: Indigenous Land, American Expansion and the Political Economy of Plunder in North America,” by Michael John Witgen

“G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century,” by Beverly Gage

Ms. Gage, a Yale historian, was honored for her biography of the F.B.I. director who served eight presidents in his 48-year career. The committee called the book “a deeply researched and nuanced look at one of the most polarizing figures in U.S. history.”

Finalists “Mr. B: George Balanchine’s 20th Century,” by Jennifer Homans; “His Name Is George Floyd: One Man’s Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice,” by Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa

MEMOIR OR AUTOBIOGRAPHy

“Stay True,” by Hua Hsu

Mr. Hsu recounts a formative relationship with a college friend that was cut short by violence, in what the committee called “an elegant and poignant coming-of-age account.”

Finalists “Easy Beauty,” by Chloé Cooper Jones; “The Man Who Could Move Clouds,” by Ingrid Rojas Contreras

“Then the War: And Selected Poems, 2007-2020,” by Carl Phillips

The collection “chronicles American culture as the country struggles to make sense of its politics, of life in the wake of a pandemic, and of our place in a changing global community.”

Finalists “ Blood Snow,” by dg nanouk okpik; “Still Life,” by Jay Hopler

GENERAL NONFICTION

“His Name Is George Floyd: One Man’s Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice,” by Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa

The biography was honored as “an intimate, riveting portrait of an ordinary man whose fatal encounter with police officers in 2020 sparked an international movement for social change, but whose humanity and complicated personal story were unknown.”

Finalists “ Kingdom of Characters: The Language Revolution That Made China Modern,” by Jing Tsu; “Sounds Wild and Broken: Sonic Marvels, Evolution’s Creativity, and the Crisis of Sensory Extinction,” by David George Haskell; “Under the Skin: The Hidden Toll of Racism on American Lives and on the Health of Our Nation,” by Linda Villarosa

“Omar,” by Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels

The opera, about enslaved people brought to North America from Muslim countries, “respectfully represents African as well as African American traditions, expanding the language of the operatic form while conveying the humanity of those condemned to bondage.”

Finalists “Perspective,” by Jerrilynn Patton; “Monochromatic Light (Afterlife),” by Tyshawn Sorey

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Our Pulitzer Prize Winners and Finalists

The pulitzer prize was established in 1917 and continues to carry on its coveted trade name. we’re proud of our many books that have won the esteemed award over the years including those by william faulkner, eudora welty, john steinbeck, ron chernow, anne applebaum, colson whitehead, and many more. take a look at our latest 2023 pulitzer prize winners and finalists across genres.

G-Man (Pulitzer Prize Winner) Book Cover Picture

by Beverly Gage

Paperback $25.00, buy from other retailers:.

Stay True Book Cover Picture

Paperback $17.00

His Name Is George Floyd (Pulitzer Prize Winner) Book Cover Picture

His Name Is George Floyd

By robert samuels and toluse olorunnipa, hardcover $30.00.

Trust (Pulitzer Prize Winner) Book Cover Picture

by Hernan Diaz

Mr. B Book Cover Picture

by Jennifer Homans

Paperback $24.00.

The Man Who Could Move Clouds Book Cover Picture

The Man Who Could Move Clouds

By ingrid rojas contreras.

Kingdom of Characters (Pulitzer Prize Finalist) Book Cover Picture

Kingdom of Characters

By jing tsu, paperback $18.00.

Sounds Wild and Broken Book Cover Picture

Sounds Wild and Broken

By david george haskell.

Under the Skin Book Cover Picture

Under the Skin

By linda villarosa.

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Great Book Finder > Blog > 35 Best Pulitzer Prize Winning Biographies

35 Best Pulitzer Prize Winning Biographies

pulitzer prize for biography or autobiography winners & nominees

The Pulitzer Prize for Biography is unique in its focus. It is rather rare for a well-known literary award to have a biography category. This makes the prize winners even more exciting.

Every such book is "...distinguished biography, autobiography or memoir by an American author."

The Pulitzer Prize for Biography is one of the original categories starting in 1917. Hence, there are plenty of titles to choose from.

We have shortlisted the winners based on Goodreads ratings so that you can enjoy best of the best.

If you love strong personal stories and unique perspectives, the following list is for you.

R. E. Lee: A Biography Series

The series has the highest goodreads average rating. R. E. Leeby Douglas Southall Freeman was the recipient of the 1935 Pulitzer Prize for Literature. It was a richly deserved honor, for Freeman's biography of the Virginian that went on to become one of the most celebrated of all American biographies, a favorite of General George Marshall and President Dwight Eisenhower, among many others. Since his death, thousands of American soldiers have sought to emulate Lee's example of virtue, courage, and duty. This four-volume masterpiece traces Lee's life from his birth in 1807 at the ancestral Lee home of Stratford to his final years as the president of Washington College in Lexington, Virginia, where he was buried in 1870.

