From the Margins to the Center: Pulitzer Prizes and the rise of Asian American winners and leaders
Featuring Q&A with Playwright Kristina Wong, Pulitzer Finalist, Juror
By Sharline Chiang
A few weeks ago, when this year's Pulitzer Prize award winners were announced, I was struck by the number of Asian American winners and finalists.
By my count, out of the 23 categories, there were at least eight Asian Americans named (see list below). Given that May is also Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, this all felt serendipitous, significant, and magnificent—a true cause to celebrate!
To mark this exciting slate of recipients, I interviewed one of my favorite artists, the hilarious and brilliant playwright Kristina Wong, who was a drama finalist for the Pulitzer last year—the first Asian American woman to receive this honor—for her one-woman play, Kristina Wong, Sweatshop Overlord. She was also a juror this year in the same category.
Wong is part of a long line of AAPI artists and writers who have worked hard to place our perspectives and humanity front and center.
According to the 2020 Census, about 20 million people in the U.S. identify as Asian, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone, making up 6.2% of the nation’s population. When combined with the additional 4 million people who identify as multiracial AAPI, the percentage goes up to 7.2%.
We’ve been here for more than 150 years
AAPIs have been part of this country for at least 150 years, and Asian Americans are the fastest growing racial or ethnic group in the U.S. Yet for the majority of our nation’s history, we have been, at best, rendered invisible in popular culture or, at worst, depicted in narrow, often damaging ways that reinforce the image of us as perpetual foreigners and “others.”
When awards like the Pulitzers go to AAPIs, a clear signal is sent that our stories matter, and that excellence does not equal whiteness.
In 2020, writer Viet Thanh Nguyen joined the Pulitzer Prize board as the first AAPI member in its 103-year history. Nguyen was the Pulitzer recipient for fiction in 2016 for his debut novel, The Sympathizer (which has been adapted into an HBO series that comes out next year. Cast includes Sandra Oh and Robert Downey Jr. I’m counting down the days!).
“We have to have it”
In an interview last summer with AAJA Voices, Nguyen said, “It is important that the Pulitzer board has an Asian American representative, and it’d be great if we had more than one.”
He added: “The important thing about having representation of any kind is that, number one, we have to have it. And number two, we have to have a diversity of it in every way. So we have to have diversity within an organization—and then within every category, we have to have diversity within that category.”
Luckily his words did not go unheard. Last December, Sewell Chan, editor-in-chief of The Texas Tribune, was elected to the board.
Part of the American story
AAPI representation in positions of influence within cultural entities like the Pulitzer matter because these individuals bring their lenses and lived experiences to lift up artists and work that better reflect the true diversity of our society.
For AAPIs, the type of recognition that comes with winning a Pulitzer award can help increase the understanding that we are complex and fully dimensional, that we belong here, and that our stories are part of the overall American story.
According to a recently released report by The Asian American Foundation, 1 in 2 Asian Americans feel unsafe in the U.S. and nearly 80% of Asian Americans do not completely feel they belong and are accepted.
The report also found that 26% of respondents (across racial and ethnic groups) said they could not name a famous Asian American figure and 32% could not name a famous NHPI (Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander) person. When asked to name a famous Asian American figure, top responses were: Jackie Chan (who is not American); Bruce Lee (who died 50 years ago), and Kamala Harris.
Photo credit: Tom Fowler
Q & A with Kristina Wong, Pulitzer finalist and juror
Why is AAPI representation among Pulitzer jurors important?
I'd have to scrutinize the list of past jurors, but to my memory, there have not been many AAPI jurors as there have barely been any AAPI finalists or winners. I think it would be inaccurate to assume that an AAPI juror would ensure that more BIPOC writers would move to the top. What I do think is that as an AAPI juror, I bring a certain expertise of what AAPI artists are creating and can spot when something feels like it's being explored in a fresh, dramatic way.
When we had narrowed it down to a top 10, I think it was meaningful for the jury to hear me reflect on how Lloyd Suh's Far Country was one of the few plays set on Angel Island, which is part of my family's history. And it's a history many Chinese Americans don't even know about. [Editor’s note: Far Country was named a finalist this year.]
What difference do you feel you made by being a juror?
