2018
Less by Andrew Sean Greer
A generous book, musical in its prose and expansive in its structure and range, about growing older and the essential nature of love. |
2017
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
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. |
2016
The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen
A layered immigrant tale told in the wry, confessional voice of a "man of two minds" -- and two countries, Vietnam and the United States. |
2015
All the Light We Cannot See Anthony Doerr
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. |
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, it was one of the original Pulitzers; the program was inaugurated in 1917 with seven prizes, four of which were awarded that year.
🥇 T H E W i n n e r
(2018)
Less
Andrew Sean Greer
(2017)
The Underground Railroad
Colson Whitehead
(2016)
The Sympathizer
Viet Thanh Nguyen
ALA Notable Books (2016), Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence (2016), Edgar Allan Poe Awards (2016), Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize (2015), L.A. Times Book Prize (2015), Literary Award (2016)
(2015)
All the Light We Cannot See
Anthony Doerr
ALA Notable Books (2015), Alex Awards (2015), Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence (2015), Colorado Blue Spruce Award (2016), Dayton Literary Peace Prize (2015), Idaho Library Association Book Award (2014), Indies Choice Book Awards (2015), National Book Awards (2014), Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award (2015), Pulitzer Prize (2015)
(2014)
The Goldfinch
Donna Tartt
ALA Notable Books (2014), Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence (2014), Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction (2014), National Book Critics Circle Award (2013), Pulitzer Prize (2014)
(2013)
The Orphan Master's Son
Adam Johnson
(2012)
No award given
(2011)
A Visit From the Goon Squad
Jennifer Egan
ALA Notable Books (2011), Indies Choice Book Awards (2011), International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award (2012), L.A. Times Book Prize (2010), National Book Critics Circle Award (2010), PEN/Faulkner Award (2011)
(2010)
Tinkers
Paul Harding
Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize (2009), Indies Choice Book Awards (2010), L.A. Times Book Prize (2009), Literary Award (2010), PEN Literary Award (2010), Pulitzer Prize (2010)
(2009)
Olive Kitteridge
Elizabeth Strout
ALA Notable Books (2009), National Book Critics Circle Award (2008), Pulitzer Prize (2009)
(2008)
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
Junot Díaz
Dayton Literary Peace Prize (2008), Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize (2007), Hurston/Wright LEGACY Award (2008), L.A. Times Book Prize (2007), Massachusetts Book Award (MassBook) (2008), National Book Critics Circle Award (2007), Pulitzer Prize (2008)
(2007)
The Road
Cormac McCarthy
ALA Notable Books (2007), Book Sense Book of the Year Award (2007), National Book Critics Circle Award (2006), Pulitzer Prize (2007), Quill Awards (2007)
(2006)
March
Geraldine Brooks
(2005)
Gilead
Marilynne Robinson
ALA Notable Books (2006), Ambassador Book Awards (2005), Book Sense Book of the Year Award (2005), Christianity Today Book Award (2005), L.A. Times Book Prize (2004), Midwest Booksellers' Choice Award (2005), National Book Critics Circle Award (2004), PEN/Faulkner Award (2005), Pulitzer Prize (2005), Society of Midland Authors Award (2005)
(2004)
The Known World
Edward P. Jones
ALA Notable Books (2004), Black Caucus of the American Library Association Literary_award (2004), Georgia Peach Book Award for Teen Readers (2004), International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award (2005), National Book Awards (2003), National Book Critics Circle Award (2003), Pulitzer Prize (2004)
(2003)
Middlesex
Jeffrey Eugenides
Ambassador Book Awards (2003), International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award (2004), Lambda Literary Awards (2002), National Book Critics Circle Award (2002), Pulitzer Prize (2003), Stonewall Book Award (2003)
(2002)
Empire Falls
Richard Russo
(2001)
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
Michael Chabon
ALA Notable Books (2001), L.A. Times Book Prize (2000), National Book Critics Circle Award (2000), PEN/Faulkner Award (2001), Pulitzer Prize (2001), Spectrum Awards (2001)
(2000)
Interpreter of Maladies
Jhumpa Lahiri
(1999)
The Hours
Michael Cunningham
(1998)
American Pastoral
Philip Roth
(1997)
Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer
Steven Millhauser
(1996)
Independence Day
Richard Ford
(1995)
The Stone Diaries
Carol Shields
(1994)
The Shipping News
E. Annie Proulx
(1993)
A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain
