An Interview with Susan Larson

Photo credit: noladefender.com

Recently, we posted a piece about the Pulitzer Prizes, and the surprising decision not to award a prize for Fiction. Much speculation has occurred as to why the Pulitzer board failed to choose a winner from the nominees. However, one Women’s National Book Association member can offer an insider’s point of view that is not just based on speculation. Susan Larson is the chairperson of the jury that nominates finalists for the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction, and she is also the President of the New Orleans chapter of the WNBA. Ms. Larson recently did an interview with Room 220, in which she gave her opinion on the nominees for the award, and the motivations behind the final decision.

The following quote from Ms. Larson is a small excerpt from “On the Absent Pulitzer” by Cate Czarnecki.

One of the things that surprised me the most on Monday was the public’s—and much of the media’s—misapprehension of the way the process works. Many seemed to think that the jury awarded the prize. The jury submits three finalists to the board in an unranked report. The jurors actually find out the result at the same time everyone else does.”

Read the whole interview here!