The PEN/Faulkner Award - 2003-1981
Named after Hungarian newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer, this award honors books which address the largest themes in life, the raw passion and tragedy of the human condition.

2003 - Middlesex Jeffrey Eugenides
2002 - Empire Falls Richard Russo
2001 - The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay Michael Chabon
2000 - Interpreter of Maladies Jhumpa Lahiri
1999 - The Hours Michael Cunningham
1997 - Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer Stephen Millhauser
1998 - American Pastoral Philip Roth
1996 - Independence Day Richard Ford
1995 - The Stone Diaries Carol Shields
1994 - The Shipping News E. Annie Proulx
1993 - A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain Robert Olen Butler
1992 - A Thousand Acres Jane Smiley
1991 - Rabbit at Rest John Updike
1990 - The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love Oscar Hijuelos
1989 - Breathing Lessons Anne Tyler
1988 - Beloved Toni Morrison
1987 - A Summons to Memphis Peter Taylor
1986 - Lonesome Dove Larry McMurtry
1985 - Foreign Affairs Alison Lurie
1984 - Ironweed William Kennedy
1983 - The Color Purple Alice Walker
1982 - Rabbit is Rich John Updike
1981 - A Confederacy of Dunces John Kennedy Toole
1980 - The Executioner’s Song Norman Mailer
1979 - The Stories of John Cheever John Cheever
1978 - Elbow Room James Alan McPherson
1977 - No Award
1976 - Humboldt’s Gift Saul Bellow
1975 - The Killer Angels Michael Shaara
1974 - No Award
1973 - The Optimist’s Daughter Eudora Welty
1972 - Angle of Repose Wallace Stegner
1971 - No Award
1970 - Collected Stories Jean Stafford
1969 - House Made of Dawn N. Scott Momaday
1968 - The Confessions of Nat Turner William Styron
1967 - The Fixer Bernard Malamud
1966 - The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter Katherine Anne Porter
1965 - The Keepers of the House Shirley Ann Grau
1964 - No Award
1963 - The Reivers William Faulkner
1962 - The Edge of Sadness Edwin O’Connor
1961 - To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee
1960 - Advise and Consent Allen Drury
1959 - The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters Robert Lewis Taylor
1958 - A Death in the Family James Agee
1957 - No Award
1956 - Andersonville MacKinlay Kantor
1955 - A Fable William Faulkner
1954 - No Award
1953 - The Old Man and the Sea Ernest Hemingway
1952 - The Caine Mutiny Herman Wouk
1951 - The Town Conrad Richter
1950 - The Way West A. B. Guthrie, Jr.
1949 - Guard of Honor James Gould Cozzens
1948 - Tales of the South Pacific James A. Michener