The Library of Congress has awarded Geraldine Brooks, a Jewish author whose best-selling novels are often inspired by Jewish history, its prestigious 2025 Prize for American Fiction.
Brooks, a former foreign correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for her novel “March,” which reimagines “Little Women” from the father’s perspective, in 2006.
Her bestselling novels also often focus on aspects of Jewish history, including “People of the Book,” which chronicles the preservation of the famed Sarajevo Haggadah, and “The Secret Chord,” which explores the life of King David.
Brooks’ award comes as the Library of Congress is embroiled in uncertainty amid Trump administration’s efforts to wield ostensibly nonpartisan government institutions to advance its ideological agenda. Earlier this month, the library drew controversy after some sections of the online version of the U.S. Constitution were briefly deleted due to an unspecified “coding error.” And in May, President Donald Trump fired the library’s top administrator, Carla Hayden, over her alleged “pursuit of DEI and putting inappropriate books in the library for children,” cutting short her 10-year term.
Hayden’s acting replacement, Robert Randolph Newlen, championed Brooks in a statement.
“One of the reasons we invited Geraldine Brooks to become the next Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction winner is how she makes readers feel,” Newlen said.
Brooks married Anthony Horowitz, a Jewish author and journalist, in 1984 and converted to Judaism. At the Library of Congress National Book Festival on Sept. 6., she will discuss her latest book, “Memorial Days,” a memoir about the sudden death of her husband in 2019.
“I am honored by this wonderful prize from America’s greatest library,” Brooks said in a statement. “As a writer inspired by history, it is moving to be connected by the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction to the institution created by John Adams for the very first Congress, saved by Thomas Jefferson after the conflagration of 1812, and carried into the present by visionary librarians who value inclusion, free expression and truth.”
Last year’s winner of the American fiction award was James McBride, who also has infused his Jewish background into his books, including his most recent novel “The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store.” Previous Jewish winners include E.L. Doctorow, Philip Roth and the prize’s first honoree, “Marjorie Morningstar” author Herman Wouk.
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