I think I joked that day of the jury that I was the one slowing the day down because I was definitely rooting for a lot of “weird” plays. We had a process where at the top, we'd go through the entire list and name plays we'd like to discuss—even if they didn't seem to have a path forward. There were a lot of non-traditional plays I was advocating for and just wanted to talk about. So much of the process was just me saying aloud in the room: “Wouldn't it be so cool if we saw a Pulitzer winner/finalist who was (of this marginalized group or practice)?” We'd stop to fantasize for that moment, even if it was clear that that particular entrant was not going to be the “weird play winner” that year.
What is something interesting about being a Pulitzer juror that most people don't know or realize?
You can't advocate to be a juror. You get asked, or you don't. Also, jurors read EVERY SINGLE PLAY SUBMITTED. If you submit a play that was written on Adderall and premiered it in your backyard—we will read it. When I was beat out for a Pulitzer in 2016 by Hamilton, I assumed that the jury ignored my (clearly superior!) entry and picked Hamilton because it was so popular. But nope! They actually did read and (had the audacity to) pass on my play.
Also, we don't pick the actual winner. We submit three finalists and the Pulitzer Board determines the winner from the three plays we submit! So it's a surprise for the jurors on the day of the announcement too!
The 2023 winner in drama was English, by Iranian American Sanaz Toossi. What stood out to you and the jurors about English?
It's oddly simple and sweet in premise and while set in Iran, is very much about American life and who will have a future with power and agency and who will not, all depending on their ability to master English. The actors are not performing in Farsi but speak unaccented English with ease to show they are speaking Farsi, and then an awkward halted English when they are speaking English in the class.
There's a lot of humor about the English language and the chapters and being in the middle or not knowing where you are exactly. It was just very touching.
You and your production, Kristina Wong, Sweatshop Overlord, were a Pulitzer finalist for drama last year. What was it like being a juror this year, on the other side of the process?
Again, it was a HELL OF A LOT OF READING. It was 89 scripts (91 if you count the individual plays in some of the trilogies submitted). I was also doing a run of my show in Los Angeles for a month during the reading period and had to take a break from reading because it was just too hard to do a solo show and read other plays.
I really loved the jury process and discussing plays with jurors. So many were plays that I'll never get to see in production, so it felt like I was getting the entire year in review via my tablet. I had two thoughts the whole time:
Is this how awesome college would have been had I actually done all my reading?
How the hell did my play eek through this really competitive process?
How did it feel to be named a finalist? How did being named a finalist impact your work/career?
I've been absolutely drunk with power since it was announced last year. Also my default answer to almost every question has now become “DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?!”
When I first applied for the Pulitzers in 2016, it was a huge inside joke between me and my best friend Brian Feldman. I actually got a press pass from NBC Asian America and attended the announcement with three speeches ready: an acceptance speech, a concession speech, and a speech if I was the finalist. I wrote about it in this essay. The telling people I was a “Pulitzer Prize Contender” was its own performance art piece.
On the morning of the 2022 Pulitzer announcement last year, Brian texted to wish me luck and I didn't even bother tuning in. I just figured as an Asian American woman who makes solo theater, living in LA, that I would never be literary enough for a Pulitzer Prize. There was no precedent of women like me getting this award. I was at lunch in Chinatown when my phone started blowing up from everyone who was watching the announcements. I spent the rest of the day/year/ life since that moment freaking out.
My name now is on the same list as Thornton Wilder and Tennessee Williams. Crazy.
Bonus fun question: Earlier this year you won a Doris Duke Artist Award—a no-strings-attached prize of $550,000. What is the most frivolous thing you have purchased so far with that prize money?
The most frivolous thing I have gotten so far is a savings account to hide the money in. I haven't bought anything that nuts, honestly. I have made more donations than I normally do. But I'm the same cheapskate woman you knew from before. I still put the toilet paper and the toiletries from the hotel in my suitcase. I still buy my groceries from World Harvest Food Bank.
AAPI Pulitzer Prize Winners and Finalists 2023 (partial list)
Memoir
Stay True, by Hua Hsu ~ winner
Fiction
The Immortal King Rao, by Vauhini Vara ~ finalist
Drama
English, by Sanaz Toossi ~ winner
The Far Country, by Lloyd Suh ~ finalist
General Nonfiction
Kingdom of Characters: The Language Revolution That Made China Modern, by Jing Tsu ~ finalist
Investigative Reporting
Trisha Thadani (with Joaquin Palomino) of The San Francisco Chronicle ~ finalist
Criticism
Andrea Long Chu of New York Magazine ~ winner
Feature Photography
Stephen Lam (with Gabrielle Lurie) of The San Francisco Chronicle ~ finalist