Robert Olen Butler
(1992)
A Thousand Acres
Jane Smiley
(1991)
Rabbit at Rest
John Updike
(1990)
The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love
Oscar Hijuelos
(1989)
Breathing Lessons
Anne Tyler
(1988)
Beloved
Toni Morrison
(1987)
A Summons to Memphis
Peter Taylor
(1986)
Lonesome Dove
Larry McMurtry
(1985)
Foreign Affairs
Alison Lurie
(1984)
Ironweed
William Kennedy
(1983)
The Color Purple
Alice Walker
(1982)
Rabbit Is Rich
John Updike
(1981)
A Confederacy of Dunces
John Kennedy Toole (posthumous win)
(1980)
The Executioner's Song
Norman Mailer
(1979)
The Stories of John Cheever
John Cheever
(1978)
Elbow Room
James Alan McPherson
(1977)
No award given
(1976)
Humboldt's Gift
Saul Bellow
(1975)
The Killer Angels
Michael Shaara
(1974)
No award given
(1973)
The Optimist's Daughter
Eudora Welty
(1972)
Angle of Repose
Wallace Stegner
(1971)
No award given
(1970)
The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford
Jean Stafford
(1969)
House Made of Dawn
N. Scott Momaday
(1968)
The Confessions of Nat Turner
William Styron
(1967)
The Fixer
Bernard Malamud
(1966)
The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter
Katherine Anne Porter
(1965)
The Keepers of the House
Shirley Ann Grau
(1964)
No award given
(1963)
The Reivers
William Faulkner (posthumous win)
(1962)
The Edge of Sadness
Edwin O'Connor
(1961)
To Kill a Mockingbird
Harper Lee
(1960)
Advise and Consent
Allen Drury
(1959)
The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters
Robert Lewis Taylor
(1958)
A Death in the Family
James Agee (posthumous win)
(1957)
No award given
(1956)
Andersonville
MacKinlay Kantor
(1955)
A Fable
William Faulkner
(1954)
No award given
(1953)
The Old Man and the Sea
Ernest Hemingway
(1952)
The Caine Mutiny
Herman Wouk
(1951)
The Town
Conrad Richter
(1950)
The Way West
A. B. Guthrie, Jr.
(1949)
Guard of Honor
James Gould Cozzens
(1948)
Tales of the South Pacific
James A. Michener
(1947)
All the King's Men
Robert Penn Warren
(1946)
No award given
(1945)
A Bell for Adano
John Hersey
(1944)
Journey in the Dark
Martin Flavin
(1943)
Dragon's Teeth
Upton Sinclair
(1942)
In This Our Life
Ellen Glasgow
(1941)
No award given
(1940)
The Grapes of Wrath
John Steinbeck
(1939)
The Yearling
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
(1938)
The Late George Apley
John Phillips Marquand
(1937)
Gone with the Wind
Margaret Mitchell
(1936)
Honey in the Horn
Harold L. Davis
(1935)
Now in November
Josephine Winslow Johnson
(1934)
Lamb in His Bosom
Caroline Miller
(1933)
The Store
Thomas Sigismund Stribling
(1932)
The Good Earth
Pearl S. Buck
(1931)
Years of Grace
Margaret Ayer Barnes
(1930)
Laughing Boy
Oliver La Farge
(1929)
Scarlet Sister Mary
Julia Peterkin
(1928)
The Bridge of San Luis Rey
Thornton Wilder
(1927)
Early Autumn
Louis Bromfield
Less
Andrew Sean Greer
(2017)
The Underground Railroad
Colson Whitehead
(2016)
The Sympathizer
Viet Thanh Nguyen
ALA Notable Books (2016), Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence (2016), Edgar Allan Poe Awards (2016), Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize (2015), L.A. Times Book Prize (2015), Literary Award (2016)
(2015)
All the Light We Cannot See
Anthony Doerr
ALA Notable Books (2015), Alex Awards (2015), Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence (2015), Colorado Blue Spruce Award (2016), Dayton Literary Peace Prize (2015), Idaho Library Association Book Award (2014), Indies Choice Book Awards (2015), National Book Awards (2014), Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award (2015), Pulitzer Prize (2015)
(2014)
The Goldfinch
Donna Tartt
ALA Notable Books (2014), Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence (2014), Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction (2014), National Book Critics Circle Award (2013), Pulitzer Prize (2014)
(2013)
The Orphan Master's Son
Adam Johnson
(2012)
No award given
(2011)
A Visit From the Goon Squad
Jennifer Egan
ALA Notable Books (2011), Indies Choice Book Awards (2011), International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award (2012), L.A. Times Book Prize (2010), National Book Critics Circle Award (2010), PEN/Faulkner Award (2011)
(2010)
Tinkers
Paul Harding
Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize (2009), Indies Choice Book Awards (2010), L.A. Times Book Prize (2009), Literary Award (2010), PEN Literary Award (2010), Pulitzer Prize (2010)
(2009)
Olive Kitteridge
Elizabeth Strout
ALA Notable Books (2009), National Book Critics Circle Award (2008), Pulitzer Prize (2009)
(2008)
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
Junot Díaz
Dayton Literary Peace Prize (2008), Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize (2007), Hurston/Wright LEGACY Award (2008), L.A. Times Book Prize (2007), Massachusetts Book Award (MassBook) (2008), National Book Critics Circle Award (2007), Pulitzer Prize (2008)
