Daniel Kraus’ ‘Angel Down’ and Bess Wohl’s ‘Liberation’ are among Pulitzer winners in the arts

NEW YORK (AP) — “Liberation,” Bess Wohl’s look back at the feminist consciousness-raising groups of the 1970s received the drama prize.

Winners announced Monday included two books rooted in the country’s founding. Jill Lepore’s “We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution” won for history, and Amanda Vaill’s “Pride and Pleasure: The Schuyler Sisters in an Age of Revolution” was the winner for biography. Yiyun Li’s “Things in Nature Merely Grow,” her blunt account of the suicides of her two sons, was cited for memoir-autobiography. Brian Goldstone’s “There is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America” won for general nonfiction.

The poetry prize went to Juliana Spahr’s “Ars Poeticas,” and the music award was given to Gabriela Lena Frank for “Picaflor: A Future Myth,” a symphonic work inspired by Andean legend and California wildfires.

The 50-year-old Kraus has had a diverse and prolific career that includes collaborations with filmmakers George Romero and Guillermo del Toro. Pulitzer officials praised “Angel Down” as “a stylistic tour-de-force that blends such genres as allegory, magical realism, and science fiction into a cohesive whole, told in a single sentence.”

Wohl’s memory play collects second-wave feminists from all walks of life as they tackle misogyny, internalized homophobia, domestic abuse and gender roles. The play navigates between past and present, and six of the actors disrobe for the Act 2 opening scene. The win comes a day before the Tony Award nominations, when “Liberation” is expected to be named in the best new play category.

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Entertainment Writer Mark Kennedy contributed.