American award for distinguished biographies
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."[ 1] Award winners received $15,000 USD.[ 1]
From 1917 to 2022, this prize was known as the Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography and was awarded to a distinguished biography, autobiography or memoir[ 2] by an American author or co-authors, published during the preceding calendar year. Thus it is one of the original Pulitzers, for the program was inaugurated in 1917 with seven prizes, four of which were awarded that year.[ 3]
In its first 97 years to 2013, the Biography Pulitzer was awarded 97 times. Two were given in 1938, and none in 1962.[ 4]
Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography winners, 1917-1949[ 2] Year Author Title Ref. 1917 Laura E. Richards and Maud Howe Elliott , assisted by Florence Howe Hall Julia Ward Howe 1918 William Cabell Bruce Benjamin Franklin, Self-Revealed 1919 Henry Adams The Education of Henry Adams 1920 Albert J. Beveridge The Life of John Marshall , 4 vols. 1921 Edward Bok The Americanization of Edward Bok: The Autobiography of a Dutch Boy Fifty Years After 1922 Hamlin Garland A Daughter of the Middle Border 1923 Burton J. Hendrick The Life and Letters of Walter H. Page 1924 Michael I. Pupin From Immigrant to Inventor 1925 M. A. Dewolfe Howe Barrett Wendell and His Letters 1926 Harvey Cushing The Life of Sir William Osler , 2 vols. 1927 Emory Holloway Whitman 1928 Charles Edward Russell The American Orchestra and Theodore Thomas 1929 Burton J. Hendrick The Training of an American: The Earlier Life and Letters of Walter H. Page 1930 Marquis James The Raven: A Biography of Sam Houston 1931 Henry James Charles W. Eliot, President of Harvard University, 1869–1901 1932 Henry F. Pringle Theodore Roosevelt: A Biography 1933 Allan Nevins Grover Cleveland: A Study in Courage 1934 Tyler Dennett John Hay 1935 Douglas S. Freeman R. E. Lee 1936 Ralph Barton Perry The Thought and Character of William James 1937 Allan Nevins Hamilton Fish 1938 Marquis James Andrew Jackson , 2 vols. Odell Shepard Pedlar's Progress: The Life of Bronson Alcott 1939 Carl Van Doren Benjamin Franklin 1940 Ray Stannard Baker Woodrow Wilson, Life and Letters. Vols. VII and VIII 1941 Ola Elizabeth Winslow Jonathan Edwards, 1703–1758: a biography 1942 Forrest Wilson Crusader in Crinoline: The Life of Harriet Beecher Stowe 1943 Samuel Eliot Morison Admiral of the Ocean Sea 1944 Carleton Mabee The American Leonardo: The Life of Samuel F. B. Morse [ 5] 1945 Russel Blaine Nye George Bancroft: Brahmin Rebel 1946 Linnie Marsh Wolfe Son of the Wilderness: The Life of John Muir 1947 William Allen White The Autobiography of William Allen White 1948 Margaret Clapp Forgotten First Citizen: John Bigelow 1949 Robert E. Sherwood Roosevelt and Hopkins
Entries from this point on include the finalists listed after the winner for each year.
Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography winners and finalists, 2010-2019[ 2] Year Author(s) Title Result Ref. 2010 T.J. Stiles The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt Winner [ 34] Blake Bailey Cheever: A Life Finalist John Milton Cooper, Jr. Woodrow Wilson: A Biography Finalist 2011 Ron Chernow Washington: A Life Winner [ 35] [ 36] Alan Brinkley The Publisher: Henry Luce and His American Century Finalist Michael O'Brien Mrs. Adams in Winter: A Journey in the Last Days of Napoleon Finalist 2012 John Lewis Gaddis George F. Kennan: An American Life Winner [ 37] [ 38] Mary Gabriel Love and Capital: Karl and Jenny Marx and the Birth of a Revolution Finalist [ 38] Manning Marable Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention Finalist [ 38] 2013 Tom Reiss The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo Winner [ 39] Michael Gorra Portrait of a Novel: Henry James and the Making of an American Masterpiece Finalist [ 39] David Nasaw The Patriarch: The Remarkable Life and Turbulent Times of Joseph P. Kennedy Finalist [ 39] 2014 Megan Marshall Margaret Fuller: A New American Life Winner [ 40] [ 41] Leo Damrosch Jonathan Swift: His Life and His World Finalist Jonathan Sperber Karl Marx: A Nineteenth-Century Life Finalist 2015 David I. Kertzer The Pope and Mussolini: The Secret History of Pius XI and the Rise of Fascism in Europe Winner [ 42] [ 43] Thomas Brothers Louis Armstrong: Master of Modernism Finalist Stephen Kotkin Stalin: Paradoxes of Power, 1878–1928 Finalist 2016 William Finnegan Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life Winner [ 44] [ 45] Elizabeth Alexander The Light of the World: A Memoir Finalist T.J. Stiles Custer's Trials: A Life on the Frontier of a New America Finalist 2017 Hisham Matar The Return: Fathers, Sons and the Land in Between Winner [ 46] [ 47] Susan Faludi In the Darkroom Finalist Paul Kalanithi When Breath Becomes Air Finalist 2018 Caroline Fraser Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder Winner [ 48] [ 49] John A. Farrell Richard Nixon: The Life Finalist [ 48] Kay Redfield Jamison Robert Lowell, Setting the River on Fire: A Study of Genius, Mania, and Character Finalist [ 48] 2019 Jeffrey C. Stewart The New Negro: The Life of Alain Locke Winner [ 50] [ 51] Max Boot The Road Not Taken: Edward Lansdale and the American Tragedy in Vietnam Finalist [ 50] Caroline Weber Proust's Duchess: How Three Celebrated Women Captured the Imagination of Fin-de-Siècle Paris Finalist [ 50]
Ten people have won the Pulitzer for Biography or Autobiography twice:
Burton J. Hendrick , 1923, 1929 Allan Nevins , 1933, 1937 Marquis James , 1930, 1938 Douglas S. Freeman , 1935, 1958 Samuel Eliot Morison , 1943, 1960 Walter Jackson Bate , 1964, 1978 David Herbert Donald , 1961, 1988 David Levering Lewis , 1994, 2001 David McCullough , 1993, 2002 Robert Caro , 1975, 2003 W. A. Swanberg was selected by the Pulitzer board in 1962 and 1973; however, the trustees of Columbia University (then responsible for conferral of the awards) overturned the proposed 1962 prize for Citizen Hearst .[ 7]
^ a b "Biography" . Pulitzer Prize . Archived from the original on June 28, 2019. Retrieved May 10, 2023 . ^ a b c d e f g h "Biography: Prize Winners by Category" . Pulitzer Prize . Archived from the original on June 28, 2019. Retrieved May 31, 2019 . ^ "1917" . Pulitzer Prize . Archived from the original on December 24, 2015. Retrieved May 10, 2023 . ^ "Biography or Autobiography" . The Pulitzer Prizes (pulitzer.org). Archived from the original on May 25, 2015. Retrieved October 1, 2008 . ^ "Obituary Note: Carleton Mabee" . Shelf Awareness . January 13, 2015. Archived from the original on February 6, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023 . ^ "Rediscover: Profiles in Courage" . Shelf Awareness . June 2, 2017. Archived from the original on January 27, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023 . ^ a b In 1962 the Pulitzer board awarded the prize to W.A. Swanberg for Citizen Hearst . The trustees of Columbia University , who administer the prize, overturned the award, refusing to honor a book that took a critical look at William Randolph Hearst . McDowell, Edwin (May 11, 1984). "Publishing: Pulitzer Controversies" . The New York Times . Archived from the original on April 23, 2009. Retrieved January 12, 2020 . ^ "Notes: Schlesinger Dies; New Bookstore Collective" . Shelf Awareness . March 1, 2007. Archived from the