Pulitzers 2025: James sweeps Fiction; Purpose stuns in Drama

The Pulitzer Prize honors distinguished work in American arts and letters. Here are the 2025 winners across Letters, Drama & Music with quick pointers for deeper browsing.

Winners by category (2025):

• Fiction — James by Percival Everett. A daring reimagining that interrogates voice, agency, and the stories America tells about itself.
• Poetry — New and Selected Poems by Marie Howe. Intimate, lucid lyrics tracing grief, care, and spiritual attention in the ordinary.
• Biography — Every Living Thing: The Great and Deadly Race to Know All Life by Jason Roberts. Obsessive naturalists, adventure science, and a race to catalog biodiversity.
• Drama — Purpose by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. A sharp, darkly humorous examination of faith, legacy, and public morality.
• General Nonfiction — To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause by Benjamin Nathans. A sweeping, humane history of dissent and how ideas travel and endure.
• History — Native Nations: A Millennium in North America by Kathleen DuVal. A panoramic reframing that centers Indigenous diplomacy, adaptation, and continuity.
• History — Combee: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom During the Civil War by Edda L. Fields-Black. A granular reconstruction of strategy, intelligence, and collective self-liberation.
• Memoir or Autobiography — Feeding Ghosts: A Graphic Memoir by Tessa Hulls. A visually layered exploration of diaspora, mental health, and generational resilience.
• Music — Sky Islands by Susie Ibarra. Percussive landscapes braiding ecology, Indigenous and Filipino rhythms, and contemporary experimentation.

Browse the full year: Pulitzer winners in 2025. Compare across awards via the faceted browse.