Elizabeth Strout wins Pulitzer for Olive Kitteridge

Elizabeth Strout

Dark horse Elizabeth Strout has won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction with her novel, Olive Kitteridge. Strout beat a pack of literary heavyweights, including Philip Roth, John Updike, Toni Morrison, Annie Proulx, Jhumpa Lahiri, and the hot favorite Marilynne Robinson.

Set in a small town in Maine, Olive Kitteridge binds together 13 short stories. Olive Kitteridge, a retired schoolteacher, hates changes but rarely notices the changes taking place around her. As the townsfolk struggle with their problems, Olive is forced into a deeper understanding of her life. Strout was raised in small communities in New Hampshire and Maine.

olive-kitteridge The Pulitzer judges said the book “packs a cumulative emotional wallop, bound together by polished prose and by Olive, the title character, blunt, flawed and fascinating.”

Strout’s debut novel, Amy and Isabelle, was shortlisted for the 2000 Orange Prize but today’s Pulitzer announcement propels her into the upper ranks of the American literary establishment. She released her second novel, Abide with Me, in 2006 to mixed reviews but the reception for Olive Kitteridge has been overwhelmingly positive. The other Pulitzer Prize Finalists for Fiction were The Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich and All Souls by Christine Schutt.