Pulitzer Prizes 1935: Complete list of winners

The 1935 Pulitzer Prizes celebrate a remarkable year in American letters, showcasing the depth and diversity of the nation’s literary achievements during a pivotal moment in the country’s history. That year’s winners across fiction, drama, poetry, biography, and history demonstrate the Pulitzer Prize’s enduring commitment to recognizing excellence across multiple genres. From Douglas S. Freeman’s monumental R. E. Lee—a biography that would define Civil War scholarship for generations—to Josephine Winslow Johnson’s introspective debut novel Now in November, the 1935 Pulitzer winners offered American readers everything from intimate character studies to sweeping historical narratives.

What makes this particular year of Pulitzer Prize winners especially intriguing is how they reflect the cultural preoccupations of the mid-1930s, even as they transcend their moment. Audrey Wurdemann’s Bright Ambush brought fresh energy to American poetry, while Zoe Akins’s theatrical triumph with The Old Maid proved that drama on the American stage could achieve both popular appeal and critical respect. Charles McLean Andrews’s The Colonial Period of American History rounded out the selections with scholarly rigor, underscoring how the Pulitzer Prizes have always valued serious historical inquiry alongside more artistic endeavors.

Here are the complete 1935 Pulitzer Prize winners:

Biography

• R. E. Lee by Douglas S. Freeman

Drama

• The Old Maid by Zoe Akins

History

• The Colonial Period of American History by Charles McLean Andrews

Novel

• Now in November by Josephine Winslow Johnson

Poetry

• Bright Ambush by Audrey Wurdemann