Overview

• Acting Librarian Robert Randolph Newlen praised Brooks’s storytelling, saying her work has moved millions of readers.
• She will accept the prize and discuss her memoir Memorial Days at the National Book Festival on Sept. 6 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C.
• Brooks previously won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for March and is known for People of the Book and The Secret Chord.
• The Library’s annual Prize for American Fiction recognizes a distinctive body of work, with last year’s honoree being James McBride.
• Coverage notes the announcement comes during leadership upheaval and public scrutiny at the Library following Carla Hayden’s May firing and a brief removal of Constitution text online attributed to a coding error.