The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. 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. (No Novel prize was awarded in 1917; the first was awarded in 1918.)
Finalists have been announced since 1980, usually a total of three.
| Year | Author | Work | Publisher | Genre(s) | Author's origin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1918 | Ernest Poole (1880-1950) | His Family | Macmillan (1917) | Novel | Illinois |
| 1919 | Booth Tarkington (1869-1949) | The Magnificent Ambersons | Doubleday, Page & Co. (1918) | Novel | Indiana |
| 1920 | NOT AWARDED | ||||
| 1921 | Edith Wharton (1862-1937) | The Age of Innocence | D. Appleton & Company (1920) | Novel | New York |
| 1922 | Booth Tarkington (1869-1949) | Alice Adams | Doubleday, Page & Co. (1921) | Novel | Indiana |
| 1923 | Willa Cather (1873-1947) | One of Ours | Alfred A. Knopf (1922) | Novel | Virginia |
| 1924 | Margaret Wilson (1882-1973) | The Able McLaughlins | Harper & Brothers (1923) | Debut novel | Iowa |
| 1925 | Edna Ferber (1885-1968) | So Big | Grosset & Dunlap (1924) | Novel | Michigan |
| 1926 | Sinclair Lewis (1885-1951) | Arrowsmith | Harcourt Brace & Co. (1925) | Novel | Minnesota |
| 1927 | Louis Bromfield (1896-1956) | Early Autumn | Amereon Ltd (1926) | Novel | Ohio |
| 1928 | Thornton Wilder | The Bridge of San Luis Rey | Albert & Charles Boni (1927) | Novel | Wisconsin |
| 1929 | Julia Peterkin | Scarlet Sister Mary | Bobbs-Merrill Company (1928) | Novel | South Carolina |
| 1930 | Oliver La Farge | Laughing Boy | Houghton Mifflin (1929) | Novel | New York |
| 1931 | Margaret Ayer Barnes | Years of Grace | Houghton Mifflin (1930) | Novel | Illinois |
| 1932 | Pearl S. Buck | The Good Earth | John Day Company (1931) | Historical fiction | West Virginia |
| 1933 | T. S. Stribling | The Store | Doubleday, Doran (1932) | Novel | Tennessee |
| 1934 | Caroline Miller | Lamb in His Bosom | Harper & Brothers (1933) | Debut novel | Georgia |
| 1935 | Josephine Winslow Johnson | Now in November | Simon & Schuster (1934) | Debut novel | Missouri |
| 1936 | Harold L. Davis | Honey in the Horn | Harper & Brothers (1935) | Debut novel | Oregon |
| 1937 | Margaret Mitchell | Gone with the Wind | Macmillan Publishers (1936) | Novel | Georgia |
| 1938 | John Philips Marquand (1893-1960) | The Late George Apley | Little, Brown and Company (1937) | Epistolary novel | Delaware |
| 1939 | Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (1896-1953) | The Yearling | Charles Scribner's Sons (1938) | Young adult novel | Washington, D.C. |
| 1940 | John Steinbeck (1902-1968) | The Grapes of Wrath | Viking Press (1939) | Novel | California |
| 1941 | NOT AWARDED | ||||
| 1942 | Ellen Glasgow (1873-1945) | In This Our Life | Jonathan Cape (1941) | Novel | Virginia |
| 1943 | Upton Sinclair (1878-1968) | Dragon's Teeth | Viking Press (1942) | Historical fiction | Maryland |
| 1944 | Martin Flavin (1883-1967) | Journey in the Dark | Harper & Brothers (1943) | Novel | California |
| 1945 | John Hersey (1914-1993) | A Bell for Adano | Alfred A. Knopf (1944) | War novel | New York (born in Tianjin, China) |
| 1946 | NOT AWARDED | ||||
| 1947 | Robert Penn Warren (1905-1989) | All the King's Men | Harcourt, Brace & Company (1946) | Political fiction | Kentucky |
| 1948 | James A. Michener | Tales of the South Pacific | Macmillan Publishers (1947) | Interrelated short stories, | Pennsylvania |
| 1949 | James Gould Cozzens | Guard of Honor | Harcourt, Brace & Company (1948) | War novel | Illinois |
| 1950 | A. B. Guthrie | The Way West | William Sloane Associates (1949) | Western fiction | Indiana |
| 1951 | Conrad Richter | The Town | Alfred A. Knopf (1950) | Novel | Pennsylvania |
| 1952 | Herman Wouk | The Caine Mutiny | Doubleday (1951) | Historical fiction | New York |
| 1953 | Ernest Hemingway | The Old Man and the Sea | Charles Scribner's Sons (1952) | Short novel | Illinois |
| 1954 | NOT AWARDED | ||||
| 1955 | William Faulkner | A Fable | Random House (1954) | Novel | Mississippi |
| 1956 | MacKinlay Kantor | Andersonville | Penguin Books (1955) | Historical fiction | Iowa |
| 1957 | NOT AWARDED | ||||
| 1958 | James Agee (1909-1955) | A Death in the Family | McDowell, Obolensky (1957) | Autobiographical novel | Tennessee |
| 1959 | Robert Lewis Taylor (1912-1998) | The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters | Doubleday (1958) | Historical fiction | Illinois |
| 1960 | Allen Drury (1918-1998) | Advise and Consent | Doubleday (1959) | Political fiction, | Texas |
| 1961 | Harper Lee (1926-2016) | To Kill a Mockingbird | J. B. Lippincott & Co. (1960) | Southern Gothic, Debut novel | Alabama |
| 1962 | Edwin O'Connor (1918-1968) | The Edge of Sadness | Little, Brown and Company (1961) | Novel | Rhode Island |
| 1963 | William Faulkner (1897-1962) | The Reivers (posthumous win) | Random House (1962) | Novel | Mississippi |
| 1964 | NOT AWARDED | ||||
| 1965 | Shirley Ann Grau (1929-2020) | The Keepers of the House | Alfred A. Knopf (1964) | Novel | Louisiana |
| 1966 | Katherine Anne Porter (1890-1980) | Collected Stories | Harcourt Brace (1965) | Short story collection | Texas |
| 1967 | Bernard Malamud (1914-1986) | The Fixer | Farrar, Straus & Giroux (1966) | Novel | New York |
| 1968 | William Styron | The Confessions of Nat Turner | Random House (1967) | Novel | Virginia |
| 1969 | N. Scott Momaday | House Made of Dawn | Harper & Row (1968) | Novel | Oklahoma |
| 1970 | Jean Stafford | Collected Stories | Farrar, Straus & Giroux (1969) | Short story collection | California |
| 1971 | NOT AWARDED | ||||
| 1972 | Wallace Stegner | Angle of Repose | Doubleday (1971) | Novel | Iowa |
| 1973 | Eudora Welty | The Optimist's Daughter | Random House (1972) | Short novel | Mississippi |
| 1974 | NOT AWARDED | ||||
| 1975 | Michael Shaara | The Killer Angels | David McKay Publications (1974) | Historical fiction | New Jersey |
| 1976 | Saul Bellow | Humboldt's Gift | Viking Press (1975) | Novel | Illinois (born in Quebec, Canada) |
| 1977 | NOT AWARDED | ||||
| 1978 | James Alan McPherson | Elbow Room | Little, Brown (1977) | Short story collection | Georgia |
| 1979 | John Cheever | The Stories of John Cheever | Alfred A. Knopf (1978) | Short story collection | Massachusetts |
From 1980 and on, the Pulitzer Prize also includes a list of finalists.
| Year | Winner | Work | Publisher | Genre(s) | Author's origin | Finalists |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | Norman Mailer | The Executioner's Song | Little, Brown (1979) | True crime novel | New Jersey | William Wharton, Birdy Philip Roth, The Ghost Writer |
| 1981 | John Kennedy Toole | A Confederacy of Dunces (posthumous win) | Louisiana State University Press (1980) | Picaresque novel | Louisiana | Frederick Buechner, Godric William Maxwell, So Long, See You Tomorrow |
| 1982 | John Updike | Rabbit Is Rich | Alfred A. Knopf (1981) | Novel | Pennsylvania | Robert Stone, A Flag for Sunrise Marilynne Robinson, Housekeeping |
| 1983 | Alice Walker | The Color Purple | Harcourt Brace Jovanovich (1982) | Epistolary novel | Georgia | Anne Tyler, Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant Chaim Grade, Rabbis and Wives |
| 1984 | William Kennedy | Ironweed | Viking Press (1983) | Novel | New York | Raymond Carver, Cathedral Thomas Berger, The Feud |
| 1985 | Alison Lurie | Foreign Affairs | Random House (1984) | Novel | Illinois | Diana O'Hehir, I Wish This War Were Over Douglas Unger, Leaving the Land |
| 1986 | Larry McMurtry | Lonesome Dove | Simon & Schuster (1985) | Western novel | Texas | Russell Banks, Continental Drift Anne Tyler, The Accidental Tourist |
| 1987 | Peter Taylor | A Summons to Memphis | Alfred A. Knopf (1986) | Novel | Tennessee | Donald Barthelme, Paradise Norman Rush, Whites |
| 1988 | Toni Morrison | Beloved | Alfred A. Knopf (1987) | Novel | Ohio | Diane Johnson, Persian Nights Alice McDermott, That Night |
| 1989 | Anne Tyler | Breathing Lessons | Alfred A. Knopf (1988) | Novel | Minnesota | Raymond Carver, Where I'm Calling From |
| 1990 | Oscar Hijuelos | The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love | Farrar, Straus and Giroux (1989) | Novel | New York | E. L. Doctorow, Billy Bathgate |
| 1991 | John Updike | Rabbit At Rest | Alfred A. Knopf (1990) | Novel | Pennsylvania | Linda Hogan, Mean Spirit Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried |
| 1992 | Jane Smiley | A Thousand Acres | Alfred A. Knopf (1991) | Domestic Realism | California | David Gates, Jernigan Robert M. Pirsig, Lila: An Inquiry into Morals Don DeLillo, Mao II |
| 1993 | Robert Olen Butler | A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain | Henry Holt (1992) | Short story collection | Illinois | Alice McDermott, At Weddings and Wakes Joyce Carol Oates, Black Water |
| 1994 | E. Annie Proulx | The Shipping News | Charles Scribner's Sons (1993) | Novel | Connecticut | Philip Roth, Operation Shylock: A Confession Reynolds Price, The Collected Stories |
| 1995 | Carol Shields | The Stone Diaries | Random House (1993) | Novel | Illinois | Grace Paley, The Collected Stories Joyce Carol Oates, What I Lived For |
| 1996 | Richard Ford | Independence Day | Alfred A. Knopf (1995) | Novel | Mississippi | Oscar Hijuelos, Mr. Ives' Christmas Philip Roth, Sabbath's Theater |
| 1997 | Steven Millhauser | Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer | Crown Publishers (1996) | Novel | New York | Joanna Scott, The Manikin Ursula K. Le Guin, Unlocking the Air and Other Stories |
| 1998 | Philip Roth | American Pastoral | Houghton Mifflin (1997) | Novel | New Jersey | Robert Stone, Bear and His Daughter: Stories Don DeLillo, Underworld |
| 1999 | Michael Cunningham | The Hours | Farrar, Straus and Giroux (1998) | Historical fiction | Ohio | Russell Banks, Cloudsplitter Barbara Kingsolver, The Poisonwood Bible |
| 2000 | Jhumpa Lahiri | Interpreter of Maladies | Houghton Mifflin (1999) | Short story collection | Rhode Island (born in London, United Kingdom) (lives in Rome, Italy) | Annie Proulx, Close Range: Wyoming Stories Ha Jin, Waiting |
| 2001 | Michael Chabon | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay | Random House (2000) | Historical fiction | Washington, D.C. | Joyce Carol Oates, Blonde Joy Williams, The Quick and the Dead |
