Four Princetonian Authors Named 2026 Pulitzer Prize Winners, Finalists

Three faculty members and one alumna were recognized as winners or finalists in the Pulitzer Prize book categories in May. Journalist Natalie Obiko Pearson ’99, a senior investigative reporter for Bloomberg News, was also awarded the prize in illustrated reporting and commentary for the graphic novel “trAPPed.” 

Read more about the books below: 

Memoir Winner: Things in Nature Merely Grow by Yiyun Li, professor of creative writing 

In this searing memoir Li writes about survival and loss, after both of her sons died by suicide. She does not write of conventional grief or finding resolution and consolation. Instead, she traces how activities like writing, music, and the natural world became ways of remaining in life, of continuing to think, feel, and love even in the aftermath of such immense tragedy. A profoundly intimate and personal story, Things In Nature Merely Grow (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux) redefines grief as something experienced and lived alongside reality itself. 

Nonfiction Finalist: Mother Emanuel by Kevin Sack, visiting lecturer

On June 17, 2015, a 21-year-old white supremacist killed nine people during a Bible study at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. While the story made national headlines, in Mother Emanuel (Crown) Sack zooms out to look at the history of the first AME church in the South to explore what led up to the events that unfolded that tragic day. Through the experiences of this one congregation, Sack tells the story of Black perseverance in Charleston from the first Black families to settle into the city to the Civil War, the Civil Rights Movement, and present day. Mother Emanuel details the rich and complex history of Black faith in the face of white violence.

Poetry Finalist: The Intentions of Thunder by Patricia Smith, professor of creative writing 

This collection encompasses essential works from Smith’s distinguished career. Highlighting the powerful clarity and originality of her voice, these poems move through grief, history, and hope for the future. Smith’s language crackles with precision and intensity, revealing the breadth of her emotional and imaginative range. The Intentions of Thunder (Scribner) is a reminder of the necessity of poetry in our lives and affirms Smith’s place as one of the most vital poets writing today. 

Fiction Finalist: Audition by Katie Kitamura ’99 

Do we ever really know the people that we love? That is the question at the heart of Kitamura’s thrilling novel. The story follows a middle-aged actress who meets a younger man at a restaurant in the financial district of Manhattan. From there the novel begins as readers get a front row seat to the internal struggles the woman faces as she continues to get to know the younger man. Audition (Riverhead Books) meditates on the various roles people play in life and multiple versions of a person that can exist.