Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 10, 1991 TAG: 9104100405
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
Neil Simon, America's best-known living playwright, won the drama prize - his first - for his latest work, "Lost in Yonkers." A publicist who said she is a friend of Simon's wife had announced the prize a day in advance of the awards.
"It's funny, in a number of my plays I think I mention the Pulitzer in terms of a writer or somebody talking about it as the epitome of what a playwright would like to get," Simon said from Hawaii, where he was on vacation.
"I'm genuinely thrilled. I've been in the business for a long time and have had a lot of good things happen to me. After a while, one tends to get blase about some things, but this is not one of them. I'm truly appreciative and it's nice that it's this play."
Updike is the second author to win the fiction Pulitzer twice. The other is Booth Tarkington, who won for "The Magnificent Ambersons" in 1919 and for "Alice Adams" in 1922.
Updike also won the 1982 Pulitzer for "Rabbit is Rich," the third installment in his four-book series about Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom. In the fourth book, Angstrom faces his death.
"Rabbit at Rest" also captured the National Book Critics Circle Award earlier this year.
Simon's "Lost in Yonkers" deals with a strong-willed matriarch and the effect she has on her children and grandchildren, particularly a sweet, simpleminded daughter.
Simon's previous plays include "The Odd Couple," "Barefoot in the Park," "Brighton Beach Memoirs" and "The Sunshine Boys."
"The Ants" by Bert Holldobler and Edward O. Wilson won the Pulitzer for general non-fiction. Zoologist Holldobler and biologist Wilson worked together on the in-depth study of ants. Wilson won a 1978 Pulitzer for his book "On Human Nature."
The biography prize went to "Jackson Pollock: An American Saga," by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith. Naifeh and Smith have collaborated on 10 other books. The Harvard Law School graduates' most recent book was the best-seller "The Mormon Murders."
The Pulitzer for history was awarded to "A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812," by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich.
The poetry award was given to Mona Van Duyn for her book, "Near Changes."
The music Pulitzer was awarded for "Symphony," by Shulamit Ran. A native of Israel, she is composer-in-residence with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
1991 PULITZER PRIZE WINNERS
ARTS
Fiction "Rabbit at Rest" by John Updike/ Drama "Lost in Yonkers" by Neil Simon/ History "A Midwife's History "A Midwife's Tale:The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary 1785- 1812" by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich/ Biography "Jackson Pollock: An American Saga" by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith/ Poetry "Near Changes" by Mona Van Duyn General non-fiction "The Ants" by Bert Holldobler and Edward O. Wilson/ Music "Symphony" by Shulamit Ran
by CNB