Industry & Advocacy News
September 22, 2026
The Authors Guild is saddened at the passing of longtime member Annie Dillard. She was the youngest woman to win the Pulitzer Prize, which she received in 1975 for her book Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, a personal narrative about her year’s exploration of the Virginia region through which Tinker Creek runs.
Her many notable works include An American Childhood, which describes her childhood in the Pittsburgh area, and novels like The Living (a fictional account of European settlers and a group of Lummi natives in late 19th century Washington) and The Maytrees (which she described as “a novel of lifelong love set on Cape Cod among the Provincetown artists’ colony people, starting in the 1940’s”). She received a myriad of other awards throughout her career, including the National Humanities Medal. She also received several honorary degrees—though not as many as were offered to her; according to her website, “Subsequent honorary degrees turned down as they take days and days in heels.”
Dillard used her platform and her voice to benefit other writers. In The Writing Life, she wrote a collection of essays on writing that The Chicago Tribune described as “a warm, rambling conversation with a stimulating and extraordinarily talented colleague.” In her 36-year membership in the Authors Guild, she was very engaged on our advocacy issues around authors rights, and she was a consistent donor to the Authors Guild Foundation. We will miss her talent and her support.
