Which American author won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2007 for 'The Road'?

Cormac McCarthy won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for his novel The Road. Published in 2006, the book follows an unnamed father and his young son as they travel through a devastated landscape after an unspecified catastrophe.

The award recognized McCarthy’s stark post-apocalyptic novel, whose spare prose contrasts with its powerful themes of love, survival, moral responsibility, and hope. The father repeatedly speaks of “carrying the fire,” a phrase that represents the possibility of preserving compassion and goodness even after civilization has collapsed.

The year can cause confusion because The Road was published in 2006 but received the Pulitzer in 2007. McCarthy had already established a major literary reputation through novels including Blood Meridian and All the Pretty Horses, yet The Road brought his work to a wider audience. Oprah Winfrey selected it for her book club in 2007, further increasing its visibility.