R. E. Lee: A Biography Volume I

by Douglas Southall Freeman

1935 winner

Volume One carries us from Lee's childhood through his youth as a cadet at West Point, his slow but steady advance in the US Army Corps of Engineers, his spectacular record under General Winfield Scott during the Mexican War, his superintendency of West Point, and so on up to the point where Lee has made the difficult and painful decision to resign his commission in the US Army in order to remain with his beloved state of Virginia...for him, his "nation".

R. E. Lee: A Biography Volume II

Volume Two opens in March, 1862 with Lee back in Richmond after a lengthy absence. He was shocked by the chaos and panic evident in the Confederate capital. McClellan had assembled a superbly equipped army of over 100,000 soldiers which Virginians feared might invade at any time. In May, McClellan began to move his huge Army of the Potomac up the peninsula and so close to Richmond that church steeples were within his view. The situation seemed hopeless...

R. E. Lee: A Biography Volume III

Volume three opens in May 1863 as Lee assessed his situation after the great Confederate victory at Chancellorsville and the loss of General Jackson. Lee quickly reorganized his army and headed north, hoping to inflict a war-ending defeat on the Union. But absent Jackson, his army was not the same.

R. E. Lee: A Biography Volume IV

Volume Four begins in March, 1865 with Lee's starving soldiers facing annihilation at the hands of Grant's enormous army. Surrounded, with all avenues of escape cut off, Lee honorably surrendered the remnants of his valiant Army of Northern Virginia at Appamattox on April 9. Having done his military duty to his people to the very best of his ability, Lee next asked himself, "What is now my duty?" Declining handsome financial rewards for the use of his name in various commercial ventures, Lee decided to share the misery of the people of Virginia and the South.

The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York

by Robert A. Caro

1975 winner

Robert Caro's monumental book makes public what few outsiders knew: that Robert Moses was the single most powerful man of his time in the City and in the State of New York. And in telling the Moses story, Caro both opens up to an unprecedented degree the way in which politics really happens—the way things really get done in America's City Halls and Statehouses—and brings to light a bonanza of vital information about such national figures as Alfred E. Smith and Franklin D. Roosevelt (and the genesis of their blood feud), about Fiorello La Guardia, John V. Lindsay and Nelson Rockefeller.

From Immigrant to Inventor

by Michael Pupin

1924 winner

A captivating story of unlikely success, bought with hunger, determination, and hardship. Immigrant biographies will perhaps often offer such benefits. Few can hope to be as articulate and evocative as Michael Pupin's story of the long road from Idvor to New York, From Immigrant to Inventor.

Master of the Senate (The Years of Lyndon Johnson #3)

2003 winner

Master of the Senate,Book Three of The Years of Lyndon Johnson, carries Johnson’s story through one of its most remarkable periods: his twelve years, from 1949 to 1960, in the United States Senate. At the heart of the book is its unprecedented revelation of how legislative power works in America, how the Senate works, and how Johnson, in his ascent to the presidency, mastered the Senate as no political leader before him had ever done.

W.E.B. Du Bois: Biography of a Race, 1868-1919

by David Levering Lewis

1994 winner

A definitive biography of the African-American author and scholar describes Du Bois's formative years, the evolution of his philosophy, and his roles as a founder of the NAACP and architect of the American civil rights movement.

Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, JR., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference

by David J. Garrow

1987 winner

This biography of Martin Luther King, Jr., and examination of the movement he led draws on over seven hundred interviews.

Edith Wharton

by R.W.B. Lewis

1976 winner

The four novels in this Library of America volume show Wharton at the height of her powers as a social observer and critic, examining American and European lives with a vision rich in detail, satire, and tragedy. In all of them her strong and autobiographical impulse is disciplined by her writer’s craft and her unfailing regard for her audience.

Eleanor and Franklin

by Joseph P. Lash

1972 winner

In his extraordinary biography of the major political couple of the twentieth century, Joseph P. Lash reconstructs from Eleanor Roosevelt's personal papers her early life and four-decade marriage to the four-time president who brought America back from the Great Depression and helped to win World War II. The result is an intimate look at the vibrant private and public worlds of two incomparable people.

Memoirs, 1925-1950

by George F. Kennan

1968 winner

The American diplomat's reflections of his years of government service provide insight into four decades of U.S. policy.

