Your 2026 Pulitzer Prize Book Guide: Winners, Finalists, and What to Read Next

Winner: “Angel Down,” by Daniel Kraus

Finalists: “Audition,” by Katie Kitamura & “Stag Dance: A Quartet,” by Torrey Peters

This isn’t the first award Daniel Kraus has received, though it may be his first Pulitzer. Familiar titles bearing his name include “The Living Dead,” “The Shape of Water,” and “Trollhunters.” In “Angel Down,” he’s created an alternate history set during World War I.

Five soldiers are sent into No Man’s Land to “euthanize” an injured soldier. But they find an angel that looks like it was hit by artillery fire. The angel may be what’s needed to end the war, but the men have to find a way to get past their own human failings.

History:

Winner: “We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution,” by Jill Lepore

Finalists: “King of Kings: The Iranian Revolution: A Story of Hubris, Delusion and Catastrophic Miscalculation,” by Scott Anderson & “Born in Flames: The Business of Arson and The Remaking of the American City,” by Bench Ansfield

Author Jill Lepore has a stunning list of books bearing her name, and this one is very timely for the American people. It has even been named one of former President Barack Obama’s favorite books of 2025. It seems like a very good candidate for a Pulitzer Prize.

According to the lengthy description, the history of our constitution asserts that the authors of that document intended that future generations would always be amending it and working towards a “more perfect union.” It states that the Constitution hasn’t been “meaningfully amended since 1971.” Without that change, she suggests that “the risk of political violence rises” as well as change through the president or judiciary.

Biography:

Winner: “Pride and Pleasure: The Schuyler Sisters in an Age of Revolution,” by Amanda Vaill

Finalists: “True Nature: The Pilgrimage of Peter Matthiessen,” by Lance Richardson & “The Life and Poetry of Frank Stanford,” by James McWilliams

Who hasn’t heard the name Hamilton in recent years? But how much is known about Elizabeth Schuyler, who was married to him? Or about her sister, Angelica Schuyler? This biography of the sisters presents a different perspective on the Revolutionary War and its impact on the sisters’ lives.

Memoir or Autobiography:

Winner: “Things in Nature Merely Grow,” by Yiyun Li

Finalists: “Clam Down: A Metamorphosis,” by Anelise Chen, “Bibliophobia: A Memoir,” by Sarah Chihaya, & “I’ll Tell You When I’m Home: A Memoir,” by Hala Alyan

It’s difficult to describe this Pulitzer Prize winner in a way other than the description that’s already been written for it. It’s a book written by a mother who has lost both of her children to suicide, at the ages of 16 and 19. But the description also tells us that it isn’t “a book about grieving or mourning.” As someone who has lived through a difficult loss, this alone gives me reason to read its pages.

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Poetry:

Winner: “Ars Poeticas,” by Juliana Spahr

Finalists: “I Imagine I Been Science Fiction Always,” by Douglas Kearney & “The Intentions of Thunder: New and Selected Poems,” by Patricia Smith

General Nonfiction:

Winner: “There Is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America,” by Brian Goldstone

Finalists: “A Flower Traveled in My Blood: The Incredible True Story of the Grandmothers Who Fought to Find a Stolen Generation of Children,” by Haley Cohen Gilliland & “Mother Emanuel: Two Centuries of Race, Resistance, and Forgiveness in One Charleston Church,” by Kevin Sack

It’s difficult to believe that, in the year 2026, in the country known as “the land of opportunity,” there are people working full-time jobs who cannot afford to stay housed. But Brian Goldstone has done the reporting this country needs to see the people who are otherwise invisible. He follows five families in Atlanta who struggle to survive in the current economy. These folks are included in the usual homelessness statistics and, even if they were, shouldn’t we see them as people?

What a Reading List!

Now that you’ve seen the list of Pulitzer Prize book award winners and finalists, which ones are you adding to your personal to-be-read lists? Don’t forget: if you can’t afford to purchase a book for your personal collection, your local library may already have a copy either in the library or available to borrow as an eBook. Libraries are a treasure trove! My library’s website is the information hub for everything they offer.

Find me online and share which books you’ve read and what you thought of them. Or let me know which ones you’re planning to read. I think “We the People” seems like a good place to start.