Pulitzer Prize Winning Books by Black Writers (includes Finalists)
Since 1917 the Pulitzer Prize has honored excellence in journalism and the arts. The first award was presented in 1918. The Prize recognizes American authors in six “Letters and Drama” categories; Biography/Autobiography, Fiction, General Non-Fiction, History, Poetry, and Drama (technically not a book award, but plays are all available as books and have been included here).
The first African-American writer to win a Pulitzer Prize in any of the above categories was Gwendolyn Brooks who received the award for poetry for her collection Annie Allen in 1950.
3 Books were Finalists or Winners of Pulitzer Prizes in 2015
Winner - Poetry
Digest (Stahlecker Selections)
by Gregory Pardlo
Publication Date: Oct 07, 2014
List Price: $15.95
Format: Paperback, 84 pages
Classification: Poetry
ISBN13: 9781935536505
Imprint: Four Way Books
Publisher: Four Way Books
Parent Company: Four Way Books
From Epicurus to Sam Cooke, the Daily News to Roots, Digest draws from the present and the past to form an intellectual, American identity. In poems that forge their own styles and strategies, we experience dialogues between the written word and other art forms. Within this dialogue we hear Ben Jonson, we meet police K-9s, and we find children negotiating a sense of the world through a father’s eyes and through their own.
Winner - Drama
Father Comes Home From the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3)
by Suzan-Lori Parks
Publication Date: Jun 23, 2015
List Price: $14.95
Format: Paperback, 192 pages
Classification: Fiction
ISBN13: 9781559365000
Imprint: Theatre Communications Group
Publisher: Theatre Communications Group
Parent Company: Theatre Communications Group
Finalist - Fiction
The Moor’s Account
by Laila Lalami
- Selected for 1 Book Club’s Reading List
- Hurston/Wright Honored Book (2015)
- 2015 American Book Award
- A New York Times Notable Book for 2014
Publication Date: Aug 18, 2015
List Price: $15.95
Format: Paperback, 336 pages
Classification: Nonfiction
ISBN13: 9780804170628
Imprint: Vintage Books
Publisher: Penguin Random House
Parent Company: Bertelsmann
**PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST**
**NOMINATED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE**
**WINNER OF THE AMERICAN BOOK AWARD**
A New York Times Notable Book
A Wall Street Journal Top 10 Book of the Year
An NPR Great Read of 2014
A Kirkus Best Fiction Book of the Year
In these pages, Laila Lalami brings us the imagined memoirs of the first black explorer of America: Mustafa al-Zamori, called Estebanico. The slave of a Spanish conquistador, Estebanico sails for the Americas with his master, Dorantes, as part of a danger-laden expedition to Florida. Within a year, Estebanico is one of only four crew members to survive.
As he journeys across America with his Spanish companions, the Old World roles of slave and master fall away, and Estebanico remakes himself as an equal, a healer, and a remarkable storyteller. His tale illuminates the ways in which our narratives can transmigrate into history—and how storytelling can offer a chance at redemption and survival.