Oscar Wilde

by Richard Ellmann

1989 winner

Oscar Wildeis the definitive biography of the tortured poet and playwright and the last book by renowned biographer and literary critic Richard Ellmann. Ellmann dedicated two decades to the research and writing of this biography, resulting in a complex and richly detailed portrait of Oscar Wilde. Ellman captures the wit, creativity, and charm of the psychologically and sexually complicated writer, as well as the darker aspects of his personality and life. Covering everything from Wilde's rise as a young literary talent to his eventual imprisonment and death in exile with exquisite detail, Ellmann's fascinating account of Wilde's life and work is a resounding triumph.

Peter the Great: His Life and World

by Robert K. Massie

1981 winner

Against the monumental canvas of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Europe and Russia unfolds the magnificent story of Peter the Great, crowned co-tsar at the age of ten. The acclaimed author ofCatherine the Great,Robert K. Massie delves deep into the life of this captivating historical figure, chronicling the pivotal events that shaped a boy into a legend—including his “incognito” travels in Europe, his unquenchable curiosity about Western ways, his obsession with the sea and establishment of the stupendous Russian navy, his creation of an unbeatable army, his transformation of Russia, and his relationships with those he loved most: Catherine, the robust yet gentle peasant, his loving mistress, wife, and successor; and Menshikov, the charming, bold, unscrupulous prince who rose to wealth and power through Peter’s friendship. Impetuous and stubborn, generous and cruel, tender and unforgiving, a man of enormous energy and complexity, Peter the Great is brought fully to life.

by Walter Jackson Bate

1964 winner

The life of Keats provides a unique opportunity for the study of literary greatness and of what permits or encourages its development. Its interest is deeply human and moral, in the most capacious sense of the words. In this authoritative biography--the first full-length life of Keats in almost forty years--the man and the poet are portrayed with rare insight and sympathy. In spite of a scarcity of factual data for his early years, the materials for Keats's life are nevertheless unusually full. Since most of his early poetry has survived, his artistic development can be observed more closely than is possible with most writers; and there are times during the period of his greatest creativity when his personal as well as his artistic life can be followed week by week.

Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life

by William Finnegan

2016 winner

Barbarian Days is William Finnegan’s memoir of an obsession, a complex enchantment. Surfing only looks like a sport. To initiates, it is something else: a beautiful addiction, a demanding course of study, a morally dangerous pastime, a way of life. 

Samuel Johnson

1978 winner

Samuel Johnson is a writer of such significance that his era — the second half of the 18th century — is known as the Age of Johnson. Starting out as a Grub Street journalist, he made his mark on history as a poet, author, moralist, literary critic, political commentator, and lexiconographer. We, as moderns, need to know this man, and W. Jackson Bate's formidable biography, with its uncanny depth and empathy, is the book that makes that happen.

by T. Harry Williams

1970 winner

uey Long was a great natural politician who looked, and often seemed to behave, like a caricature of the red-neck Southern politico, and yet had become at the time of his assassination a serious rival to Franklin D. Roosevelt for the Presidency.

Benjamin Franklin

by Carl Van Doren

1939 winner

From his beginnings as a journalist at age 16, to his retirement from public affairs at 82, there was no break in Benjamin Franklin's activity and accomplishments. A writer, inventor, and statesman, he remains unsurpassed in the range of his natural gifts and the important uses to which he put them.

A Prince of Our Disorder: The Life of T.E. Lawrence

by John E. Mack

1977 winner

John Mack humanely and objectively explores the relationship between Lawrence's inner life and his historically significant actions.

by A. Scott Berg

1999 winner

Few American icons provoke more enduring fascination than Charles Lindbergh - renowned for his one-man transatlantic flight in 1927, remembered for the sorrow surrounding the kidnapping and death of his firstborn son in 1932, and reviled by many for his opposition to America's entry into World War II.

The Spirit of St. Louis

by Charles A. Lindbergh

1954 winner

Charles A. Lindbergh captured the world's attention—and changed the course of history—when he completed his famous nonstop flight from New York to Paris in 1927. InThe Spirit of St. Louis, Lindbergh takes the reader on an extraordinary journey, bringing to life the thrill and peril of trans-Atlantic travel in a single-engine plane. Eloquently told and sweeping in its scope, Lindbergh's Pulitzer Prize-winning account is an epic adventure tale for all time.

Jackson Pollock: An American Saga

by Gregory White Smith

1991 winner

Jackson Pollock was more than a great artist, he was a creative force of nature. He changed not only the course of Western art, but our very definition of "art." He was the quintessential tortured genius, an American Vincent van Gogh, cut from the same unconforming cloth as his contemporaries Ernest Hemingway and James Dean--and tormented by the same demons; a "cowboy artist" who rose from obscurity to take his place among the titans of modern art, and whose paintings now command millions of dollars.

