The Pulitzer Prize committee has just announced the new prize-winners. This will be huge news for each of these authors, and their respective publishers. (Random House picked up two of these sales boosting awards.) They are:
Fiction – Olive Kitteredge, by Elizabeth Strout
Drama – Ruined, by Lynn Nottage
History – The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family, by Annette Gordon-Reed
Biography – American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House, by Jon Meacham
General Non-Fiction – Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II, by Douglas Blackmon
Other winners and finalists are here.
Image: Elizabeth Strout
Ah, many, many congratulations to Annette Gordon-Reed! Very exciting news for her and the entire community who work in race and history.
And to Doug Blackmon, too. We spoke a little about Slavery by Another Name here:
http://www.thefacultylounge.org/2008/05/blackmon-on-con.html
It would be rather interesting to compare winning bid prices for these books on eBay over the last three weeks with the next three weeks. One would expect a "bump" in price, particularly for first editions.
I have Strout's earlier book "Abide With Me" on my shelf (along with at least 100 other unread novels). Now I'm tempted to expedite its review. I feel sorta like an articles editor!
I was fortunate enough to see "Ruined" a month or so ago at Manhattan Theatre Club. It is an outstanding piece–beautifully written, emotion- and thought-provoking, and, in the production I saw, incredibly well acted. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
Two more things: I see from the Chronicle that Elizabeth Strout is a professor at Queens University Charlotte, NC:
http://www.queens.edu/news_detail.asp?press_id=2792§ion=queens
Also, she has a law degree from Syracuse University.
http://blog.syracuse.com/shelflife/2009/04/syracuse_university_alumna_win.html
Quite a year for lawyers and Pulitzers!
What's up with that second sentence in Abide with Me? Did some editor miss something?
Studies this matter, lacks the time, but is lacks diligently#.