BREAKING NEWS: Yiyun Li's 'Things in Nature Merely Grow' Wins 2026 Pulitzer Prize for Memoir or Autobiography! A remarkably moving non-fiction work written after losing two teenage sons to suicide.
Yiyun Li's non-fiction work 'Things in Nature Merely Grow' has won the 2026 Pulitzer Prize in the Memoir or Autobiography category. This impactful book, written after the author lost her two teenage sons to suicide, will be published in Japanese by Kawade Shobo Shinsha.
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Yiyun Li's 'Things in Nature Merely Grow' (Farrar, Straus and Giroux / published May 2025, Japanese title '自然のものはただ育つ') has won the 2026 Pulitzer Prize in the Memoir or Autobiography category.
2026 Pulitzer Prize Announcement (announced May 4, 2026, in New York)
The 2026 Pulitzer Prize Announcement | The Pulitzer Prizes
The Pulitzer Prize was established in 1917 based on the will of American journalist Joseph Pulitzer. The Pulitzer Prize Board selects and determines the winners and winning works from submissions in the categories of Journalism, Letters and Drama, and Music.
The Japanese edition, titled '自然のものはただ育つ' (translated by Yuriko Shinomori), will be published by Kawade Shobo Shinsha (Headquarters: Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director: Yu Onodera) on November 18, 2025.
Throughout her 20-year writing career, Yiyun Li has received numerous prestigious awards. This work, however, is a shocking non-fiction piece written after she lost her two teenage sons to suicide, and it garnered attention as her first non-fiction work to be translated into Japanese.
"My husband and I had two children, and we lost both of them. Vincent, 16, in 2017, and James, 19, in 2024. Both chose to die by suicide, and both died not far from home."
"I don't want my sorrow to end. ...Grief is a word, an abbreviation, and nothing more than a simplification of something far greater than that word."
Immediately after the death of her eldest son, James, she wrote and published the novel 'Where Reasons End'. However, upon the death of her second son, Vincent, she wrote this non-fiction work, recording facts and thoughts. She says this is because her eldest son was a person of feeling, and her second son was a person of thought.
In this book, the author does not attempt to overcome suffering or sorrow. Rather, she makes the "abyss" her dwelling place and tries to coexist with suffering. She says that people can become skilled at suffering. She would be grateful if her writing could offer solace, but she also states that it is not meant to encourage those who have had similar experiences or are grieving. This is because suffering and sorrow are unique to each individual, and everyone's "abyss" is different. Nevertheless, anyone who has experienced the loss of a loved one will deeply empathize with the content of this book and gain many insights. The work has been highly praised by newspapers across the United States and has been nominated for several literary awards, including the National Book Award for Nonfiction.
Please pay attention to 'Things in Nature Merely Grow', a 2026 Pulitzer Prize winner in the Memoir or Autobiography category by Yiyun Li, one of the leading authors of contemporary American literature. Despite its shocking content, it is filled with deep affection.
■ Author Profile
Author: Yiyun Li
Yiyun Li Photo: Denise Applewhite
Born in Beijing in 1972. She entered Peking University, majoring in biology. After graduating, she moved to the United States in 1996, where she studied immunology at the University of Iowa Graduate School, but later changed her path and transferred to the university's creative writing program, beginning to write in English. In 2005, she published the short story collection 'A Thousand Years of Good Prayers', winning awards such as the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, the PEN/Hemingway Award, and the Guardian First Book Award. Subsequently, in 2009, she published her first novel, 'The Vagrants'. Her other works include 'Kinder Than Solitude', 'Where Reasons End', 'Must I Go', 'The Book of Goose', and short story collections 'Gold Boy, Emerald Girl' and 'Wednesday's Child'. She has received the PEN/Malamud Award and numerous other accolades, including nominations for the PEN/Faulkner Award and the PEN/Jean Stein Award. She currently teaches creative writing at Princeton University while continuing to write.
Translator: Yuriko Shinomori
Translator. Her translated works include Yiyun Li's 'A Thousand Years of Good Prayers', 'The Vagrants', 'Gold Boy, Emerald Girl', 'Kinder Than Solitude', 'Where Reasons End', 'Must I Go', 'The Book of Goose', Chris Anderson's 'The Long Tail', and Marilynne Robinson's 'Housekeeping'. She is also the author of 'Harriet Tubman: A Life in Her Own Words'.
