Pulitzer Prize. Pulitzer Prize for Literature

The Pulitzer Prize is one of the most prestigious US awards in literature, journalism, music and theater. It was founded by the American journalist and publisher Joseph Pulitzer.

In 1904, Pulitzer drew up a will in which he donated two million dollars to Columbia University. The media mogul wanted three-quarters of that money to go towards the creation of a Graduate School of Journalism, with the remainder going to create an award for American journalists.

In his will, Pulitzer requested four awards annually in journalism, four in literature and one in education. He wanted separate awards for Best Novel, Drama, United States History Book, and Biography.

In October 1911, Joseph Pulitzer passed away. A year after Pulitzer's death, the Columbia School of Journalism was founded, and in 1917 the Pulitzer Prize was instituted.

Its first laureate was the American journalist Herbert Bayard Swap for the series "From Inside the German Empire", published in New York World in October 1916.

The heirs did exactly the will of Pulitzer, who bequeathed to form a supervisory board of newspaper publishers. In addition, he wanted the president of Columbia University, academics and "other respected people who are neither journalists nor editors to sit on this body."

Since 1917, the Supervisory Board has repeatedly exercised its right, enshrined in Pulitzer's will, to increase the number of awards. In 1922, the prize for the best cartoon appeared. In 1942, the award for the most outstanding photography was added to it (later this nomination was divided into two - for news photography and art).

In 1999, the Supervisory Board allowed online reporters to participate in the Investigative Journalism category. Since 2006, online content (reports, photographs) of the paper press has been taken into consideration.

Since 2009, the Pulitzer Prize has been awarded to journalists both for materials published in print media and for publications on the Internet.

On April 20, New York hosted the Pulitzer Prize for achievements in literature, journalism, music and theater. There were no Russians among the laureates this year. Photographs dedicated to the conflict in Ukraine were not awarded the prize, although they were presented in two nominations.

The Pulitzer Prize was founded on August 17, 1903 by an American newspaper magnate and publisher. Its size is 10 thousand dollars. Over the years, such writers as Ernest Hemingway, Saul Below, Margaret Mitchell, John Steinbeck, William Faulkner other.

AiF.ru tells what the Pulitzer Prize is and what is it awarded for?

What is the Pulitzer Prize?

Joseph Pulitzer. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org / Libraries of Congress

The Pulitzer Prize is one of the most prestigious awards in American journalism and literature, music and theater. The prize was established on August 17, 1903, when the will was drawn up Joseph Pulitzer(1847-1911), American publisher, journalist, founder of the genre of "yellow press", on the creation of an award in his own name. The Pulitzer Prize has been awarded since May 1917 for outstanding achievements in the field of literature and journalism. Its amount is $ 10,000.

The Pulitzer Prize was funded by an investment fund created after the death of the publisher. In 1970, another fund was created, which managed to attract additional donations to pay out the awards of this prestigious award.

When presenting the Pulitzer Prize, a special mention is made of the Community Service nomination. The nominee, in addition to the monetary reward, is also awarded a gold medal. The award is given "for an exceptional example of worthy service to society."

The number of awards has increased over the years. In 1922, the prize for the best cartoon appeared. In 1942, the award for the most best photo... Since 1943, composers have been added to the list of nominees. In 1999, the Investigative Journalism category was created. In 2006, a competition began to be held among online content. Since 2009, the Pulitzer Prize has been awarded to journalists both for materials published in print media and for publications on the Internet.

The prize is currently being awarded in 25 nominations, 14 of which are related to journalism. The Literary Prize is awarded in 6 nominations: "For a fiction book written by an American writer, preferably about America"; For the book on the history of the United States; "For a biography or autobiography of an American author"; "For a poem"; "For non-fiction"; Best Drama. In 1920, 1941, 1946, 1954, 1964, 1971 and 1974, it was not awarded to anyone, since the jury did not reveal a single worthy literary work.

Who decides on the award?

The prizes are presented by the Columbia University in New York on the recommendation of the Pulitzer Committee. It is made up of 19 experts - five publishers, six editors, six academics, including the president of the university and the dean of the journalism department, one columnist and an award administrator.

Who was the first Pulitzer Prize winner?

The first laureate of the award in 1917 was an American journalist Herbert Bayard... He has been honored with the prestigious New York World prize for a series of stories entitled "From Inside the German Empire."

Who was awarded the award in 2014?

In April 2014, in New York City, reporters from the Guardian and the Washington Post received prestigious Public Service awards for exposing the illegal collection of data by US intelligence agencies.

