Yiyun Li wins Pulitzer memoir prize

A memoir prize can sound niche. But this one lands with unusual force, because the book at the center of it is about surviving the kind of loss most people can barely name. On May 4, 2026, Yiyun Li won the Pulitzer Prize for Memoir or Autobiography for *Things in Nature Merely Grow*, a 2025 book about the suicides of her two sons, more than six years apart. The award matters on its own. But it also tells you what kind of book the Pulitzer board wanted to elevate this year — severe, unsentimental, and intensely committed to language. (princeton.edu) ### Who is Yiyun Li? Li is one of the most respected literary writers working in English right now — a novelist, story writer, essayist, and memoirist who also teaches at Princeton as the Robert F. Goheen Professor in the Humanities and professor of creative writing. She has been widely known for fiction like *The(princeton.edu)ing *Dear Friend, from My Life I Write to You in Your Life*. (princeton.edu) ### What is this memoir about? Basically, it is a book about grief that refuses the usual script. *Things in Nature Merely Grow* centers on the deaths of Li’s sons, Vincent and James, both by suicide. The Pulitzer citation describes it as a moving and revelatory account that is also austere and defiant — a memoir (princeton.edu)ot framed as uplift. It is framed as endurance. (arts.princeton.edu) ### Why does “austere and defiant” matter? Because those are not standard prize-book adjectives for grief writing. A lot of memoirs in this lane promise healing, closure, or lessons. Li’s book has been praised for doing almost the opposite — stripping away the expected consolations and staying with what cannot be rep(arts.princeton.edu)al acceptance” and its refusal to be captured by prevailing narratives of mourning. That helps explain why Pulitzer jurors were drawn to it too. (nationalbook.org) ### What did Li say about winning? She called it a “bittersweet honor,” which feels exactly right for a book like this. Li said the memoir was written during a difficult period of her life and that writing it came from her faith in language, thinking, and carrying on despite enormous loss. Turns out that is also a neat summary of why (nationalbook.org)softens grief, but because it thinks through grief with total seriousness. (arts.princeton.edu) ### Was the Pulitzer the first big prize? No — and that is part of the story. The memoir had already won the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction, so the Pulitzer confirms that this was not a one-off burst of attention. It has been building for months as one of the most discussed serious memoirs of the 2025-26 reading cycle. The Pulitzer now locks it into the year’s canonical reading list. (arts.princeton.edu) ### Why are people also talking about Iowa? Because Li is also an alumna of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and the University of Iowa had a notably strong Pulitzer week. Iowa said more than 40 Iowa-affiliated writers have now won Pulitzers, and this year Li and novelist Daniel Kraus were winners while two other alumni w(arts.princeton.edu)traveled fast in literary circles. (now.uiowa.edu) ### So why does this win matter beyond awards? Because prizes shape what gets read, taught, stocked, and discussed. A Pulitzer can turn a respected book into a shared reference point. In this case, the book being elevated is one that insists grief is not a problem to solve. It is a condition to witness, in exact language, without flinching. (arts.princeton.edu) ### Bottom line? Li did not win for a memoir that makes tragedy feel manageable. She won for one that stares at it directly — and keeps faith with words anyway. (arts.princeton.edu)