■ Bibliographic Information
Title: Things in Nature Merely Grow (Japanese title: 自然のものはただ育つ)
Author/Translator: Written by Yiyun Li, Translated by Yuriko Shinomori
Format: 4-6 size / Hardcover / 196 pages
First Edition Release Date: November 18, 2025
Price: 2,640 yen (2,400 yen + tax)
ISBN: 978-4-309-20938-8
https://www.kawade.co.jp/
Keywords:
Yiyun Li's 'Things in Nature Merely Grow' (Farrar, Straus and Giroux / published May 2025, Japanese title '自然のものはただ育つ') has won the 2026 Pulitzer Prize in the Memoir or Autobiography category.
2026 Pulitzer Prize Announcement (announced May 4, 2026, in New York)
The 2026 Pulitzer Prize Announcement | The Pulitzer Prizes
The Pulitzer Prize was established in 1917 based on the will of American journalist Joseph Pulitzer. The Pulitzer Prize Board selects and determines the winners and winning works from submissions in the categories of Journalism, Letters and Drama, and Music.
The Japanese edition, titled '自然のものはただ育つ' (translated by Yuriko Shinomori), will be published by Kawade Shobo Shinsha (Headquarters: Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director: Yu Onodera) on November 18, 2025.
Throughout her 20-year writing career, Yiyun Li has received numerous prestigious awards. This work, however, is a shocking non-fiction piece written after she lost her two teenage sons to suicide, and it garnered attention as her first non-fiction work to be translated into Japanese.
"My husband and I had two children, and we lost both of them. Vincent, 16, in 2017, and James, 19, in 2024. Both chose to die by suicide, and both died not far from home."
"I don't want my sorrow to end. ...Grief is a word, an abbreviation, and nothing more than a simplification of something far greater than that word."
Immediately after the death of her eldest son, James, she wrote and published the novel 'Where Reasons End'. However, upon the death of her second son, Vincent, she wrote this non-fiction work, recording facts and thoughts. She says this is because her eldest son was a person of feeling, and her second son was a person of thought.
In this book, the author does not attempt to overcome suffering or sorrow. Rather, she makes the "abyss" her dwelling place and tries to coexist with suffering. She says that people can become skilled at suffering. She would be grateful if her writing could offer solace, but she also states that it is not meant to encourage those who have had similar experiences or are grieving. This is because suffering and sorrow are unique to each individual, and everyone's "abyss" is different. Nevertheless, anyone who has experienced the loss of a loved one will deeply empathize with the content of this book and gain many insights. The work has been highly praised by newspapers across the United States and has been nominated for several literary awards, including the National Book Award for Nonfiction.
Please pay attention to 'Things in Nature Merely Grow', a 2026 Pulitzer Prize winner in the Memoir or Autobiography category by Yiyun Li, one of the leading authors of contemporary American literature. Despite its shocking content, it is filled with deep affection.
■ Author Profile
Author: Yiyun Li
Yiyun Li Photo: Denise Applewhite
Born in Beijing in 1972. She entered Peking University, majoring in biology. After graduating, she moved to the United States in 1996, where she studied immunology at the University of Iowa Graduate School, but later changed her path and transferred to the university's creative writing program, beginning to write in English. In 2005, she published the short story collection 'A Thousand Years of Good Prayers', winning awards such as the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, the PEN/Hemingway Award, and the Guardian First Book Award. Subsequently, in 2009, she published her first novel, 'The Vagrants'. Her other works include 'Kinder Than Solitude', 'Where Reasons End', 'Must I Go', 'The Book of Goose', and short story collections 'Gold Boy, Emerald Girl' and 'Wednesday's Child'. She has received the PEN/Malamud Award and numerous other accolades, including nominations for the PEN/Faulkner Award and the PEN/Jean Stein Award. She currently teaches creative writing at Princeton University while continuing to write.
Translator: Yuriko Shinomori
Translator. Her translated works include Yiyun Li's 'A Thousand Years of Good Prayers', 'The Vagrants', 'Gold Boy, Emerald Girl', 'Kinder Than Solitude', 'Where Reasons End', 'Must I Go', 'The Book of Goose', Chris Anderson's 'The Long Tail', and Marilynne Robinson's 'Housekeeping'. She is also the author of 'Harriet Tubman: A Life in Her Own Words'.
■ Bibliographic Information
Title: Things in Nature Merely Grow (Japanese title: 自然のものはただ育つ)
Author/Translator: Written by Yiyun Li, Translated by Yuriko Shinomori
Format: 4-6 size / Hardcover / 196 pages
First Edition Release Date: November 18, 2025
Price: 2,640 yen (2,400 yen + tax)
ISBN: 978-4-309-20938-8
https://www.kawade.co.jp/
Keywords: