--- title: Pulitzer Prize: Winners Include Colson Whitehead, ProPublica description: Author of "The Underground Railroad," Colson Whitehead, is among the 2017 Pulitzer Prize winners. canonical: https://time.com/4733551/colson-whitehead-pulitzer-prize/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-04-10T19:54:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T04:19:40.405Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Colson Whitehead Among This Year's Pulitzer Prize Winners og:description: Whitehead won the award for 'The Underground Railroad' og:url: https://time.com/4733551/colson-whitehead-pulitzer-prize/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt489f0b83625e7233/6988c2230b72e31c586ed457/underground.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: underground og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Colson Whitehead Among This Year's Pulitzer Prize Winners twitter:description: Whitehead won the award for 'The Underground Railroad' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt489f0b83625e7233/6988c2230b72e31c586ed457/underground.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Colson Whitehead Wins Pulitzer Prize in Fiction for _The Underground Railroad_ by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Apr 10, 2017 7:54 PM CUT  Doubleday by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Apr 10, 2017 7:54 PM CUT [Colson Whitehead](http://time.com/4447972/colson-whitehead-the-underground-railroad/ "undefined") won the top award in American literature on Monday, receiving the Pulitzer Prize in fiction for his novel [_The Underground Railroad_](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0385542364/?tag=timecom-20 "undefined"). The story of slaves escaping via a literal railroad had previously won the [National Book Award](http://time.com/4574326/colson-whitehead-national-book-award/ "undefined") and was selected as part of Oprah’s Book Club. Fellow finalists in the fiction category were Adam Haslett for [_Imagine Me Gone_](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0316261335/?tag=timecom-20 "undefined") and C.E. Morgan for [_The Sport of Kings_](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0374281084/?tag=timecom-20 "undefined"). Lynn Nottage took home the prize in drama for [_Sweat_](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1559365323/?tag=timecom-20 "undefined"), which has already been received as perhaps the [first notable play of the Trump era](http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/03/27/the-first-theatrical-landmark-of-the-trump-era "undefined"). Hisham Matar’s [_The Return: Fathers, Sons and the Land in Between_](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0812985087/?tag=timecom-20 "undefined") won the prize for biography, Heather Ann Thompson’s [_Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy_](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0375423222/?tag=timecom-20 "undefined")won for history, and Matthew Desmond’s [_Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City_](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0553447459/?tag=timecom-20 "undefined") won for general nonfiction. The poetry prize went to Tyehimba Jess’s [_Olio_](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1940696208/?tag=timecom-20 "undefined") and the music prize went to Du Yun’s _Angel’s Bone_. **Read more:** [**An excerpt from Thompson’s** **_Blood in the Water_**](http://time.com/4447168/blood-water-excerpt/ "undefined") In journalism, the New York Daily _News_ and ProPublica shared the public service award for their reporting on eviction rules. Three awards went to work that appeared in the New York _Times_ and two to the Miami _Herald_. The _New Yorker_‘s Hilton Als won the prize for criticism, and the Wall Street _Journal_‘s Peggy Noonan won for commentary. Read the full list of winners [here](http://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-year/2017 "undefined"). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4733551/colson-whitehead-pulitzer-prize/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4733551/colson-whitehead-pulitzer-prize/"},"headline":"Colson Whitehead Wins Pulitzer Prize in Fiction for The Underground Railroad","datePublished":"2017-04-10T19:54:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T04:19:40.405Z","description":"The novel previously won the National Book Award","url":"https://time.com/4733551/colson-whitehead-pulitzer-prize/","keywords":["Books","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt489f0b83625e7233/6988c2230b72e31c586ed457/underground.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt489f0b83625e7233/6988c2230b72e31c586ed457/underground.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"underground","caption":"","creditText":"Doubleday","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/books/","name":"Books"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4733551/colson-whitehead-pulitzer-prize/","name":"Colson Whitehead Wins Pulitzer Prize in Fiction for The Underground Railroad"}}]}] ```