Barbara Kingsolver, a writer who grew up in Kentucky and lives in Southwestern Virginia, won a Pulitzer Prize for fiction this week.
The Appalachian novelist is the first in the region to receive the prestigious award since 1958.
Kingsolver’s novel, “Demon Copperhead” is a modern retelling of Charles Dicken’s classic “David Copperfield.”
In a talk at Emory & Henry College in Virginia in March, Kingsolver highlighted her relationship with the region.
“I love Appalachia. I love being Appalachian. I love the people. The community. The ways that we are. And it makes me really angry that outsiders don’t see us. They don’t know us. If they see Appalachia on TV or in a movie what is it? It’s a joke," Kingsolver said.
Kingsolver told the audience her passion for her homeland and desire to fairly convey Appalachia inspired her writing.
“My project as a writer has been to speak of my people with honesty, with respect, with compassion, with nuance," Kingsolver said.
“Many generations ago, Charles Dickens wrote David Copperfield from his experience as a survivor of institutional poverty and its damages to children in his society. Those problems have yet to be solved in ours. Dickens is not a prerequisite for readers of this novel, but he provided its inspiration,” explained Kingsolver’s website.
This week’s Pulitzers are the first time in the category’s 105-year history that two fiction books have won, according to the Associated Press. Officials have declined to name a fiction winner several times, mostly recently in 2012.
“I wrote this book for my people because we are so invisible to the rest of the world and so persistently misrepresented,” Kingsolver told the Associated Press. “I couldn’t be happier (about the Pulitzer) for this reason.”
The past Appalachian winner of the prize was “A Death in the Family” by James Agee in 1958, according to Kentucky Poet Laureate Silas House.
House posted to Facebook about Kingsolver’s win and their friendship.
“She has been an inspiration not only in her writing but also in her consistent activism,” House said in a Facebook post. ”We all know she is one of our best living writers and she’s also an example of how to live our best, most conscientious lives.”
North Carolina native Rhiannon Giddons also received a Pulitzer Prize for music yesterday. Here is the full list of this year's winners.
