Annie Dillard, Pulitzer-Winning Author of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Dies at 81

Annie Dillard, the American writer whose 1974 book Pilgrim at Tinker Creek won the 1975 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction, has died at 81. The news was confirmed by Maggie Nelson, Dillard's literary executor. Pilgrim at Tinker Creek is an autobiographical work that chronicles a year of meditative observation along Tinker Creek in Virginia, written in a contemplative and poetic style. Over a career spanning more than fifty years, Dillard produced novels, essays, poetry collections, and short stories, often exploring spirituality, nature, and metaphysics, frequently interwoven with accounts of her childhood. In the United States, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek became a cult read among enthusiasts of nature writing and is often compared to Henry David Thoreau's Walden; or, Life in the Woods, perhaps the most iconic book in the genre. In Italy, Dillard's works are published by Bompiani, which helped introduce her to Italian readers, notably through the essay collection Ogni giorno è un dio (2016). In 2015, Dillard received the National Humanities Medal from then-President Barack Obama. She was 81 years old at the time of her death.