The Pulitzer Prize in International Journalism nominations also went to two Reuters correspondents for a series of reports on the persecution of the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar.

The Breaking News award went to The Boston Globe for reporting from the scene in Boston during the terrorist attack.

Literary Prize in the nomination " Fiction" received Donna Tartt for the short story "The Goldfinch".

In the nomination drama - Annie Baker for the play "The Flick".

Musical "Pulitzer" received by the American composer John Luther Adams for the orchestral piece "Become Ocean".

Who else were Pulitzer Prize winners?

Over the years, the literary Pulitzer Prize laureates were Ernest Hemingway("The Old Man and the Sea"), Harper Lee("To Kill a Mockingbird"), William Faulkne p ("Parable"), Tennessee Williams("Tram" Desire ""), Arthur Miller("Death of a Salesman") Margaret Mitchell("Gone With the Wind"), John Updike(for the novels "The Rabbit Got Rich" and "The Rabbit Calmed Down").

Pulitzer Prize in Music received Winton Marsalis (1997), George Gershwin(1998), Duke Ellington(1999),Kevin Pats (2012).

The award for the best photo in different years received Don Bartletti for a series of photographs of people trying to leave Central America for the United States, Harry Trask for a series of photographs of the sinking Italian liner "Andrea Doria", taken 9 minutes before its sinking, Alexander Zemlyanichenko for a photograph of Boris Yeltsin dancing at an election concert, William Gallagher for the photo of the holey boot of the US presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson, Stan Grossfeld for a series of photographs of the famine in Ethiopia, etc.

Over the years, the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post have collected the largest number of awards in the journalistic category. The Los Angeles Times and The Philadelphia Inquirer also received awards in 2011 and 2012.

Among the foreign laureates of the award is a Russian Alexander Zemlyanichenko(in 1992 - for a report on the Moscow putsch of 1991 and in 1997 - for photographs of Yeltsin dancing at a rock concert), as well as an Afghan photojournalist for Agence France-Presse Massoud Hossaini, which took a picture of a girl gripped with horror after the terrorist attack in Kabul.

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10 thousand dollars seems to be a small amount. But the main thing here is prestige! Pulitzer Prize, awarded annually to the best book artistic genre (this is one of 6 nominations), a very honorable award.

What are they awarded for?

At the beginning of the last century, the award was established by the creator of the fund of the same name, the famous publisher Joseph Pulitzer. Columbia University Trustees present the award every year (since 1917). The exceptions are only a few years, when for some reason the winner was not named (one of the latest precedents is 2012).

Prerequisites: The applicant must be an American who has written and published a book on the problems of US society. A jury selects three nominees, and then the Pulitzer Prize Council names the winner of the three.

Sometimes the Council is accused of subjectivity, but this is inevitable: how many people, so many opinions. But "public opinion" and ratings do not influence the decision of the commission, and often the winners are not the bestsellers. But the prize already received is a reason to pay attention to the book. Therefore, the best of the laureate's works were filmed. So we will tell you about such books.

Love, War, Great Depression

One of the first Pulitzer Prizes went to a woman writer, Edith Wharton, for her exquisite Age of Innocence. The hypocrisy and bigotry of high society at the end of the 19th century and the struggle against it of the protagonist, the lawyer Archer - this is the main thing in the plot. The choice of a lawyer between marriage with a modest "equal" May and an affair with her "disgraceful" in Europe, cousin Countess Ellen will be difficult. Martin Scorsese brought Wharton's work to the screen - the film is called "The Age of Innocence", and it was played by Daniel Day-Lewis, young Winona Ryder and dazzling Michelle Pfeiffer.

In 1937, "southerner" Margaret Mitchell told about the horrors of the American Civil War through the prism of perception of the windy but brave girl Scarlett. It was Gone With the Wind. Needless to say, the film with Vivien Leigh turned out to be excellent, and it was literally "showered" with "Oscars".

John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath received the Pulitzer in 1940 and was dedicated to the hardships of a family of farmers who lost almost everything during the Great Depression. The drama of the same name, directed by John Ford, won two Oscars in 1941.

On politics, sea and racial discrimination

In 1947, Robert Penn Warren with his political thriller All the King's Men became the "birthday boy" of the award. A very popular work, repeatedly filmed (in the last film of 2006, Sean Penn shone - in starring Willie Stark, Kate Winslet, Anthony Hopkins and Jude Law).