original on August 20, 2016. Retrieved May 10, 2023 . ^ "Obituary Notes: Justin Kaplan; Sherwin B. Nuland" . Shelf Awareness . March 5, 2014. Archived from the original on February 7, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023 . ^ "Share the Wealth of All the King's Men" . Shelf Awareness . September 15, 2006. Archived from the original on July 5, 2022. Retrieved May 10, 2023 . ^ "Rediscover: The Power Broker" . Shelf Awareness . August 8, 2017. Archived from the original on February 6, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023 . ^ "Rediscover: Robert K. Massie" . Shelf Awareness . December 10, 2019. Archived from the original on February 7, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023 . ^ "Obituary Note: Robert K. Massie" . Shelf Awareness . December 4, 2019. Archived from the original on September 28, 2022. Retrieved May 10, 2023 . ^ "Obituary Note: William McFeely" . Shelf Awareness . December 20, 2019. Archived from the original on May 22, 2022. Retrieved May 10, 2023 . ^ "Obituary Note: Russell Baker" . Shelf Awareness . January 24, 2019. Archived from the original on April 30, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023 . ^ "Obituary Note: Kenneth Silverman" . Shelf Awareness . July 12, 2017. Archived from the original on October 17, 2022. Retrieved May 10, 2023 . ^ "Obituary Note: Michael Mott" . Shelf Awareness . October 18, 2019. Archived from the original on January 30, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023 . ^ Houston (January 13, 2012). "Awards: BIO Winner" . Shelf Awareness . Archived from the original on May 18, 2022. Retrieved May 10, 2023 . ^ "Obituary Note: Gregory White Smith" . Shelf Awareness . April 16, 2014. Archived from the original on April 18, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023 . ^ a b "Rediscover: David McCullough" . Shelf Awareness . August 12, 2022. Retrieved May 10, 2023 . ^ "Awards: BIO Winner; PROSE Categories" . Shelf Awareness . February 1, 2021. Archived from the original on December 3, 2022. Retrieved May 10, 2023 . ^ a b "Awards: BIO Winner; Story Prize Finalists; NBCC Finalists" . Shelf Awareness . January 13, 2014. Archived from the original on March 20, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023 . ^ "Obituary Note: Maynard Solomon" . Shelf Awareness . October 16, 2020. Archived from the original on April 20, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023 . ^ "Rediscover: Personal History" . Shelf Awareness . January 19, 2018. Archived from the original on August 8, 2020. Retrieved May 10, 2023 . ^ "PW: Roth, Kakutani Awarded Pulitzers" . Publishers Weekly . April 20, 1998. Retrieved May 10, 2023 . ^ "Rediscover: Lindbergh" . Shelf Awareness . September 25, 2018. Archived from the original on January 27, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023 . ^ Zeitchik, Steven M. (April 19, 1999). "FSG Leads Pulitzer Winners" . Publishers Weekly . Archived from the original on January 27, 2022. Retrieved May 10, 2023 . ^ "Chabon, Ellis Win Pulitzers" . Publishers Weekly . April 23, 2001. Retrieved May 10, 2023 . ^ "Obituary Note: Jean Edward Smith" . Shelf Awareness . September 26, 2019. Archived from the original on December 24, 2022. Retrieved May 10, 2023 . ^ "Awards: BIO Winner" . Shelf Awareness . February 15, 2022. Archived from the original on February 7, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023 . ^ "Obituary Notes: Arthur H. Cash; Michel Déon" . Shelf Awareness . January 11, 2017. Archived from the original on May 18, 2022. Retrieved May 10, 2023 . ^ "Awards: The Pulitzers; Orange Prize Shortlist" . Shelf Awareness . April 21, 2009. Archived from the original on October 2, 2017. Retrieved May 10, 2023 . ^ "The 2009 Pulitzer Prizes for Letters and Drama" . Publishers Weekly . April 20, 2009. Retrieved May 10, 2023 . ^ "Awards: The Pulitzers" . Shelf Awareness . April 13, 2010. Archived from the original on August 20, 2016. Retrieved May 10, 2023 . ^ "Rediscover: Alexander Hamilton" . Shelf Awareness . June 3, 2016. Archived from the original on February 7, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023 . ^ "Awards: Pulitzer, Lukas Winners" . Shelf Awareness . April 19, 2011. Archived from the original on February 6, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023 . ^ "Awards: Pulitzer Winners; Orange Prize Shortlist" . Shelf Awareness . April 17, 2012. Archived from the original on October 28, 2022. Retrieved May 10, 2023 . ^ a b c Habash, Gabe (April 16, 2012). "2012 Pulitzer Prize: No Fiction Award, Jurors 'Shocked' " . Publishers Weekly . Archived from the original on January 19, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023 . ^ a b c Habash, Gabe (April 15, 2013). "2013 Pulitzer Prize: 'Orphan Master' Brings Fiction Prize Back" . Publishers Weekly . Archived from the original on January 26, 2021. Retrieved May 10, 2023 . ^ "Awards: Pulitzer Winners; Thwaites Wainwright Nature & Travel Writing" . Shelf Awareness . April 15, 2014. Archived from the original on March 10, 2022. Retrieved May 10, 2023 . ^ "Tartt, Fagin Take 2014 Pulitzers" . Publishers Weekly . April 14, 2014. Archived from the original on November 10, 2014. Retrieved May 10, 2023 . ^ "Media Heat: Pulitzer-Winner David I. Kertzer on Fresh Air" . Shelf Awareness . April 24, 2015. Archived from the original on July 19, 2022. Retrieved May 10, 2023 . ^ "Doerr, Kolbert Among 2015 Pulitzer Prize Winners" . Shelf Awareness . April 21, 2015. Archived from the original on January 28, 2022. Retrieved May 10, 2023 . ^ "Debut Novel Among 2016 Pulitzer Prize Winners" . Shelf Awareness . April 19, 2016. Archived from the original on March 2, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023 . ^ "Awards: William Hill Sports Book" . Shelf Awareness . November 29, 2016. Archived from the original on March 12, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023 . ^ "The Underground Railroad Among Pulitzer Winners" . Shelf Awareness . April 11, 2017. Archived from the original on January 19, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023 . ^ Maher, John (April 10, 2017). "Whitehead, Thompson Among 2017 Pulitzer Prize Winners" . Publishers Weekly . Archived from the original on August 8, 2022. Retrieved May 10, 2023 . ^ a b c "2018 Pulitzer Prize Winners" . Pulitzer Prize . Archived from the original on September 11, 2019. Retrieved April 16, 2019 . ^ "Andrew Sean Greer, James Forman Jr. Among Pulitzer Winners" . Shelf Awareness . April 17, 2018. Archived from the original on July 1, 2022. Retrieved May 10, 2023 . ^ a b c "2019 Pulitzer Prize Winners" . Pulitzer Prize . Archived from the original on July 26, 2019. Retrieved April 16, 2019 . ^ "Richard Powers, David W. Blight Among Pulitzer Winners" . Shelf Awareness . April 16, 2019. Archived from the original on January 26, 2022. Retrieved May 10, 2023 . ^ a b c "2020 Pulitzer Prize Winners" . Pulitzer Prize . Archived from the original on July 30, 2020. Retrieved May 5, 2020 . ^ "The Nickel Boys Among Pulitzer Winners" . Shelf Awareness . May 5, 2020. Archived from the original on January 30, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023 . ^ Maher, John (May 4, 2020). "Moser, Whitehead, McDaniel, Grandin, Boyer, Brown Win 2020 Pulitzers" . Publishers Weekly . Archived from the original on November 30, 2021. Retrieved May 10, 2023 . ^ a b c "2021 Pulitzer Prize Winners" . Pulitzer Prize . Archived from the original on July 11, 2022. Retrieved June 11, 2021 . ^ "2021 Pulitzer Prize Winners" . Shelf Awareness . June 14, 2021. Archived from the original on January 23, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023 . ^ "Pulitzer Prize: 2021 Winners List" . The New York Times . June 11, 2021. ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved May 11, 2023 . ^ a b c "2022 Pulitzer Prize Winners" . Pulitzer Prize . Archived from the original on August 2, 2022. Retrieved May 12, 2022 . ^ Maher, John (May 9, 2022). " 'The Netanyahus,' 'frank: sonnets' Among 2022 Pulitzer Prize Winners" . Publishers Weekly . Archived from the original on November 29, 2022. Retrieved May 10, 2023 . ^ "2022 Pulitzer Prize Winners" . Shelf Awareness . May 10, 2022. Archived from the original on July 5, 2022. Retrieved May 10, 2023 . ^ a b c Stewart, Sophia (May 8, 2023). " 'Demon Copperhead,' 'Trust,' 'His Name Is George Floyd' Among 2023 Pulitzer Prize Winners" . Publishers Weekly . Retrieved May 10, 2023 . ^ "2023 Pulitzer Prize Winners Include Kingsolver's Demon Copperhead, Diaz's Trust" . Shelf Awareness . May 9, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023 . ^ a b c op de Beeck, Nathalie (May 6, 2024). " 'Night Watch,' 'A Day in the Life of Abed Salama,' 'King' Among 2024 Pulitzer Prize Winners" . Publishers Weekly . 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Pulitzers by Year Categories
Journalism Letters, Drama, & Music
1917–1925
1926–1950
1951–1975
1976–2000
2001–2025