Son of the Wilderness: The Life of John Muir

by Linnie Marsh Wolfe

1946 winner

Working closely with Muir’s family and with his papers, Wolfe was able to create a full portrait of her subject, not only as America’s firebrand conservationist and founder of the national park system, but also as husband, father, and friend. All readers who have admired Muir’s ruggedly individualistic lifestyle, and those who wish a greater appreciation for the history of environmental preservation in America, will be enthralled and enlightened by this splendid biography.

The Return: Fathers, Sons, and the Land in Between

by Hisham Matar

2017 winner

When Hisham Matar was a nineteen-year-old university student in England, his father went missing under mysterious circumstances. Hisham would never see him again, but he never gave up hope that his father might still be alive. Twenty-two years later, he returned to his native Libya in search of the truth behind his father’s disappearance.The Returnis the story of what he found there.

Personal History

by Katharine Graham

1998 winner

In this bestselling and widely acclaimed memoir, Katharine Graham, the woman who piloted theWashington Postthrough the scandals of the Pentagon Papers and Watergate, tells her story—one that is extraordinary both for the events it encompasses and for the courage, candor, and dignity of its telling.

Fortunate Son: The Healing of a Vietnam Vet

by Lewis B. Puller Jr.

1992 winner

Lewis B. Puller, Jr.'s memoir is a moving story of a man born into a proud military legacy who struggles to rebuild his world after the Vietnam War has shattered his body and his ideals. Raised in the shadow of his father, Marine General Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller, a hero of five wars, young Lewis went to Southeast Asia at the height of the Vietnam War and served with distinction as an officer in his father's beloved Corps. But when he tripped a booby-trapped howitzer round, triggering an explosion that would cost him his legs, his career as a soldier ended, and the battle to reclaim his life began.

W.E.B. Du Bois: The Fight for Equality and the American Century, 1919-1963

2001 winner

This monumental biography--eight years in the research and writing--treats the early and middle phases of a long and intense career: a crucial fifty-year period that demonstrates how Du Bois changed forever the way Americans think about themselves.

De Kooning: An American Master

by Mark Stevens

2005 winner

Willem de Kooning is one of the most important artists of the twentieth century, a true “painter’s painter” whose protean work continues to inspire many artists. In the thirties and forties, along with Arshile Gorky and Jackson Pollock, he became a key figure in the revolutionary American movement of abstract expressionism. Of all the painters in that group, he worked the longest and was the most prolific, creating powerful, startling images well into the 1980s.

Look Homeward: A Life of Thomas Wolfe

by David Herbert Donald

1988 winner

Based on the papers of the Wolfe Estate, this biography reveals for the first time the personal life of the major American literary figure, Thomas Wolfe, and examines his relations with his editors, literary agents, and contemporary writers.

Admiral of the Ocean Sea: A Life of Christopher Columbus

by Samuel Eliot Morison

1943 winner

Telling the story of the greatest sailor of them all, "Admiral of the Ocean Sea" is a vivid and definitive biography of Columbus that details all of his voyages that, for better or worse, changed the world.

by Russell Baker

1983 winner

In this heartfelt memoir, groundbreaking New York Times columnist Russell Baker traces his youth from the backwoods mountains of Virginia to a New Jersey commuter town to the Depression-shadowed landscape of Baltimore.

The Pope and Mussolini: The Secret History of Pius XI and the Rise of Fascism in Europe

by David I. Kertzer

2015 winner

The Pope and Mussolinitells the story of two men who came to power in 1922, and together changed the course of twentieth-century history. In most respects, they could not have been more different. One was scholarly and devout, the other thuggish and profane. Yet Pius XI and “Il Duce” had many things in common. They shared a distrust of democracy and a visceral hatred of Communism. Both were prone to sudden fits of temper and were fiercely protective of the prerogatives of their office. Each relied on the other to consolidate his power and achieve his political goals.

George F. Kennan: An American Life

by John Lewis Gaddis

2012 winner

Widely and enthusiastically acclaimed, this is the authorized, definitive biography of one of the most fascinating but troubled figures of the twentieth century by the nation's leading Cold War historian. In the late 1940s, George F. Kennan—then a bright but, relatively obscure American diplomat—wrote the "long telegram" and the "X" article. These two documents laid out United States' strategy for "containing" the Soviet Union—a strategy which Kennan himself questioned in later years. Based on exclusive access to Kennan and his archives, this landmark history illuminates a life that both mirrored and shaped the century it spanned.