Ernest Hemingway told about the ordeal of an elderly Cuban Santiago, who caught a huge fish that carried him into the open ocean, in his legendary story "The Old Man and the Sea". This is the 1953 Pulitzer Prize. By the way, a short animated film by Russian director Alexander Petrov became an Oscar winner in 2000 based on the work.

The famous novel To Kill a Mockingbird was written by Harper Lee. She deservedly received the award in 1961. This is a story about an honest lawyer raising two children alone, who was not afraid to speak out in defense of a black countryman (he was accused of rape). And again - an early film adaptation, and again - three Oscars, including the eminent Gregory Peck for the role of Finch's lawyer. This film is ranked second on the list of the Most Outstanding US Cinematography of All Time, thanks to Harper Lee for its excellent storyline.

But Steven Spielberg directed the drama "Flowers in Purple Fields" based on the book "Purple" by black writer Alice Walker (1983 prize). 11 Oscar nominations, the stunning Whoopi Goldberg (and the wonderful Danny Glover) starring and the hard life of a girl from the former slave South, already fourteen pregnant ... from her own father.

The Lost Generation and the Search for the Meaning of Life

John Updike received two prizes at once for his two novels from the famous tetralogy about the Rabbit (this nickname was given to the main character all parts of the franchise, basketball player Harry) - these were "Rabbit Got Rich" in 1982 and "Rabbit Calm Down" in 1991. And for the first time Harry appears in the book "Rabbit, Run" (James Caan became the "film incarnation" of the basketball player in the tape of the same name). The cycle is a classic of the genre about the post-war generation of America, "traditionally" looking for the meaning of life, to whom their wars, Vietnam and Korea, fell.

In 1999, Michael Cunningham became a laureate with the piece "The Watch". The fates of three women (including the writer Wolfe) of different generations are intricately intertwined in a narrative that covers only one day in each life. Is it any surprise that Cunningham wrote the screenplay for the 2002 Oscar-nominated film? And she won the Nicole Kidman award for her role as Virginia Woolf.

The post-apocalyptic future appears in Corman McCarthy's novel The Road. Father and little son wandering in search of salvation from hordes of zombies on the roads of America, what awaits them around the bend? .. This is a 2007 award and a creepy picture of 2009, in which Viggo Mortensen starred.

On August 7, 1903, Joseph Pulitzer, the famous American newspaper magnate and publisher, drew up a will, in which he instructed, after his death, to establish an award for journalists, writers and educators. This day is considered the date of the establishment of the Pulitzer Prize, the amount of which is 10 thousand dollars. Over the years, it was honored by such writers as Ernest Hemingway, Saul Below, Margaret Mitchell, John Steinbeck, William Faulkner and others.

The Pulitzer Prize is one of the most prestigious awards in American journalism and literature, music and theater. The prize was established on August 17, 1903, when the will of Joseph Pulitzer (1847-1911), an American publisher, journalist, and founder of the yellow press genre, was drawn up to create a prize in his own name. The Pulitzer Prize has been awarded since May 1917 for outstanding achievements in the field of literature and journalism. Its amount is $ 10,000.

The number of awards has increased over the years. In 1922, the prize for the best cartoon appeared. In 1942, the award for the best photograph was added to it. Since 1943, composers have been added to the list of nominees. In 1999, the "Investigative Journalism" category was created. In 2006, a competition began to be held among online content. Since 2009, the Pulitzer Prize has been awarded to journalists both for materials published in print media and for publications on the Internet.

The prize is currently being awarded in 25 nominations, 14 of which are related to journalism.

The Literary Prize is awarded in 6 nominations:

"For a fiction book written by an American writer, preferably about America";

"For the book on the history of the United States";

"For a biography or autobiography of an American author";

"For a poem";

"For non-fiction";

"Best Drama". In 1920, 1941, 1946, 1954, 1964, 1971 and 1974, it was not awarded to anyone, since the jury did not reveal a single worthy literary work.

Who decides on the prize? Who was the first Pulitzer Prize winner?

The first laureate of the award in 1917 was the American journalist Herbert Bayard. He was awarded the prestigious New York World prize for a series entitled "From Inside the German Empire".

Who was awarded the award in 2014?

In April 2014, in New York City, reporters from the Guardian and the Washington Post received prestigious Public Service awards for exposing the illegal collection of data by US intelligence agencies.

The Pulitzer Prize in International Journalism nominations also went to two Reuters correspondents for a series of reports on the persecution of the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar.

