Living Canon

Pulitzer Prizes 1997: Complete list of winners

The 1997 Pulitzer Prizes delivered a memorable year for American letters, with winners that would go on to define the literary conversation of the late ’90s. Frank McCourt’s Angela’s Ashes: A Memoir took the Biography prize, introducing readers to one of the most gripping and heartbreaking Irish-American memoirs ever published. The memoir’s unflinching portrait of McCourt’s impoverished childhood in Limerick, Ireland, and his struggles in New York City resonated deeply with audiences and cemented the book’s place in the cultural canon. Meanwhile, Steven Millhauser claimed the Fiction prize for Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer, a sprawling, imaginative novel that showcased his distinctive blend of realism and fantasy in exploring American ambition and enterprise.

Beyond fiction, the 1997 Pulitzer Prizes recognized significant achievements in nonfiction and poetry that reflected serious historical inquiry and lyrical mastery. Richard Kluger’s Ashes To Ashes: America’s Hundred-Year Cigarette War, The Public Health, And The Unabashed Triumph Of Philip Morris won General Nonfiction with its meticulously researched examination of the tobacco industry’s influence on American public health policy. Jack N. Rakove’s Original Meanings: Politics and Ideas in the Making of the Constitution provided a fresh scholarly perspective in the History category, while poet Lisel Mueller’s Alive Together: New and Selected Poems demonstrated the enduring power of her contemplative voice. Notably, the Drama category received no award that year, a rare occurrence that underscored the committee’s high standards.

Below is the complete list of 1997 Pulitzer Prize winners:

Biography

Drama

Fiction

General Nonfiction

History

Poetry