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Pulitzer Prize for Biography

Pulitzer Prize for distinguished biography or autobiography by an American author.

Established

1917

Country

United States

Prize

$15,000

Frequency

annual

biography
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Notable Past Winners

Explore some of the most celebrated books that have won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography, from groundbreaking debuts to literary masterpieces that have shaped contemporary literature.

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2025 Winner

Every Living Thing: The Great and Deadly Race to Know All Life

by Jason Roberts

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2024 Winner

King: A Life

by Jonathan Eig

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2023 Winner

G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century

by Beverly Gage

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2022 Winner

Chasing Me to My Grave: An Artist's Memoir of the Jim Crow South

by Winfred Rembert and Erin I. Kelly

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View all 21 winners

Award Winners

21 winners recorded from 2005 to present

2025
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Every Living Thing: The Great and Deadly Race to Know All Life

by Jason Roberts

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2024
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King: A Life

by Jonathan Eig

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2023
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G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century

by Beverly Gage

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2022
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Chasing Me to My Grave: An Artist's Memoir of the Jim Crow South

by Winfred Rembert and Erin I. Kelly

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2021
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The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X

by Les Payne and Tamara Payne

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2020
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Sontag: Her Life and Work

by Benjamin Moser

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2019
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The New Negro: The Life of Alain Locke

by Jeffrey C. Stewart

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2018
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Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder

by Caroline Fraser

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2017
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The Return: Fathers, Sons and the Land in Between

by Hisham Matar

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2016
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Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life

by William Finnegan

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2015
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The Pope and Mussolini: The Secret History of Pius XI and the Rise of Fascism in Europe

by David I. Kertzer

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2014
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Margaret Fuller: A New American Life

by Megan Marshall

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2013
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The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo

by Tom Reiss

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2012
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George F. Kennan: An American Life

by John Lewis Gaddis

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2011
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Washington: A Life

by Ron Chernow

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2010
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The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt

by T. J. Stiles

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2009
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American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House

by Jon Meacham

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2008
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Eden's Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father

by John Matteson

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2007
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The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher

by Debby Applegate

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2006
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American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer

by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin

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2005
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de Kooning: An American Master

by Mark Stevens and Annalyn Swan

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More US Awards

Pulitzer Prize for Fiction

Est. 1918

Pulitzer Prize for History

Est. 1917

Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction

Est. 1962

Pulitzer Prize for Poetry

Est. 1922