Pulitzer Prize Winners
The 2008 Pulitzer Prize recipients for Letters, Music and Drama were announced last week. Bob Dylan received a Special Citation “for his profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power.” The Special Citation is an optional award bestowed by the Pulitzer jury as it deems necessary; previous recipients include Ray Bradbury, John Coltrane and Theolonius Monk. This year’s winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction is a first novel, “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao,” by Junot Diaz. It was described the New York Times as "Mario Vargas Llosa meets 'Star Trek' meets David Foster Wallace meets Kanye West." The History award went to Daniel Walker Howe for "What Hath God Wrought: the Transformation of America, 1815-1848,” and the winner for Biography went to "Eden's Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father" by John Matteson. For a complete list of winners in all categories, go to the Pulitzer website.