The Breaking News award went to The Boston Globe for reporting from the scene in Boston during the terrorist attack.

Donna Tartt won the Literary Prize in the Fiction category for her short story The Goldfinch.

Nominated for drama - Annie Baker for the play "The Flick".

The musical Pulitzer was awarded to American composer John Luther Adams for the orchestral piece "Become Ocean".

Who else were Pulitzer Prize winners?

Over the years, the literary Pulitzer Prize laureates were Ernest Hemingway ("The Old Man and the Sea"), Harper Lee ("To Kill a Mockingbird"), William Faulkner ("Parable"), Tennessee Williams ("A Streetcar Named Desire"), Arthur Miller (" Death of a Salesman), Margaret Mitchell (Gone With the Wind), John Updike (for The Rabbit Got Rich and The Rabbit Calm Down).

Pulitzer Prize for Music went to Winton Marsalis (1997), George Gershwin (1998), Duke Ellington (1999), Kevin Pats (2012).

The award for the best photograph in different years was given to Don Bartletti for a series of photographs of people trying to leave Central America for the USA, Harry Trask for a series of photographs of the sinking Italian liner Andrea Doria, taken 9 minutes before it went under water, Alexander Zemlyanichenko for a photograph of Boris Yeltsin dancing at a pre-election concert, William Gallagher for a photograph of the leaky shoe of US presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson, Stan Grossfeld for a series of photographs of the famine in Ethiopia, etc.

Pulitzer Prize Winners for Photography:

2015 Pulitzer Prize Winner Daniel Berehulak is a freelance photographer for The New York Times.
Awarded for fearless and breathtaking photography of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa.

This year's Pulitzer Prize - one of the most prestigious awards for photojournalists - went to Tyler Hicks and Josh Haener.

Josh Haener received a Special Photography nomination for a series of shots that tells the story of Jeff Baum - one of the victims of the Boston bombings - who lost both legs and is now trying to get back to normal.

The Associated Press team of photographers was voted Best in the Newsroom Photography category. It is on the work that covered the Syrian Civil War... The agency's photography team, which focused on the 2-year conflict, included Rodrigo Abd, Manu Brabo, Khalil Hamra, Muhammed Muheisen and Narciso Contreras.

A woman named Aida is crying. She was seriously injured after the Syrian military shelled her home in Idlib. Northern Syria, March 10, 2012. During the attack, Aida's husband and their two children were killed. Photographer Rodrigo Abd-AP.

Massoud Husseini - Crying girl among those killed in Kabul.

2011

Barbara Davidson for a series of photographs of innocent victims of an urban firefight against warring gangs

Damon Winter for Barack Obama's presidential campaign series

Rene Baer (The Sacramento Bee) for photographing a single mother and her son losing battle against cancer

Oded Balilty for photographing the confrontation between troops and residents of the West Bank

Dianne Fitzmaurice (San Francisco Chronicle) for photographing an Iraqi boy injured in an explosion

David Leeson and Cheryl Diaz Meyer for the Iraq War Photo Series

Don Bartletti (Los Angeles Times) for a series of photographs of young people in mortal danger trying to leave Central America for the northern United States

Matt Rainey (Star-Ledger) for a series of photographs of two friends injured in a dorm fire

Carol Giusi, Michael Williamson, and Lucien Perkins (Washington Post) for a series of photographs on Kosovar refugees

Assoсiated Press team for photos of the scandal with Monica Lewinsky

Clarence Williams (LA Times) for a series of photographs of children of drug addicted parents

1997

Alexander Zemlyanichenko (AP) for a photograph of Boris Yeltsin dancing at a pre-election concert

1996

Stephanie Welch for a series of photographs from Kenya on female genital mutilation

Associated Press team for work in Rwanda

Kevin Carter for photographing a starving child and a vulture watching him. After being accused of not helping the child by the photographer, Carter committed suicide.

John Kaplan for a series of photographs depicting the 21-year-olds

Stan Grossfeld, Ethiopia Famine Series

James Dickman, Life and Death Photo Series in El Salvador

John White for the Life Series

Taro Yamasaki for photographs of a Michigan prison

Jahangir Razmi for photographing a firing squad in Iran

Stanley Foreman, 1975 Boston Fire Series

Rocco Morabito for The Kiss of Life, in which a worker rescues another from an electric shock by giving him artificial respiration and heart massage on a pillar. The worker survived.