Harriet Beecher Stowe

by Joan D. Hedrick

1995 winner

In this landmark book, the first full-scale biography of Harriet Beecher Stowe in over fifty years, Joan D. Hedrick tells the absorbing story of this gifted, complex, and contradictory woman. Hedrick takes readers into the multilayered world of nineteenth century morals and mores, exploring the influence of then-popular ideas of "true womanhood" on Stowe's upbringing as a member of the outspoken Beecher clan, and her eventful life as a writer and shaper of public opinion who was also a mother of seven. It offers a lively record of the flourishing parlor societies that launched and sustained Stowe throughout the 44 years of her career, and the harsh physical realities that governed so many women's lives. The epidemics, high infant mortality, and often disastrous medical practices of the day are portrayed in moving detail, against the backdrop of western expansion, and the great social upheaval accompanying the abolitionist movement and the entry of women into public life.

The Raven: A Biography of Sam Houston

by Marquis James

1930 winner

A highly readable biography tracing the great highs and lows of his political career and personal life. From Houston's courageous actions as a junior officer under Jackson and his work as governor of Tennessee to his stint as Texas president, governor and finally political outcast for his stand on secession.

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What is the Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography?

The Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography is for "a distinguished and appropriately documented biography or autobiography by an American author." 

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pulitzer prize for biography or autobiography winners & nominees

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pulitzer prize for biography or autobiography winners & nominees

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pulitzer prize for biography or autobiography winners & nominees

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pulitzer prize for biography or autobiography winners & nominees

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pulitzer prize for biography or autobiography winners & nominees

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pulitzer prize for biography or autobiography winners & nominees

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Raja Shehadeh, Yiyun Li and Maria Bamford among L.A. Times Book Prize finalists

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The finalists for the 44th Los Angeles Times Book Prizes were revealed Wednesday morning. Palestinian human rights activist and writer Raja Shehadeh , novelist Yiyun Li and comedian Maria Bamford are among the 66 nominees in 13 categories honoring the highest quality of craft from authors at all stages of their careers.

Bamford is one of 10 finalists, including Sophia Bush, in the newly introduced category of achievement in audiobook production, which is being given in collaboration with Audible and spotlights performance, production and innovation in storytelling.

The awards ceremony, which will take place April 19 at USC’s Bovard Auditorium on the eve of the annual Los Angeles Times Festival of Books , also includes a number of honorees in special categories. Pulitzer Prize-winning, L.A.-born author Jane Smiley will receive the 2023 Robert Kirsch Award for lifetime achievement, which celebrates a writer with a substantial connection to the American West.

A bookshelf full of books and objects.  A black cat rests lethargically on the top shelf.

The Ultimate L.A. Bookshelf

Your ultimate L.A. Bookhelf is here — a guide to the 110 essential L.A. books, plus essays, supporting quotes and a ranked list of the best of the best.

April 13, 2023

“Whether it’s her epic reimagining of King Lear in ‘A Thousand Acres,’ exploring campus life at Moo University in the hilarious ‘Moo,’ or her insightful writing about her beloved horses for readers of all ages, Smiley’s work brings a deeper understanding of the American landscape and the people (and creatures) that inhabit it,” said Times Associate Director of Events and Book Prizes Administrator Ann Binney in a news release.

The Christopher Isherwood Prize for Autobiographical Prose will go to bestselling author Claire Dederer for “Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma.” The award is sponsored by the Christopher Isherwood Foundation, and includes fiction, travel writing, memoir and diary.

“Claire Dederer’s ‘Monsters,’ a book-length expansion of an essay on the problematic relationship between masculinity and fame, considers how we come to love art made by less-than-perfect humans,” said the judges of the Isherwood Prize. “Dederer engages the essayist form at its best and the result is both critical, literary and provocative.”

The nonprofit organization Access Books, which works to renovate school libraries and to ensure that kids in underserved communities have access to quality literature and resources, will be given the 2023 Innovator’s Award. This honor recognizes efforts to keep books, publishing and storytelling relevant in the future.

“The work Access Books does in creating comfortable and welcoming environments for students to explore literacy and the world of books is incredibly important and has lasting effects,” said Times Interim Executive Editor Terry Tang in a news release.

The Book Prizes recognize titles in the following categories: audiobooks, autobiographical prose, biography, current interest, fiction, first fiction (the Art Seidenbaum Award), graphic novel/comics, history, mystery/thriller, poetry, science fiction, science and technology and young adult literature. Finalists and winners are selected by panels of writers who specialize in each genre.

For more information about the Book Prizes, including the complete list of 2023 finalists, visit latimes.com/BookPrizes .

