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, for 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 from 1980, ordinarily a total of three.
In 31 years under the "Novel" name, the prize was awarded 27 times; in its first 69 years to 2016 under the "Fiction" name, 62 times. In 11 years, no novel received the award. It has never been shared by two authors. Three writers have won two prizes each in the Fiction category: Booth Tarkington, William Faulkner, and John Updike.
1917: no award given1918: His Family by Ernest Poole1919: The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington1920: no award given1921: The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton1922: Alice Adams by Booth Tarkington1923: One of Ours by Willa Cather1924: The Able McLaughlins by Margaret Wilson1925: So Big by Edna Ferber1926: Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis (declined prize)1927: Early Autumn by Louis Bromfield1928: The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder1929: Scarlet Sister Mary by Julia Peterkin1930: Laughing Boy by Oliver La Farge1931: Years of Grace by Margaret Ayer Barnes1932: The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck1933: The Store by Thomas Sigismund Stribling1934: Lamb in His Bosom by Caroline Miller1935: Now in November by Josephine Winslow Johnson1936: Honey in the Horn by Harold L. Davis1937: Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell1938: The Late George Apley by John Phillips Marquand1939: The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings1940: The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck1941: no award given1942: In This Our Life by Ellen Glasgow1943: Dragon's Teeth by Upton Sinclair1944: Journey in the Dark by Martin Flavin1945: A Bell for Adano by John Hersey1946: no award given1947: All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren1948: Tales of the South Pacific by James A. Michener1949: Guard of Honor by James Gould Cozzens1950: The Way West by A. B. Guthrie, Jr.1951: The Town by Conrad Richter1952: The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk1953: The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway1954: No award given1955: A Fable by William Faulkner1956: Andersonville by MacKinlay Kantor1957: No award givenThe Voice At The Back Door by Elizabeth Spencer1958: A Death in the Family by James Agee (posthumous win)1959: The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters by Robert Lewis Taylor1960: Advise and Consent by Allen Drury1961: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee1962: The Edge of Sadness by Edwin O'Connor1963: The Reivers by William Faulkner (posthumous win)1964: No award given1965: The Keepers of the House by Shirley Ann Grau1966: The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter by Katherine Anne Porter1967: The Fixer by Bernard Malamud1968: The Confessions of Nat Turner by William Styron1969: House Made of Dawn by N. Scott Momaday1970: The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford by Jean Stafford1971: No award given1972: Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner1973: The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty1974: No award givenGravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon1975: The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara1976: Humboldt's Gift by Saul Bellow1977: No award givenA River Runs Through It by Norman MacLeanRoots by Alex Haley (special Pulitzer Prize)1978: Elbow Room by James Alan McPherson1979: The Stories of John Cheever by John CheeverEntries from this point on include the finalists listed after the winner for each year.
1980: The Executioner's Song by Norman MailerBirdy by William WhartonThe Ghost Writer by Philip Roth1981: A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole (posthumous win)Godric by Frederick BuechnerSo Long, See You Tomorrow by William Maxwell1982: Rabbit Is Rich by John UpdikeA Flag for Sunrise by Robert StoneHousekeeping by Marilynne Robinson1983: The Color Purple by Alice WalkerDinner at the Homesick Restaurant by Anne TylerRabbis and Wives by Chaim Grade1984: Ironweed by William KennedyCathedral by Raymond CarverThe Feud by Thomas Berger1985: Foreign Affairs by Alison LurieI Wish This War Were Over by Diana O'HehirLeaving the Land by Douglas Unger1986: Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtryThe Accidental Tourist by Anne TylerContinental Drift by Russell Banks1987: A Summons to Memphis by Peter TaylorParadise by Donald BarthelmeWhites by Norman Rush1988: Beloved by Toni MorrisonPersian Nights by Diane JohnsonThat Night by Alice McDermott1989: Breathing Lessons by Anne TylerWhere I'm Calling From by Raymond Carver1990: The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love by Oscar HijuelosBilly Bathgate by E. L. Doctorow1991: Rabbit at Rest by John UpdikeMean Spirit by Linda HoganThe Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien1992: A Thousand Acres by Jane SmileyJernigan by David GatesLila: An Inquiry into Morals by Robert M. PirsigMao II by Don DeLillo1993: A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain by Robert Olen ButlerAt Weddings and Wakes by Alice McDermottBlack Water by Joyce Carol Oates1994: The Shipping News by E. Annie ProulxThe Collected Stories of Reynolds Price by Reynolds PriceOperation Shylock: A Confession by Philip Roth1995: The Stone Diaries by Carol ShieldsThe Collected Stories of Grace Paley by Grace PaleyWhat I Lived For by Joyce Carol Oates1996: Independence Day by Richard FordMr. Ives' Christmas by Oscar HijuelosSabbath's Theater by Philip Roth1997: Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer by Steven MillhauserThe Manikin by Joanna ScottUnlocking the Air and Other Stories by Ursula K. Le Guin1998: American Pastoral by Philip RothBear and His Daughter: Stories by Robert StoneUnderworld by Don DeLillo1999: The Hours by Michael CunninghamCloudsplitter by Russell BanksThe Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver2000: Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa LahiriClose Range: Wyoming Stories by Annie ProulxWaiting by Ha Jin2001: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael ChabonBlonde by Joyce Carol OatesThe Quick and the Dead by Joy Williams2002: Empire Falls by Richard RussoThe Corrections by Jonathan FranzenJohn Henry Days by Colson Whitehead2003: Middlesex by Jeffrey EugenidesServants of the Map: Stories by Andrea BarrettYou Are Not a Stranger Here by Adam Haslett2004: The Known World by Edward P. JonesAmerican Woman by Susan ChoiEvidence of Things Unseen by Marianne Wiggins2005: Gilead by Marilynne RobinsonAn Unfinished Season by Ward JustWar Trash by Ha Jin2006: March by Geraldine BrooksThe Bright Forever by Lee MartinThe March by E. L. Doctorow2007: The Road by Cormac McCarthyAfter This by Alice McDermottThe Echo Maker by Richard Powers2008: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot DíazShakespeare's Kitchen by Lore SegalTree of Smoke by Denis Johnson2009: Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth StroutAll Souls by Christine SchuttThe Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich2010: Tinkers by Paul HardingIn Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal MueenuddinLove in Infant Monkeys by Lydia Millet2011: A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer EganThe Privileges by Jonathan DeeThe Surrendered by Chang-Rae Lee2012: No award given.Train Dreams by Denis JohnsonSwamplandia! by Karen RussellThe Pale King by David Foster Wallace (posthumous nominee)2013: The Orphan Master's Son by Adam JohnsonWhat We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank by Nathan EnglanderThe Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey2014: The Goldfinch by Donna TarttThe Son by Philipp MeyerThe Woman Who Lost Her Soul by Bob Shacochis2015: All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony DoerrLet Me Be Frank with You by Richard FordThe Moor's Account by Laila LalamiLovely, Dark, Deep by Joyce Carol Oates2016: The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh NguyenGet in Trouble: Stories by Kelly LinkMaud's Line by Margaret VerbleThree writers to date have won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction multiple times, one nominally in the novel category and two in the general fiction category. Ernest Hemingway was selected by the 1941 and 1953 juries, but the former was overturned and no 1941 award was given.
Booth Tarkington, 1919, 1922William Faulkner, 1955, 1963 (awarded posthumously)John Updike, 1982, 1991
