Pulitzer Prize For ‘Invisible Child’ By Andrea Elliott
Random House author Andrea Elliott has won a Pulitzer Prize for her nonfiction book “Invisible Child.” In it, Elliott tells the story of a homeless girl in New York. Since the first Pulitzer was awarded in 1917, 133 Penguin Random House authors have received the prestigious prize.
At Monday evening’s presentation of the prestigious Pulitzer Prizes in New York, our colleagues at Penguin Random House once again had reason to rejoice. Since 1917, the Pulitzer Prizes in Journalism, Arts, and Letters, often referred to as the “Oscars” of the media world, have been awarded annually by the Pulitzer School of Journalism at New York’s Columbia University – now in 22 categories. Six of these categories are dedicated to books, and Penguin Random House authors have been honored with the prestigious award no fewer than 132 times over the decades. On Monday night, the publishing group celebrated its 133rd Pulitzer, as Random House author Andrea Elliott received the award in the General Nonfiction category for her work “Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival & Hope in an American City.” In her book, Elliott tells the story of a homeless girl in New York. “Home, Land, Security: Deradicalization and the Journey Back from Extremism” by Carla Power (One World) was a finalist in the same category.
Commenting on “Invisible Child,” the Pulitzer judges write in their citation: “An affecting, deeply reported account of a girl who comes of age during New York’s homeless crisis—a portrait of resilience amid institutional failure that successfully merges literary narrative with policy analysis.” It is the third Pulitzer Prize-winning work overseen by Kate Medina, Executive Vice President and Associate Publisher at Random House. The other two are “Amazing Adventures Of Kavalier And Clay” by Michael Chabon (Fiction, 2001) and “American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House” by Jon Meacham (Biography, 2009). “Andrea Elliott’s moving and beautiful book about Dasani’s life tells a story whose relevance continues to this day,” says Medina. “This important book about resilience, ingenuity, family, and the costs of inequality explores in a stunning way an answer to the question, ‘What about the children?’”
Past Pulitzer winners on the Penguin Random House roster include “The Nickel Boys” by Colson Whitehead (Fiction, Doubleday, 2020), “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy (Fiction, Knopf, 2006), and “Ghost Wars” by Steve Coll (General Nonfiction, Penguin Press, 2005).
