Percival Everett, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Susie Ibarra take home 2025 Pulitzer Prizes in arts
In a year that saw reinterpretations of American narratives and explorations of identity and history, the 2025 Pulitzer Prizes in books, drama, and music honoured a diverse slate of voices.
Percival Everett won the fiction prize for James, a reframing of Huckleberry Finn through the eyes of Jim. Playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins captured the drama award with Purpose, an intergenerational reckoning within a Civil Rights-era family, while composer Susie Ibarra was recognised for Sky Islands, a vibrant ecological soundscape.
Fiction
📌 Winner: James, by Percival Everett (Doubleday)
Percival Everett earned the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction with James, a riveting reimagining of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn told from the perspective of Jim, the enslaved man who accompanies Huck on his journey. Everett's novel restores agency to Jim, r📌eframing the narrative to confront the absurdities of racial supremacy and deepen the themes of freedom and family.
Finalists:
📌Mice 1961, by Stacey Levine
📌The Unicorn Woman, by Gayl Jones
Drama
📌 Winner: Purpose, by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
This deeply layered play delves into the complex legacy of a Black upper-middle-class family whose patriarch played a pivotal role in the Civil Rights Movement. Through a mix of drama and humor, Jacobs-Jenkins explores generational conflict and the evolving meaning of heritage.
Finalists:
📌Oh, Mary!, by Cole Escola
📌 The Ally, by Itamar Moses
History
📌Winner: Combee: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom During the Civil War, by Edda L. Fields-Black (Oxford University Press)
Fields-Black provides a gripping and detailed account of a transformative raid led by Harriet Tubman that freed 756 enslaved people. The book interweaves military strategy with personal and cultural history, reshaping narratives around Tubman's heroism.
Finalists:
Native Nations, by Kathleen DuVal
Plantation Goods, by Seth Rockman
Biography
📌Winner: Every Living Thing, by Jason Roberts (Random House)
Roberts crafts a compelling dual biography of Carl Linnaeus and Georges-Louis de Buffon, two pioneering 18th-century naturalists. The book explores their scientific contributions and rivalries that shaped modern understanding of biology.
Finalists:
📌John Lewis: A Life, by David Greenberg
📌The World She Edited, by Amy Reading
Memoir or Autobiography
Winner: Feeding Ghosts: A Graphic Memoir, by Tessa Hulls (MCD)
This visually striking and emotionally rich graphic memoir traces three generations of Chinese women, examining the legacy of trauma and resilience across decades. Hulls merges visual art with powerful storytelling to explore family, identity, and survival.
Finalists:
Fi: A Memoir of My Son, by Alexandra Fuller
I Heard Her Call My Name, by Lucy Sante
Poetry
Winner: New and Selected Poems, by Marie Howe (W. W. Norton & Company)
Howe's collection, spanning her career, reflects on mortality, holiness, and the quiet profundities of everyday life. Her lyrical voice has long been celebrated for its emotional clarity and spiritual depth.
Finalists:
An Authentic Life, by Jennifer Chang
Bluff: Poems, by Danez Smith
General Nonfiction
📌 Winner: To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause, by Benjamin Nathans (Princeton University Press)
This comprehensive and moving account of Soviet dissidents reveals the endurance of human rights activism under authoritarianism. Nathans brings to life a cast of brave individuals fighting for freedom against overwhelming odds.
Finalists:
📌 I Am on the Hit List, by Rollo Romig
📌 Until I Find You, by Rachel Nolan
Music
📌Winner: Sky Islands, by Susie Ibarra
Premiered at the Asia Society in New York, Sky Islands is a celebration of biodiversity and sonic innovation. Ibarra's work challenges traditional compositional boundaries, using improvisation and environmental themes to craft a vibrant, immersive musical experience.
Finalists:
📌 Jim is Still Crowing, by Jalalu-Kalvert Nelson
📌 The Comet, by George Lewis
Special Citation
Chuck Stone (Posthumous)
Stone was honored for his groundbreaking work in journalism, notably as the first Black columnist at the Philadelphia Daily News, his fearless coverage of the Civil Rights Movement, and his role as co-founder of the National Association of Black Journalists.
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