The Pulitzer citation called “James” an “accomplished reconsideration” that illustrates “the absurdity of racial supremacy and provide a new take on the search for family and freedom.” Everett said in a statement that he was “shocked and pleased, but mostly shocked. This is a wonderful honor.”
"Purpose" was praised in its citation as "a skillful blend of drama and comedy that probes how different generations define heritage." Jacobs-Jenkins had been twice nominated for a drama Pulitzer, for "Everybody" in 2018 and "Gloria" in 2016. He won the Tony Award for best play revival last year for "Appropriate," a work centered on a family reunion in Arkansas where everyone has competing motivations and grievances. He is on the host committee of this year's Met Gala.
Also Monday, Pulitzer officials announced that Jason Roberts won the biography award for “Every Living Thing: The Great and Deadly Race to Know All Life” and Benjamin Nathans' "To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement" had been cited for general nonfiction. Two books were announced as history winners, both of them, like “James” and “Purpose,” explorations of race in U.S. history and culture: Edda L. Fields-Black's “Combee: Harriet Tubman, The Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom During the Civil War” and Kathleen DuVal's "Native Nations: A Millennium in North America."
Marie Howe's “New and Selected Poems” won for poetry, and composer-percussionist Susie Ibarra's “Sky Islands,” an eight-piece ensemble inspired by the rainforest habitats of Luzon, Philippines, was awarded the Pulitzer for music.
The Pulitzers were announced at a time when the National Endowment for the Arts, which has provided support for thousands of writers and literary organizations, was cutting back funding and pushing staff members to leave. Howe and Everett are both past recipients of NEA creative writing fellowships.
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AP Entertainment Writer Mark Kennedy contributed to this report.
Credit: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP
Credit: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP