The winners and nominated finalists of the 2024 Pulitzer Prizes were announced today by administrator Marjorie Miller via remote video stream. The winners each take home $15,000 dollars and serious bragging rights, not to mention a ticket into a very illustrious club.
The full list of winners and nominated finalists from the arts & letters categories is below.
FICTION
Winner:
Night Watch by Jayne Anne Phillips (Knopf)
“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.”
Finalists:
Wednesday’s Child by Yiyun Li (FSG)
Same Bed Different Dreams by Ed Park (Random House)
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DRAMA
Winner:
Primary Trust by Eboni Booth
“A simple and elegantly crafted story of an emotionally damaged man who finds a new job, new friends and a new sense of worth, illustrating how small acts of kindness can change a person’s life and enrich an entire community.”
Finalists:
Here There Are Blueberries by Moisés Kaufman and Amanda Gronich
Public Obscenities by Shayok Misha Chowdhury
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HISTORY
Winner:
No Right to an Honest Living: The Struggles of Boston’s Black Workers in the Civil War Era by Jacqueline Jones (Basic Books)
“A breathtakingly original reconstruction of free Black life in Boston that profoundly reshapes our understanding of the city’s abolitionist legacy and the challenging reality for its Black residents.”
Finalists:
Continental Reckoning: The American West in the Age of Expansion by Elliott West (University of Nebraska Press)
American Anarchy: The Epic Struggle Between Immigrant Radicals and the U.S. Government at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century by Michael Willrich (Basic Books)
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BIOGRAPHY
Winners:
King: A Life by Jonathan Eig (FSG)
“A revelatory portrait of Martin Luther King, Jr. that draws on new sources to enrich our understanding of each stage of the civil rights leader’s life, exploring his strengths and weaknesses, including the self-questioning and depression that accompanied his determination.”
Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom by Ilyon Woo (Simon & Schuster)
“A rich narrative of the Crafts, an enslaved couple who escaped from Georgia in 1848, with light-skinned Ellen disguised as a disabled white gentleman and William as her manservant, exploiting assumptions about race, class and disability to hide in public on their journey to the North, where they became famous abolitionists while evading bounty hunters.”
Finalist:
Larry McMurtry: A Life by Tracy Daugherty (St. Martin’s Press
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MEMOIR
Winner:
Liliana’s Invincible Summer: A Sister’s Search for Justice by Cristina Rivera Garza (Hogarth)
“A genre-bending account of the author’s 20-year-old sister, murdered by a former boyfriend, that mixes memoir, feminist investigative journalism and poetic biography stitched together with a determination born of loss.”
Finalists:
The Country of the Blind: A Memoir at the End of Sight by Andrew Leland (Penguin Press)
The Best Minds: A Story of Friendship, Madness, and the Tragedy of Good Intentions by Jonathan Rosen (Penguin Press)
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POETRY
Winner:
Tripas: Poems by Brandon Som (Georgia Review Books)
“A collection that deeply engages with the complexities of the poet’s dual Mexican and Chinese heritage, highlighting the dignity of his family’s working lives, creating community rather than conflict.”
Finalists:
To 2040 by Jorie Graham (Copper Canyon Press)
Information Desk: An Epic by Robyn Schiff (Penguin Press)
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GENERAL NONFICTION
Winner:
A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy by Nathan Thrall (Metropolitan Books)
“A finely reported and intimate account of life under Israeli occupation of the West Bank, told through a portrait of a Palestinian father whose five-year-old son dies in a fiery school bus crash when Israeli and Palestinian rescue teams are delayed by security regulations.”
Finalists:
Fire Weather: A True Story From a Hotter World by John Vaillant (Knopf)
Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives by Siddharth Kara (St. Martin’s Press)
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MUSIC
Winner:
Adagio (for Wadada Leo Smith) by Tyshawn Sorey
“An introspective saxophone concerto with a wide range of textures presented in a slow tempo, a beautiful homage that’s quietly intense, treasuring intimacy rather than spectacle.”
Finalists:
Double Concerto for esperanza spalding, Claire Chase and large orchestra by Felipe Lara
Paper Pianos by Mary Kouyoumdjian
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SPECIAL CITATIONS:
Greg Tate
“The Pulitzer Board awards a special citation for the late writer and critic Greg Tate, whose language – cribbed from literature, academia, popular culture and hip-hop – was as influential as the content of his ideas. His aesthetic, innovations and intellectual originality, particularly in his pioneering hip-hop criticism, continue to influence subsequent generations, especially writers and critics of color.”
The journalists covering Gaza
“In recent years the Pulitzer Board has issued citations honoring journalists covering wars in Ukraine and Afghanistan. This year, the Board recognizes the courageous work of journalists and media workers covering the war in Gaza. Under horrific conditions, an extraordinary number of journalists have died in the effort to tell the stories of Palestinians and others in Gaza. This war has also claimed the lives of poets and writers among the casualties. As the Pulitzer Prizes honor categories of journalism, arts, and letters, we mark the loss of invaluable records of the human experience.”
See the full list of winners here.
