A mere 124 days into 2026, we have finally tied a bow on the 2025 book award season. The Pulitzer Prize, which celebrate excellence in journalism, literature, drama, and music within the United States, were announced this afternoon in a ceremony live-streamed from Columbia University.
Before announcing the winners, Administrator Marjorie Miller reiterated the Pulitzers’ full-throated commitment to and support for the First Amendment and a free press:
Let me begin by saying what we shouldn’t have to say: the Pulitzer Prizes support the First Amendment. We believe in access to government institutions and an independent press. We stand for civil discourse and against censorship. Unfortunately, this bears repeating now, as media access to the White House and Pentagon is restricted, free speech is challenged in the streets, and the President of the United States has filed lawsuits for billions of dollars for defamation and malice against multiple print and broadcast media.
Here are the books that won the 2026 Pulitzer Prizes:
- Fiction: Angel Down by Daniel Kraus
- General Nonfiction: There is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America by Brian Goldstone
- Memoir and Autobiography: Things in Nature Merely Grow by Yiyun Li
- History: We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution by Jill Lepore
- Biography: Pride and Pleasure: The Schuyler Sisters in an Age of Revolution by Amanda Vaill
- Poetry: Ars Poeticas by Juliana Spahr
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Awards were also given for music and drama. See the full list of Pulitzer winners and the finalists in all categories, and brush up on the 2025 Pulitzer Prizes.