(2007)
The Road
Cormac McCarthy
ALA Notable Books (2007), Book Sense Book of the Year Award (2007), National Book Critics Circle Award (2006), Pulitzer Prize (2007), Quill Awards (2007)
(2006)
March
Geraldine Brooks
(2005)
Gilead
Marilynne Robinson
ALA Notable Books (2006), Ambassador Book Awards (2005), Book Sense Book of the Year Award (2005), Christianity Today Book Award (2005), L.A. Times Book Prize (2004), Midwest Booksellers' Choice Award (2005), National Book Critics Circle Award (2004), PEN/Faulkner Award (2005), Pulitzer Prize (2005), Society of Midland Authors Award (2005)
(2004)
The Known World
Edward P. Jones
ALA Notable Books (2004), Black Caucus of the American Library Association Literary_award (2004), Georgia Peach Book Award for Teen Readers (2004), International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award (2005), National Book Awards (2003), National Book Critics Circle Award (2003), Pulitzer Prize (2004)
(2003)
Middlesex
Jeffrey Eugenides
Ambassador Book Awards (2003), International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award (2004), Lambda Literary Awards (2002), National Book Critics Circle Award (2002), Pulitzer Prize (2003), Stonewall Book Award (2003)
(2002)
Empire Falls
Richard Russo
(2001)
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
Michael Chabon
ALA Notable Books (2001), L.A. Times Book Prize (2000), National Book Critics Circle Award (2000), PEN/Faulkner Award (2001), Pulitzer Prize (2001), Spectrum Awards (2001)
(2000)
Interpreter of Maladies
Jhumpa Lahiri
(1999)
The Hours
Michael Cunningham
(1998)
American Pastoral
Philip Roth
(1997)
Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer
Steven Millhauser
(1996)
Independence Day
Richard Ford
(1995)
The Stone Diaries
Carol Shields
(1994)
The Shipping News
E. Annie Proulx
(1993)
A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain
Robert Olen Butler
(1992)
A Thousand Acres
Jane Smiley
(1991)
Rabbit at Rest
John Updike
(1990)
The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love
Oscar Hijuelos
(1989)
Breathing Lessons
Anne Tyler
(1988)
Beloved
Toni Morrison
(1987)
A Summons to Memphis
Peter Taylor
(1986)
Lonesome Dove
Larry McMurtry
(1985)
Foreign Affairs
Alison Lurie
(1984)
Ironweed
William Kennedy
(1983)
The Color Purple
Alice Walker
(1982)
Rabbit Is Rich
John Updike
(1981)
A Confederacy of Dunces
John Kennedy Toole (posthumous win)
(1980)
The Executioner's Song
Norman Mailer
(1979)
The Stories of John Cheever
John Cheever
(1978)
Elbow Room
James Alan McPherson
(1977)
No award given
(1976)
Humboldt's Gift
Saul Bellow
(1975)
The Killer Angels
Michael Shaara
(1974)
No award given
(1973)
The Optimist's Daughter
Eudora Welty
(1972)
Angle of Repose
Wallace Stegner
(1971)
No award given
(1970)
The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford
Jean Stafford
(1969)
House Made of Dawn
N. Scott Momaday
(1968)
The Confessions of Nat Turner
William Styron
(1967)
The Fixer
Bernard Malamud
(1966)
The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter
Katherine Anne Porter
(1965)
The Keepers of the House
Shirley Ann Grau
(1964)
No award given
(1963)
The Reivers
William Faulkner (posthumous win)
(1962)
The Edge of Sadness
Edwin O'Connor
(1961)
To Kill a Mockingbird
Harper Lee
(1960)
Advise and Consent
Allen Drury
(1959)
The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters
Robert Lewis Taylor
(1958)
A Death in the Family
James Agee (posthumous win)
(1957)
No award given
(1956)
Andersonville
MacKinlay Kantor
(1955)
A Fable
William Faulkner
(1954)
No award given
(1953)
The Old Man and the Sea
Ernest Hemingway
(1952)
The Caine Mutiny
Herman Wouk
(1951)
The Town
Conrad Richter
(1950)
The Way West
A. B. Guthrie, Jr.
(1949)
Guard of Honor
James Gould Cozzens
(1948)
Tales of the South Pacific
James A. Michener
(1947)
All the King's Men
Robert Penn Warren
(1946)
No award given
(1945)
A Bell for Adano
John Hersey
(1944)
Journey in the Dark
Martin Flavin
(1943)
Dragon's Teeth
Upton Sinclair
(1942)
In This Our Life
Ellen Glasgow
(1941)
No award given
(1940)
The Grapes of Wrath
John Steinbeck
(1939)
The Yearling
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
(1938)
The Late George Apley
John Phillips Marquand
(1937)
Gone with the Wind
Margaret Mitchell
(1936)
Honey in the Horn
Harold L. Davis
(1935)
Now in November
Josephine Winslow Johnson
(1934)
Lamb in His Bosom
Caroline Miller
(1933)
The Store
Thomas Sigismund Stribling
(1932)
The Good Earth
Pearl S. Buck
(1931)
Years of Grace
Margaret Ayer Barnes
(1930)
Laughing Boy
Oliver La Farge
(1929)
Scarlet Sister Mary
Julia Peterkin
(1928)
The Bridge of San Luis Rey
Thornton Wilder
(1927)
Early Autumn
Louis Bromfield