Achievement in Audiobook Production

Maria Bamford, narrator, “Sure, I’ll Join Your Cult: A Memoir of Mental Illness and the Quest to Belong Anywhere”

Sophia Bush, narrator, “Wild and Precious: A Celebration of Mary Oliver”

Helena de Groot, lead producer, “Wild and Precious: A Celebration of Mary Oliver”

Dion Graham, narrator, “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin): A Memoir”

Kerri Kolen, executive producer, “Wild and Precious: A Celebration of Mary Oliver”

Helen Laser, narrator, “Yellowface”

Adam Lazarre-White, narrator, “All the Sinners Bleed”

Elishia Merricks, producer, “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin): A Memoir”

Elishia Merricks, producer, “All the Sinners Bleed”

Suzanne Franco Mitchell, director/producer, “Yellowface”

The Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction

Stephen Buoro, “The Five Sorrowful Mysteries of Andy Africa: A Novel”

Sheena Patel, “I’m a Fan: A Novel”

Shannon Sanders, “Company: Stories”

James Frankie Thomas, “Idlewild: A Novel”

Ghassan Zeineddine, “Dearborn”

Leah Redmond Chang, “Young Queens: Three Renaissance Women and the Price of Power”

Gregg Hecimovich, “The Life and Times of Hannah Crafts: The True Story of The Bondwoman’s Narrative”

Jonny Steinberg, “Winnie and Nelson: Portrait of a Marriage”

Elizabeth R. Varon, “Longstreet: The Confederate General Who Defied the South”

David Waldstreicher, “The Odyssey of Phillis Wheatley: A Poet’s Journeys Through American Slavery and Independence”

The Christopher Isherwood Prize for Autobiographical Prose

Claire Dederer, “Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma”

Current Interest

Bettina L. Love, “Punished for Dreaming: How School Reform Harms Black Children and How We Heal”

Roxanna Asgarian, “We Were Once A Family: A Story of Love, Death, and Child Removal in America”

Zusha Elinson, “American Gun: The True Story of the AR-15”

Cameron McWhirter, “American Gun: The True Story of the AR-15”

Christina Sharpe, “Ordinary Notes”

Raja Shehadeh, “We Could Have Been Friends, My Father and I: A Palestinian Memoir”

Susie Boyt, “Loved and Missed”

Yiyun Li, “Wednesday’s Child: Stories”

Elizabeth McKenzie, “The Dog of the North: A Novel”

Ed Park, “Same Bed Different Dreams: A Novel”

Justin Torres, “Blackouts: A Novel”

Graphic Novel/Comics

Derek M. Ballard, “Cartoonshow”

Matías Bergara, “CODA”

Emily Carroll, “A Guest in the House”

Sammy Harkham, “Blood of the Virgin”

Chantal Montellier, “Social Fiction”

Simon Spurrier, “CODA”

Ned Blackhawk, “The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History”

Joya Chatterji, “Shadows at Noon: The South Asian Twentieth Century”

Malcolm Harris, “Palo Alto: A History of California, Capitalism, and the World”

Blair L.M. Kelley, “Black Folk: The Roots of the Black Working Class”

Nikki M. Taylor, “Brooding Over Bloody Revenge: Enslaved Women’s Lethal Resistance”

Innovator’s Award

Access Books

Mystery/Thriller

Lou Berney, “Dark Ride: A Thriller”

S. A. Cosby, “All the Sinners Bleed: A Novel”

Jordan Harper, “Everybody Knows: A Novel”

Cheryl A. Head, “Time’s Undoing: A Novel”

Ivy Pochoda, “Sing Her Down: A Novel”

K. Iver, “Short Film Starring My Beloved’s Red Bronco”

Airea D. Matthews, “Bread and Circus: Poems”

Maggie Millner, “Couplets: A Love Story”

Jenny Molberg, “The Court of No Record: Poems”

Simon Shieh, “Master: Poems”

Robert Kirsch Award

Jane Smiley

Science & Technology

Eugenia Cheng, “Is Math Real? How Simple Questions Lead Us to Mathematics’ Deepest Truths”

Jeff Goodell, “The Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet”

Jaime Green, “The Possibility of Life: Science, Imagination, and Our Quest for Kinship in the Cosmos”

Caspar Henderson, “A Book of Noises: Notes on the Auraculous”

Zach Weinersmith, “A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through?”

Kelly Weinersmith, “A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through?”