Jack Thornell for the photo taken immediately after the shooting of James Meredith, a human rights activist

Harry Trask for a series of photographs of the sinking Italian liner Andrea Doria, taken 9 minutes before it went under water

William Gallagher for photographing US presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson's leaky shoe. Stevenson lost to Eisenhower

1949

Nathaniel Fein for photographing baseball player Babe Ruth's last public appearance. Two months later, the athlete died of cancer

Earl Bunker for photographing a head of family returning home to a small town in southeastern Nebraska

The Pulitzer Prize winners are announced annually on April 10, and the awards are given on the first Monday of the month in May. This award is one of the most significant in literature, along with Booker and the Nobel Prize... It is prestigious to be its laureate, the authors are practically equated with modern classics... The award is presented from 1917 to these days... On the eve of the day when we recognize the new laureate, here is a list of the most significant and famous works of the Pulitzer Prize-winning.

1. "The Short Fantastic Life of Oscar Wow" by Juno Diaz

Another confirmation that the winners of serious awards do not have to be boring and insipid. On the contrary, this story is simply permeated with kindness, light and joy. At first glance, the plot seems ordinary, but a person's life is small and ordinary. But this is a new and interesting perspective on the hero's ability to endure everything and become better in the name of love.

In the center of the plot is Oscar, which has excess weight, clearly not a handsome man living in comics and fantasy. But he is kind, bright, he is a romantic of his time. Living in the Spanish ghetto in America, he dreams of becoming the new Tolkien, but even more he wants to find his love. Everything would be fine, but an ancient family curse rests on him. A kind of prison awaits these people, sorrows, debts and sorrows, but most importantly - no happy love... For example, Oscar's mother is beautiful to the point of insanity, and also unhappy. And then the man decides to break the curse.

2. Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond

Atypical Pulitzer Prize Winner. Jared Diamond is an evolutionary biologist, physiologist, popularizer of science, traveling the world with his anthropological and biological tasks. His book is popular science, not fiction.

The work raises questions of a different plan, for example, why and thanks to what factors has European civilization achieved success in its development? What was the reason for the development of industry, weapons, what prerequisites stood at the beginning of technological progress? What is the overall impact environment and the world around us for our development and for the formation of humanity? This work, despite its fundamental nature, is very easy to read.

3. The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt

The young writer Donna Tartt has been creating this novel for over 10 years. And I must say that we can now fully appreciate her work. This is a huge and vivid canvas against the backdrop of modern literature, which proves that women are no less talented and educated than men. We have already brought Tartt's novels into, it would not be superfluous to include "The Goldfinch" there.

Theo at 13 miraculously survived after an explosion that found him and his mother in a museum. Waking up, a teenager receives a ring and a picture from a dying old man, with a request to save these things. The boy takes them out into the street and takes them for himself. From that moment on, his life becomes difficult and full of trials. He travels from new family to family, learns fate from all sides. And the picture, kept for so many years, can become both his salvation and a curse that will finally destroy Theo, who is consumed by trauma and demons.

4. "Middle Sex" by Jeffrey Eugenides

Shocking and challenging book that many may not like, but also more people admired for the courage and importance of the idea. It’s even strange to think that initially Jeffrey Eugenides was seriously considering becoming a monk or priest. Yet the craving for literature took its toll, for which the writer eventually became a Pulitzer Prize laureate. The author himself became a classic during his lifetime, each of his novels resonates in society.

Middle Sex is a story about a hermaphrodite. It is narrated in the first person, which allows you to even more penetrate everything that happened in the book, and consider it a reality, captured on the pages. But it will be offensive to think that we are only talking about a person who differs from generally accepted rules. It is a story that captures the social, cultural and historical events of the twentieth century. All of them determine the fate of several generations of the Greek family, where the main character is from.

5. Foreign Relations by Alison Lurie

We are all about the serious and the serious, but among the Pulitzer Prize winners there are kind, light and light books. This is exactly what Alison Lurie's book, which I would boldly refer to, belongs to. The story here is about nothing else but love.

Vinnie, professor of English literature, is 54 years old. She cannot be called a beauty, in men, and even more so in marriage, she was disappointed, completely surrendering to science. Sometimes she is entertained by meaningless connections. Everything changes when Vinnie goes to England for work. Her life is changed by the uncouth and rude American Chuck. In parallel, we learn the story of Fred, who hates England and who is annoyed by everything here. Until the moment when he does not meet the star of soap operas and falls in love with her. All of these stories are romantic, adventurous and imbued with wonderful English humor.

