Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography

The Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It has been presented since 1917 for a distinguished biography, autobiography or memoir[1] 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.[2]

Pulitzer Prize
Joseph Pulitzer
Journalism
Reporting
Writing
Photography
Other
Former
  • Letters
  • Drama
  • Music
Special Citations and Awards

Winners

In its first 97 years to 2013, the Biography Pulitzer was awarded 97 times. Two were given in 1938, none in 1962.[3]

1910s

1920s

1930s

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

Entries from this point on include the finalists listed after the winner for each year.

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s
Year Work Author Ref
2020 Sontag: Her Life and Work Benjamin Moser [9]
Our Man: Richard Holbrooke and the End of the American Century George Packer [9]
Parisian Lives: Samuel Beckett, Simone de Beauvoir, and Me Deirdre Bair
2021 The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X Les Payne and Tamara Payne [10]
Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath Heather Clark [10]
Stranger in the Shogun's City: A Japanese Woman and Her World Amy Stanley
2022 Chasing Me to My Grave: An Artist's Memoir of the Jim Crow South Winfred Rembert and Erin I. Kelly [11]
Pessoa: A Biography Richard Zenith [11]
The Doctors Blackwell: How Two Pioneering Sisters Brought Medicine to Women and Women to Medicine Janice P. Nimura

Repeat winners

Ten people have won the Pulitzer for Biography or Autobiography twice:

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.[4]

See also

References
  1. "Biography: Prize Winners by Category". www.pulitzer.org. Retrieved May 31, 2019.
  2. "1917 Winners". The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved December 19, 2013.
  3. "Biography or Autobiography". The Pulitzer Prizes (pulitzer.org). Retrieved October 1, 2008.
  4. 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. Retrieved January 12, 2020.
  5. "Biography or Autobiography". The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved April 20, 2015.
  6. "Biography or Autobiography". Retrieved April 11, 2017.
  7. "2018 Pulitzer Prize Winners". www.pulitzer.org.
  8. "2019 Pulitzer Prize Winners". www.pulitzer.org.
  9. "2020 Pulitzer Prize Winners". www.pulitzer.org.
  10. "2021 Pulitzer Prize Winners". www.pulitzer.org.
  11. "2022 Pulitzer Prize Winners". www.pulitzer.org.
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