Science Fiction, Fantasy & Speculative Fiction

Tananarive Due, “The Reformatory: A Novel”

Daniel Kraus, “Whalefall”

Victor LaValle, “Lone Women: A Novel”

V. E. Schwab, “The Fragile Threads of Power”

E. Lily Yu, “Jewel Box: Stories”

Young Adult Literature

Jennifer Baker, “Forgive Me Not”

Olivia A. Cole, “Dear Medusa”

Kim Johnson, “Invisible Son”

Amber McBride, “Gone Wolf”

Sarah Myer, “Monstrous: A Transracial Adoption Story”

More to Read

Melissa Gomez. (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

L.A. Times Earns Multiple Honors from the CCNMA Latino Journalists of California

Dec. 12, 2023

HOLLYWOOD, CA - MARCH 12: Actress Jamie Lee Curtis holding her Best Actress in a Supporting Role Oscar, with husband Christopher Guest, arriving at the Governors Ball, following the 95th Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre on March 12, 2023 in Hollywood, California. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

L.A. Times Wins 22 National Arts and Entertainment Awards

Dec. 6, 2023

Authors gather on 74th National Book Awards Ceremony stage

Justin Torres, Ned Blackhawk win National Book Awards as war, politics grab spotlight

Nov. 15, 2023

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pulitzer prize for biography or autobiography winners & nominees

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  • Nominations
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  • Pulitzer Prize

1941 Pulitzer Prize

Yearwise list of pulitzer prize winners, recent awards, the 19th annual panasonic gobel awards : winners announced, shoemaker won wsfa small press award, mcdonald won gaylactic spectrum awards, silvia moreno-garcia and leah bobet won copper cylinder award, winners of the british fantasy awards 2016 were announced, famous awards, youtube videos, award groups.

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  1. Biography and Autobiography winners: the last 25 years

    pulitzer prize for biography or autobiography winners & nominees

  2. 2004 Pulitzer Prize

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  3. 1987 Pulitzer Prize

    pulitzer prize for biography or autobiography winners & nominees

  4. Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography Winners List

    pulitzer prize for biography or autobiography winners & nominees

  5. Pulitzer Prize winners 2017: the full list

    pulitzer prize for biography or autobiography winners & nominees

  6. 1988 Pulitzer Prize

    pulitzer prize for biography or autobiography winners & nominees

COMMENTS

  1. Pulitzer Prize for Biography

    The Pulitzer Prize for Biography is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. The award honors "a distinguished and appropriately documented biography by an American author." Award winners received $15,000 USD. From 1917 to 2022, this prize was known as the Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography and was awarded to a distinguished biography ...

  2. Biography and Autobiography winners: the last 25 years

    Louisa May Alcott. Katharine Graham. W.E.B. DuBois. Harry S. Truman. Margaret Fuller. Robert J. Oppenheimer. These are just a few of the lives told in the Biography or Autobiography Pulitzer Prize-winning books of the last quarter century.. Here, in a sampling from the jury reports of that period, the jurors often pose fascinating questions.

  3. Biography

    Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder, by Caroline Fraser (Metropolitan Books). A deeply researched and elegantly written portrait of Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of the Little House on the Prairie series, that describes how Wilder transformed her family's story of poverty, failure and struggle into an uplifting tale of self-reliance, familial love and perseverance.

  4. Explore Winners and Finalists by Category

    The Pulitzer Prizes. This website uses cookies as well as similar tools and technologies to understand visitors' experiences. By continuing to use this website, you consent to Columbia University's usage of cookies and similar technologies, in accordance with the Columbia University Website Cookie Notice. This website uses cookies as well as ...

  5. Category : Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography winners

    Walter Jackson Bate Samuel Flagg Bemis Benjamin Franklin (book) A. Scott Berg Albert J. Beveridge Kai Bird Edward Bok William Cabell Bruce C Robert Caro John Alexander Carroll Ron Chernow Margaret Clapp Margaret Coit Harvey Cushing D Sebastian de Grazia Tyler Dennett

  6. Pulitzer Prize

    Pulitzer Prize, any of a series of annual prizes awarded by Columbia University, New York City, for outstanding public service and achievement in American journalism, letters, and music. Fellowships are also awarded.

  7. Here are the 2023 Pulitzer Prize winners : NPR

    Mississippi Today reporter Anna Wolfe, center, is congratulated Monday by staff sports columnist Rick Cleveland, right, after winning the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting, as her mother,...

  8. Winners of the Pulitzer Prize in Biography

    by Beverly Gage A major new biography of J Edgar Hoover that draws from never-before-seen sources to create a groundbreaking portrait of a colossus who dominated half a century of American history and planted the seeds for much of today's conservative political landscape.