6. "Olivia Kitteridge", Elizabeth Stout

The writer became a classic during her lifetime and successfully ranks among the most significant authors of our time. Each of her books is a bestseller all over the world, she wrote for leading publications, it was she who was called both American Chekhov and Yeats in a skirt. In addition to the Pulitzer Prize, she has the Spanish Llibreter Prize and the Italian Bancarella Prize.

Her novel "Olivia Kitteridge" is a true mastery of the writer in all its glory. I would like to note the magnificent language of the author, memorable and distinctive characters. The plot seems deceptively simple, and it is. The book consists of small stories from life small town... Through all the plots, the image of Olivia passes - a retired teacher who smokes and has her own opinion on everything, her tyrannical love for her family and friends stands in the corner of this story. By the way, an equally brilliant mini-series was filmed based on the novel.

7. "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy

The name Cormac McCarthy needs no introduction. His other novel, No Country for Old Men, formed the basis. But the book "The Road" became famous in the literary field, because the author received the Pulitzer Prize for it. For over 30 years it has been a bestseller with millions of copies sold.

To some extent, readers will have to go through an emotional shock from reading, although the plot here is not particularly difficult. The writing style and believability are striking. A father and his young son wander through the desert after a mysterious disaster. Their journey touches upon many issues that are important for humanity. For example, is it worth living where life no longer exists. Where does the line of humanity end? Should we keep alive and fight for the children? The path will change the heroes, one can only guess in which direction.

8. "The Watch", Michael Cunningham

The most famous work of the writer, which brought him incredible fame and the Pulitzer Prize. In 1999, the novel became the best of the year, and it also received the PEN / Faulkner awards. There is also a successful film adaptation that is now considered a cinematic classic.

This is a complex and controversial novel, where all events are interconnected by the theme of time and its course. How does it affect writer's dreams and talent? How does it help or hinder the birth of the book? Can events spread out in time and occurring at different moments affect the plot? Several lines, each with its own story. Virginia Woolf, post-war Los Angeles, 90s and modern New York. The plot is fancifully woven into a knot that the reader has to unravel.

9. "Ship News" by Annie Proul

This novel also brought worldwide fame to the author. He is full of adventurism, tragicomedy and irony. It is easy to read and leaves behind a light sensation. He can also serve as a great motivation, probably thanks to this he received the award in 1994.

In the center of the plot is an unfortunate journalist who, due to a family tragedy, is forced to return to his native small island from noisy New York. This is how a story begins, spanning several generations of his family, full of romance, adventure and tragicomedy incidents. As in any small community, it has its own secrets, skeletons in closets, resentments and hopes. An excellent film has also been made based on the novel.

10. "Sweetheart" by Toni Morrison

It is noteworthy that this novel is the debut for Toni Morrison. Nevertheless, he brought the writer worldwide fame. First, a Pulitzer nomination, and then a Nobel prize... It seems that everything connected with the novel is doomed to success. In any case, the film adaptation was also nominated for an Oscar and entered the history of world cinema, without losing its relevance to this day. The main role was played by Oprah Winfrey, who was unexpectedly well given the dramatic role.

The novel is based on real, and from this no less shocking events. The entire novel is imbued with questions of freedom and its cost. In the 80s, in the nineteenth century, a black slave, saving her daughter from slavery, decides to kill the child, just to prevent her unhappy life. This is the story of a desperate woman and her fate, which is, in fact, worse than death.

11. "Breathing Lessons" by Ann Tyler

While Spool of Blue Thread, another novel by a world-famous writer, won the Booker, Lessons in Breathing won the Pulitzer Prize. Fortunately, last year a translation was released in the CIS countries, and now we can enjoy this high, modern and masterful literature.

Maggie and Ira are a couple. She is impetuous, sharp, energetic. He is calm, restrained, charming. These opposites have been attracted in marriage for almost 30 years. It seems that their family routine is boring and generally ordinary. One day they are going to the funeral of their old acquaintance. Suddenly, on the radio, they learn that the former daughter-in-law is again walking down the aisle. The boring journey turns into a real rescue operation, because the happiness of their son and his love are at stake. As a result, we get a bitter but charming story of one day in the life of a married couple. it A New Look on modern relations, their essence, there is a place for both comedy and drama.

We hope that among this motley list you will find a book to your liking and mood. We intentionally did not include in the selection the long-known and already somewhat boring Pulitzer Prize masterpieces, like Gone with the Winds, which are already on everyone's lips and which can be easily found in the school curriculum.