Some fast facts about the Pulitzer Prizes: Created in the early 1900s, the Pulitzer Prizes were set up through Joseph Pulitzer’s will. He was an influential journalist, newspaper publisher, and eventually a New York congressman. The Pulitzer Prize Board makes important decisions, like recommending the winners. Columbia University continues to be home for the awards, per Pulitzer’s wishes. The Pulitzer Prize winners announcement is annual, every April.
The prize has gone through some changes over time, including the addition of award categories. Currently, there are 21 awards in the following fields: written arts, journalism, and music. Past author winners from recent years include Louise Erdrich, the late Les Payne and Tamara Payne, Richard Powers, and Jericho Brown.
Here, you will find information on eight books that Pulitzer Prize–winning female authors wrote. However, they are not the book that won them the award. Take this as a sign to dive into prize-winning authors’ backlists; there are a ton of great books to discover out there beyond the ones that win awards.
Want to learn more about the Pulitzer Prizes? Here are lists on the 2021 and 2020 winners, plus a piece on Pulitzer-winning critics.
This book is the first of Amgash trilogy. Amgash is a town in Illinois, in case you didn’t know.
Strout’s book Olive Kitteridge won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize in the Fiction category.
A Mercy takes place during the U.S.’s colonial times. Women are at the center of events in this story, although there are multiple characters, and some are men. Readers follow their journeys as they grapple with systems that control them all – white women, Native American women, and Black women.
Morrison’s book, Beloved, was awarded the 1988 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction.
This collection is a reflection on mortality in which the reader is able to experience one story from different angles. “Precision of language, tone, and form is everywhere here, and as ‘night’ calls up mortality, also vision and ultimately a radical instability at the dream-crux of nocturnal relationships…”, according to the National Book Foundation.
Her book The Wild Iris won the 1993 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry. Glùck was also named the 2020 Nobel Laureate; listen to Jeff and Rebecca reflect on her life, work, and the award here.
Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies won the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. It was her first published short story collection, with a total of nine short stories.
There was not much known about her, even though she’s a famous poet; the book presents her life story in a way that no other has; it’s unique because Marshall was a student of Bishop’s, so the biography includes memoir passages.
Marshall’s Margaret Fuller: A New American Life won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Biography.
She has also written under the name E. Annie Proulx.
Proulx’s The Shipping News won the 1994 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction.
Chatelain is currently a professor at Georgetown University. Her book Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for History. (The Golden Arches refers to McDonald’s).
The Round House won the 2012 National Book Award for Fiction.
Erdrich’s book The Night Watchman won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. And interestingly, her book The Plague of Doves was a 2009 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction.
