Two class-conscious novels named as winners of 2023 Pulitzer Prize for fiction

Two class-conscious novels have been announced as joint winners of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for fiction.

Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead and Hernan Diaz’s Trust were both awarded the prestigious literary prize on Monday.

Kingsolver’s novel is a modern recasting of Charles Dickens’ classic David Copperfield – following a similar narrative structure.

It tells the story of the book’s narrator, Damon, as he struggles to navigate the US opioid crisis.

Judges described Kingsolver’s novel as “masterful” in its discussion of poverty, addiction, institutional failures and moral collapse.

Set in 1920s New York, Diaz’s Trust was described as “a riveting novel set in a bygone America that explores family wealth and ambition” and “a complex examination of love and power in a country where capitalism is king”.

His Name Is George Floyd, by Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnip, won the general non-fiction category.

The book uses the life of Mr Floyd and his murder in 2020 as a lens through which to examine racism in the US, and draw from interviews from his family, friends and members of his local community.

Elsewhere, the 2023 Pulitzer prizes celebrated journalists across the US.

The Associated Press won two awards for its coverage of the war in Ukraine, including the top prize – the Public Service award.

Mstyslav Chernov, Evgeniy Maloletka, Vasilisa Stepanenko and Lori Hinnant, were all recognised for their work covering the conflict.

AP photography staff also won in the breaking news photography category.