Who you got? Below is an in-no-way complete list of eligible books I think will get consideration:
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
Homeland Elegies by Ayad Akhtar
Deacon King Kong by James McBride
Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart
Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu
Luster by Raven Leilani
A Children’s Bible by Lidia Millet
The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich
Real Life by Brandon Taylor
Memorial by Bryan Washington
Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam
The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw
The Pulitzer fiction guidelines famously state “For distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life”, which means that Booker winner Shuggie Bain, which is set in Scotland, is going to have an uphill battle to win the Pulitzer. Though it’s not impossible (see The Good Earth or The Orphan Master’s Son).
I think in recent years the Pulitzer has become more open to depictions of American life from more diverse perspectives, and I think this year, considering the fact that many of the most critically praised books of 2020 were written by non-white and/or non-male authors, there’s a pretty good chance the winner will be written from one of those perspectives.
So here are my predictions:
Winner: Deacon King Kong
Shortlist: The Night Watchman, Interior Chinatown
I haven’t yet read The Night Watchman, but I’ve read the other two, and they’re both brilliant novels. And while I think Deacon King Kong will win, I would vote for Interior Chinatown. I just love the experimental structure of it, and the way Yu uses humor to cloak his rage (reminiscent of Paul Beatty’s The Sellout)
So, what do you folks think? Tell me what I missed. Tell me why I’m wrong. Tell me who you think will win, and who you wish would win.
I highly suggest reading it. It's not a fiction book but instead his memoir/recounting of his company, Grantland, putting him on assignment to cover the WSOP. In doing so, he jumped head first into the live poker scene and got coached by relatively famous professionals, with the end goal of competing himself in the main event. It's a hilarious outsiders look on a world most of us take for granted.
Colson Whitehead has joined the list of 2 time Pulitzer prize for fiction winners, which include William Faulkner, John Updike, Norman Mailer, and that's it.
I'm doing a book report for AP Lit and the book of choice needs to be a pulitzer prize winning novel in fiction.
