Most literary awards follow a certain protocol: An established group of judges announces the longlist of books being considered for that year’s award. The longlist is whittled down into a shortlist, generally a list of 5 final contenders. Finally, the winner is announced, and much rejoicing is had.
The Pulitzers work differently: A group of judges select three contenders for the award and present them to the Pulitzer board. The board votes and determines a winner. Yet the process is done entirely in secret: Runner-ups don’t even find out they’ve been considered until their names are announced alongside the winners. There’s no anticipation of being a nominated writer waiting to see if you’ll take home the top prize; everyone finds out the news at once.
The 2019 Pulitzer Prize results were announced yesterday: Richard Powers’ The Overstory took home the crown. While we add Powers’ book to our TBR pile, we thought we’d look back at the novels who netted the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction over the last 10 years. How many have you read?
2009: Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
Ten years after its Pulitzer win, Olive Kitteridge is still going strong – in fact, a sequel to Strout’s beloved tale of a retired schoolteacher in small-town Maine is set to be published in mid-October. A miniseries adaptation, produced by HBO in 2014 and starring Frances McDormand, and Bill Murray won a slew of Emmy awards, including wins for writing, directing, and performances by McDormand and Murray. “Olive Kitteridge still lingers in memory like a treasured photograph,”writes the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
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