  9. Pulitzer Prize

    List of winners and nominees for all of the Pulitzer Prize - Biography or Autobiography book awards! Skip to content. Friday, June 30. Awards Archive. Home; All Book Awards. List Of All Book Awards; Book Awards By Year. 2020's. All 2020 Book Awards; 2010's. All 2019 Book Awards; All 2018 Book Awards;

  10. Pulitzer Prizes: 2023 Winners List

    The Associated Press won two Pulitzers Monday, including for breaking news photography. Evgeniy Maloletka/Associated Press. The A.P. provided "unique and urgent images from the first weeks of ...

  11. Pulitzer Prize

    The Pulitzer Prize (/ ˈ p ʊ l ɪ t s ər /) is an award administered by Columbia University for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition in the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fortune as a newspaper publisher.. As of 2023, prizes are awarded annually in 23 categories.

  12. Memoir or Autobiography

    Prize Winners by Year Prize Winners by Category Explore Lists Prize Winners by Year Prize Winners by Category Explore Lists Prize Winners by Year Prize Winners by Category Explore Lists The Pulitzer Prizes Honoring excellence in journalism and the arts since 1917

  13. Our Pulitzer Prize Winners and Finalists

    Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in Nonfiction and Biography Finalist A landmark biography by two prizewinning Washington Post reporters that reveals how systemic racism shaped George Floyd's life and legacy — from his family's roots in the tobacco fields of North Carolina, to ongoing inequality in housing, education, health care, criminal justice, and policing — telling the story of how ...

  14. 35 Best Pulitzer Prize Winning Biographies

    Leeby Douglas Southall Freeman was the recipient of the 1935 Pulitzer Prize for Literature. It was a richly deserved honor, for Freeman's biography of the Virginian that went on to become one of the most celebrated of all American biographies, a favorite of General George Marshall and President Dwight Eisenhower, among many others.

  15. Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography

    Check the winners of Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography presented under Pulitzer Prize since 1917. The winners of Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography are Megan Marshall (2014) , Tom Reiss (2013) , John Lewis Gaddis (2012) and more ...

  16. Pulitzer Prizes

    Prizes for Letters include Fiction, Non-fiction, Poetry, Biography or Autobiography, and History. Pulitzer Prize Winners. Bernadotte E. Schmitt. Andrew MacLeish Distinguished Service Professorship of Modern History, 1925-46. Brent Staples. AM'76, PhD'82. Bret Stephens. AB'95.

  17. 2021 Pulitzer Prize Winners & Finalists

    Discover the latest winners and finalists of the prestigious Pulitzer Prizes, awarded for excellence in journalism, literature, drama, and music. Learn more about their bios, photos, and works, and celebrate their achievements in various categories.

  18. Award-Winning Books: Pulitzer for Biography or Autobiography

    Features titles of award winners such as the Newbery, Caldecott, and Coretta Scott King awards. Also includes the call number if the Vise Library owns a particular item. ... The Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography is for "a distinguished and appropriately documented biography or autobiography by an American author." Award Winners ...

  19. Pulitzer Prize for Memoir or Autobiography

    t. e. The Pulitzer Prize for Memoir of Autobiography is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. The award honors "a distinguished and factual memoir or autobiography by an American author." Winners receive US$15,000.

  20. Henry James

    Henry James was an American writer who won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography in 1931. He was the son of philosopher and psychologist William James, nephew of novelist Henry James. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, James graduated with an A.B. from Harvard University in 1899 and a Bachelor of Laws from Harvard Law School in 1904.

  21. L.A. Times Book Prize finalists for 2023 announced

    The Book Prizes recognize titles in the following categories: audiobooks, autobiographical prose, biography, current interest, fiction, first fiction (the Art Seidenbaum Award), graphic novel ...

  22. 2022 Pulitzer Prize Winners & Finalists

    Prize Winners by Year Prize Winners by Category Explore Lists Prize Winners by Year Prize Winners by Category Explore Lists Prize Winners by Year Prize Winners by Category Explore Lists The Pulitzer Prizes Honoring excellence in journalism and the arts since 1917

  23. Pulitzer Prize

    Jacob Burck (For 'If I Should Die Before I Wake.') Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography Ola Elizabeth Winslow Honored for : Jonathan Edwards, 1703-1758 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry Leonard Bacon Honored for : Sunderland Capture Pulitzer Prize for History Marcus Lee Hansen Honored for : The Atlantic Migration, 1607\u20131860

  24. PDF WINNERS AND FINALISTS

    Pulitzer Prize, without expressing a preference among the three. The competition for prizes is limited to work done during the calendar year, ending December 31. For the Prize in Drama, works produced in the United States from January 1 through December 31 are considered. For the Prize in Music, works given their American premiere in a pub-