Which novel by William Faulkner won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1963?

The William Faulkner novel that won the 1963 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction is The Reivers.

Published in 1962, The Reivers was Faulkner’s final novel and appeared about a month before his death in 1962. It follows 11-year-old Lucius Priest, who becomes involved in an adventure after Boon Hogganbeck steals his grandfather’s automobile and drives toward Memphis.

Unlike Faulkner’s more famously difficult novels, The Reivers uses a relatively direct, picaresque style and has a frequently comic tone. Its setting and characters remain connected to Faulkner’s fictional Yoknapatawpha County and to the broader world of his recurring Southern families.

A notable historical detail is that the Pulitzer jury recommended Katherine Anne Porter’s Ship of Fools, but the Pulitzer board selected The Reivers instead. Another common mix-up is Faulkner’s earlier Pulitzer winner, A Fable, which received the award for 1955 rather than 1963.