The Pulitzer Prizes were announced on Monday, bestowing one of America’s most prestigious awards in journalism and the arts on writers across a range of categories. Among the winners were three authors who had also appeared on the Book Review’s list of the 10 Best Books of 2022: the New Yorker staff writer Hua Hsu, for his memoir “Stay True,” and two novelists who (in a first for the Pulitzers) shared the prize in fiction, Barbara Kingsolver for “Demon Copperhead” and Hernan Diaz for “Trust.”
On this week’s episode, Hsu and Diaz chat with the host Gilbert Cruz about their books and what it’s like to win a Pulitzer.
“I wish I had a more articulate thing to say, but it was just truly weird,” Hsu tells Cruz about learning he was the inaugural winner in the memoir category. (Before this year, memoirs were judged alongside biographies.) “It was a thrill, but it was also just truly a weird out-of-body experience.”
For Diaz, the Pulitzer announcement came while he was at a fried chicken and waffle restaurant in South Carolina, where he was on tour to promote his book’s paperback release. “I totally lost it,” he says. “I had to go out and, I’m a little bit embarrassed to confess it but I was weeping sitting on the curb. And these three lovely older ladies come by and they ask me, Oh sweetheart, honey, are you OK? I’m not exactly sure what I said, but I shared the good news with them and suddenly all four of us were hugging in the middle of the street. So it was a good moment.”
We would love to hear your thoughts about this episode, and about the Book Review’s podcast in general. You can send them to books@nytimes.com.
Let's Talk About Percival Everett's 'James'
Writing About NASA's Most Shocking Moment
Fantasy Superstar Leigh Bardugo on Her New Novel
Colm Toibin on His Sequel to 'Brooklyn'
Book Club: Dolly Alderton's 'Good Material'
100 Years of Simon & Schuster
Looking Back at 50 Years of Stephen King
Books That Make Our Critics Laugh
Talking to Tana French About Her New Series
Talking ‘Dune’: Book and Movies
Book Club: Let’s Talk About ‘Erasure,’ by Percival Everett
Tommy Orange on His "There There" Sequel
The Rise and Fall of The Village Voice
Let's Talk About 'Demon Copperhead'
4 Early-Year Book Recommendations
'Killers of the Flower Moon': Book and Movie Discussion
Talking the Joys and Rules of Open Marriage
Our Early 2024 Book Preview
Steven Soderbergh on His Year in Reading
Book Club: 'The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store'
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Ander Louis Podcast
Strong Sense of Place
Scott Sigler Slices: SLAY Season 2
The Art of War
Anne of Green Gables
The Essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson Podcast
Slate Books