| 2002 | Richard Russo | Empire Falls | Alfred A. Knopf (2001) | Novel | New York | Colson Whitehead, John Henry Days Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections |
| 2003 | Jeffrey Eugenides | Middlesex | Farrar, Straus and Giroux (2002) | Family saga | Michigan | Andrea Barrett, Servants of the Map: Stories Adam Haslett, You Are Not a Stranger Here |
| 2004 | Edward P. Jones | The Known World | Amistad Press (2003) | Historical fiction | Washington, D.C. | Susan Choi, American Woman Marianne Wiggins, Evidence of Things Unseen |
| 2005 | Marilynne Robinson | Gilead | Farrar, Straus and Giroux (2004) | Novel | Idaho | Ward Just, An Unfinished Season Ha Jin, War Trash |
| 2006 | Geraldine Brooks (b. 1955) | March | Viking Press (2005) | Historical fiction | New York (born in Sydney, Australia) | Lee Martin, The Bright Forever | E. L. Doctorow, The March |
| 2007 | Cormac McCarthy | The Road | Alfred A. Knopf (2006) | Post-apocalyptic fiction | Rhode Island | Alice McDermott, After This Richard Powers, The Echo Maker |
| 2008 | Junot Díaz | The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao | Riverhead Books (2007) | Novel | New Jersey (born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) | Lore Segal, Shakespeare's Kitchen Denis Johnson, Tree of Smoke |
| 2009 | Elizabeth Strout | Olive Kitteridge | Random House (2008) | Interrelated short stories | Maine | Christine Schutt, All Souls Louise Erdrich, The Plague of Doves |
| 2010 | Paul Harding | Tinkers | Bellevue Literary Press (2009) | Debut novel | Massachusetts | Daniyal Mueenuddin, In Other Rooms, Other Wonders Lydia Millet, Love in Infant Monkeys |
| 2011 | Jennifer Egan (b. 1962) | A Visit from the Goon Squad | Alfred A. Knopf (2010) | Interrelated short stories | Illinois | Jonathan Dee, The Privileges | Chang-rae Lee, The Surrendered |
| 2012 | NOT AWARDED | Karen Russell, Swamplandia! David Foster Wallace, The Pale King (posthumous nominee) Denis Johnson, Train Dreams | ||||
| 2013 | Adam Johnson | The Orphan Master's Son | Random House (2012) | Novel | South Dakota | Eowyn Ivey, The Snow Child Nathan Englander, What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank |
| 2014 | Donna Tartt | The Goldfinch | Little, Brown and Company (2013) | Novel | Mississippi | Philipp Meyer, The Son Bob Shacochis, The Woman Who Lost Her Soul |
| 2015 | Anthony Doerr | All the Light We Cannot See | Charles Scribner's Sons (2014) | War novel | Ohio | Richard Ford, Let Me Be Frank with You Joyce Carol Oates, Lovely, Dark, Deep Laila Lalami, The Moor's Account |
| 2016 | Viet Thanh Nguyen | The Sympathizer | Grove Press (2015) | Debut novel | California (born in Buôn Ma Thuột, Vietnam) | Kelly Link, Get in Trouble: Stories Margaret Verble, Maud's Line |
| 2017 | Colson Whitehead | The Underground Railroad | Doubleday (2016) | Alternate historical novel | New York | Adam Haslett, Imagine Me Gone C. E. Morgan, The Sport of Kings |
| 2018 | Andrew Sean Greer | Less | Little, Brown and Company (2017) | Satirical novel | Washington, D.C. | Hernan Diaz, In the Distance Elif Batuman, The Idiot |
| 2019 | Richard Powers | The Overstory | W. W. Norton & Company (2018) | Novel | Illinois | Rebecca Makkai, The Great Believers Tommy Orange, There There |
| 2020 | Colson Whitehead | The Nickel Boys | Doubleday (2019) | Novel | New York | Ann Patchett, The Dutch House Ben Lerner, The Topeka School |
| 2021 | Louise Erdrich | The Night Watchman | Harpercollins (2020) | Novel | Minnesota | Daniel Mason, A Registry of My Passage Upon the Earth Percival Everett, Telephone |
| 2022 | Joshua Cohen | The Netanyahus | New York Review Books | Novel | New Jersey | Francisco Goldman, Monkey Boy Gayl Jones, Palmares |
| 2023 | Barbara Kingsolver | Demon Copperhead | Harper | Novel | Kentucky | Vauhini Vara, The Immortal King Rao |
