Which author won the 1965 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for The Keepers of the House?

Shirley Ann Grau won the 1965 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for The Keepers of the House.

The novel is set in the American South and follows several generations of the Howland family. Its narrative examines family history, race, class, memory, and the consequences of long-hidden relationships in a changing Southern society.

Grau structures the story around inherited memory and multiple perspectives, gradually revealing facts that challenge the family’s public reputation. This approach makes the novel both a family saga and an examination of the social order in which the family lives.

The book is sometimes overlooked beside more famous Southern novels by authors such as Harper Lee and William Faulkner. Grau’s Pulitzer was awarded in 1965, the same year that the prize’s broader literary attention included major American writing about race and regional identity.