2021 Pulitzer Prize

The 2021 Pulitzer Prizes in Letters and Drama were announced on June 11, 2021, about six weeks later than usual after the board postponed the announcement during the pandemic. Louise Erdrich won the Fiction prize for The Night Watchman, drawn from her grandfather's fight against a federal termination bill in the 1950s, and Katori Hall won Drama for The Hot Wing King. Marcia Chatelain received the History prize for Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America. The Biography prize went to The Dead Are Arising, the life of Malcolm X begun by the late Les Payne and completed by his daughter Tamara Payne. Natalie Diaz won Poetry for Postcolonial Love Poem, and David Zucchino won General Nonfiction for Wilmington's Lie. Two finalists were named in each of the six categories.