Writers Jayne Anne Phillips, Jonathan Eig, Ilyon Woo and Nathan Thrall were announced last night amongst the 2024 Pulitzer Prize winners.

Jayne Anne Phillips won the Fiction prize for her novel, Night Watch; Jonathan Eig and Ilyon Woo jointly won the biography prize for their respective works, King: The Life of Martin Luther King and Master Slave Husband Wife; and Nathan Thrall won in the Nonfiction category for A Day in the Life of Abed Salama.

The Pulitzer Prize is awarded each year for distinguished American writing, dealing with American life. The prize covers categories spanning across reporting, criticism, photography and books. You can learn more about this year's winners below, or see previous winners in our Pulitzer Prize Collection.

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Night Watch by Jayne Anne Phillips

In 1874, in the wake of the American Civil War, trauma haunts civilians and veterans, renegades and wanderers, freedmen and runaways. Twelve-year-old ConaLee and her mother, Eliza, who hasn't spoken in more than a year, arrive at the Trans-Allegh eny Lunatic Asylum in West Virginia, trying to reclaim their lives.

The twin horrors of war and race loom over their history, but they slowly get swept up in the life of the hospital and begin to find a new path. Epic, enthralling and meticulously crafted, Night Watch is a brilliant portrait of family endurance against all odds and a stunning chronicle of surviving war and its aftermath.

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Biography: King: The Life of Martin Luther King by Jonathan Eig

The compelling story of Martin Luther King’s life and achievements has become simplified in a way that fails to do full justice to his radical vision and importance. Now, in King, we get the most comprehensive and complete portrait ever written about this iconic figure. Jonathan Eig’s superb biography is based on years of research, hundreds of interviews and many thousands of previously unreleased documents, including a huge cache from the FBI. Eig reveals King’s story to be more compelling and more complex than we knew.

This fascinating biography not only shines new light on King’s remarkable career, but also humanises him so that he becomes more than a symbol of hope and defiance, but as a man with flaws, a sense of humour, as a father and a husband. It’s an essential read for our times.

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Biography: Master Slave Husband Wife, by Ilyon Woo

The remarkable true story of Ellen and William Craft, who escaped slavery through daring, determination, and disguise, with Ellen passing as a wealthy, disabled white man and William posing as "his" slave.

In 1848, a year of international democratic revolt, a young, enslaved couple, Ellen and William Craft, achieved one of the boldest feats of self-emancipation in history. Posing as master and slave, they made their escape together across more than 1,000 miles, from bondage in Georgia to the free states of the North. This is just one of three epic journeys that this book combines into one monumental bid for freedom; Master Slave Husband Wife recounts both a ground-breaking quest for liberty and justice, and an unforgettable love story.

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction: A Day in the Life of Abed Salama by Nathan Thrall

Milad is five years old and excited for his school trip to a theme park on the outskirts of Jerusalem, but tragedy awaits - his bus is involved in a horrific accident. His father, Abed, rushes to the chaotic site, only to find Milad has already been taken away. Abed sets off on a journey to learn Milad's fate, navigating a maze of physical, emotional, and bureaucratic obstacles he must face as a Palestinian.

Interwoven with Abed's odyssey are the stories of Jewish and Palestinian characters whose lives and pasts unexpectedly converge. A Day in the Life of Abed Salama is a deeply immersive, stunningly detailed portrait of life in Israel and Palestine, and an illumination of the reality of one of the most contested places on earth.

You can view the full list of 2024 Pulitzer Prize winners here, including the winner for Poetry, Tripas by Brandon Som, and the winner for Memoir, Liliana’s Invincible Summer by Cristina Rivera Garza.